Operations Co-op/Intern

The Operations Co‑op / Intern role is a hands‑on, leadership‑oriented experience designed for students who are interested in building a future career leading people in a manufacturing environment. This role provides immersive exposure to daily operations, production systems, and front‑line leadership within a high‑performance manufacturing organization.

This is not a traditional technical or project‑only internship. Students will work directly alongside experienced operations leaders and spend the majority of their time on the production floor driving improvements, solving real operational problems, and delivering measurable results while learning how manufacturing systems are led, improved, and sustained.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Support daily production activities on the shop floor, ensuring adherence to safety, quality, and operational standards
• Execute and sustain 6S initiatives (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, Safety) across all production areas
• Conduct process, quality, and performance audits, identifying gaps and driving corrective actions
• Monitor and analyze key performance metrics such as scrap, first-pass yield, throughput, and overall equipment efficiency (OEE)
• Partner with engineering and operations to implement continuous improvement projects focused on productivity, cost reduction, and process capability
• Assist with root cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions (RCCA) for quality and production issues
• Ensure compliance with work instructions, routers, and aerospace quality standards (e.g., AS9100 practices)
• Maintain a clean and organized work environment while identifying and mitigating safety risks
• Assist with production scheduling support, work order management, and documentation control
• Collaborate cross-functionally with operators, supervisors, quality, and engineering teams
• Participate in kaizen events, process trials, and new product/process introductions
• Perform other duties as assigned

Required Skills and Attributes:

• Strong desire to pursue a career in Operations and manufacturing leadership, with interest in leading people and managing in a production environment
• Demonstrated initiative and ownership; willingness to step in, ask questions, and take responsibility for improving outcomes
• Interest in continuous improvement, problem solving, and making practical, hands‑on process improvements
• Ability to work effectively with frontline teams, including operators, supervisors, and cross‑functional partners
• Ability to analyze processes and performance data, apply root cause analysis, and drive corrective actions that improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost
• Demonstrated technical and mechanical acumen, including comfort working directly with manufacturing equipment, processes, and materials, and the ability to understand how and why production systems operate

Level of Education:

• Currently pursuing a BS Degree in Operations Management, Engineering or Business Management. Must have completed at least the freshman year.

Physical Demands:

• The physical demands outlined here represent those required to perform the job's essential functions. Reasonable accommodation may be made for individuals with disabilities.
• Daily tasks may include using hands to handle materials and equipment, reaching with hands and arms, and communicating verbally.
• Occasional tasks may require standing, walking, climbing, balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, or crawling.
• Occasional lifting and/or moving of up to 20 pounds may be required.
• Specific vision abilities, such as close vision and color vision, and the ability to adjust focus are needed.

Work Environment:

• The work environment characteristics described here represent those encountered while performing the essential job functions. Reasonable accommodation may be made for individuals with disabilities.
• The work environment may involve occasional exposure to airborne particles and vibrations.
• The noise level in the work environment is typically moderate.

The Special Metals Corporation group of companies was created in the latter part of 1998 when Special Metals Corporation of New Hartford, New York, acquired Inco Alloys International, including its Huntington Alloys and Wiggin Alloys divisions. In 2006, Special Metals Corporation became a part of Precision Castparts Corp., a worldwide manufacturer of complex metal components and products. With a history of alloy technology now going back some 100 years, our company continues to provide solutions to difficult materials problems through such time-tested products as our world-recognized INCONEL, INCOLOY, NIMONIC, UDIMET, MONEL and NILO alloys.

Today's Special Metals is a world leader in the invention, production and supply of the high-nickel, high-performance alloys used for the difficult jobs in engineering. These alloys are highly engineered to offer a superior combination of heat resistance, high-temperature corrosion resistance, toughness and strength and are used in the world's most technically demanding industries and applications. Special Metals offers the largest range of nickel alloys and product forms, as well cobalt alloys, to more than ten worldwide markets. We produce nickel alloys in all standard mill forms, from large ingots and billets to plate, sheet, strip, tubing, bar and wire, the latter of which includes core and filler wires for welding products. The company has manufacturing and research facilities in the USA and Europe, sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia, and a distribution network including most of the industrialized countries of the world.

Special Metals Corporation is the world's premier inventor, developer and producer of nickel alloy and cobalt alloys—with a portfolio of more than 100 alloy compositions, wrought products and welding consumables, over 80 percent of which were invented in our own laboratories. All created to help redefine what's possible in the world of energy and industry.

Our time-tested nickel alloys are highly engineered to offer a superior combination of heat resistance, high temperature and corrosion resistance, toughness and strength for the most demanding applications. No other single manufacturer offers such a comprehensive range of game-changing alloy compositions and product forms.

With more than 120 operations and approximately 20,000 employees worldwide, Precision Castparts Corp. is the market leader in manufacturing large, complex structural investment castings, airfoil castings, forged components, aerostructures and highly engineered, critical fasteners for aerospace applications. In addition, we are the leading producer of airfoil castings for the industrial gas turbine market. We also manufacture extruded seamless pipe, fittings, and forgings for power generation and oil & gas applications; commercial and military airframe aerostructures; and metal alloys and other materials for the casting and forging industries. With such critical applications, we insist on quality and dependability – not just in the materials and products we make, but in the people we recruit.

PCC is relentless in its dedication to being a high-quality, low-cost and on-time producer; delivering the highest value to its customers while continually pursuing strategic, profitable growth.

In 2016, Berkshire Hathaway, led by Chairman and CEO Warren E. Buffett, acquired Precision Castparts Corp.