In the summer of 2022, I was hired as a Product Development Engineering Intern for Xenith. This experience allowed me to grow professionally and personally, and it is my most proud experience on my resume. Xenith is an industry-leading football helmet manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Despite having never been to the state of Michigan, I packed everything up and drove to Detroit to chase this opportunity.
One of my responsibilities as an intern at Xenith was to compile a spreadsheet detailing every foreign factory that our indirect and direct competitors used to import products. I used a site called ImportGenius.com, which allows a user to find import/bill of lading information based on keywords. By searching each company that I wanted to analyze, I was able to download Excel files detailing the description of the order, the date it was processed, and the shipping address of the factory it came from. Once this data was compiled for each competitor, I filtered the data further by creating separate sheets for each type of product. Then, I created a PowerPoint that detailed the most popular factories for each specific product, the factory’s contact information, and what companies commonly use them. I presented this information to Xenith’s product team, and as a result, Xenith cut excess costs by making multiple changes in manufacturers.
Another responsibility that I held was assisting our lab technicians with testing. As Xenith participates in the NFL Helmet Challenge, I assisted with testing the prototypes. These tests were performed by using the NFL Servo-Controlled Belt Driven Impact Sled. I collected linear acceleration and severity index data from all designated impact locations of several prototypes and processed videos of each impact with a high-speed camera. In addition, I also assisted with collecting acceleration and severity index data of competitor helmets using a Cadex Pneumatic RAM and a NOCSAE Drop Tower.
I was also tasked with two major projects during my time at Xenith. One of these projects was a youth helmet benchmarking project. The other project was a design concept project, but as it has not been produced yet, I cannot disclose any more information.