INE 397: Professional Training in Industrial

Engineering

FINAL REPORT
Khalid Sam Jijakli
63894
Prime Aluminum & Glass Works
Summer 2019
 DISCLAIMER
This report was written by student(s) at the College of Engineering, The American University of
Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE. It has not been altered or corrected (other than editorial corrections) as a
result of assessment and it may contain errors. The views expressed in it together with any
recommendations are those of the student(s). The American University of Sharjah accepts no
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the purpose for which it was commissioned.

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Student Name Signature Date

Khalid Sam Jijakli 31/08/2019

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Table of Contents
Contents...................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 4
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ 5
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 6
Background of Company ........................................................................................................ 7
1.1 Department/company’s setup and location ..........................................................................................7
1.2 Ownership and shareholders/management style .................................................................................7
1.3 Organization Chart/chain of command .................................................................................................8
1.4 Customers ..............................................................................................................................................9
1.5 Products/services provided .................................................................................................................10
1.6 Main competitors ................................................................................................................................11

Training Experience ............................................................................................................. 11

2.1 Goals and Objectives: ...................................................................................................................................12
2.2 Responsibilities.............................................................................................................................................13
2.3 Lessons Learned ...........................................................................................................................................17
2.4 Potential ideas for senior design projects ....................................................................................................19

Training Assessment and Evaluation .................................................................................... 19

3.1 Training assessment .....................................................................................................................................19
3.2 Suitability of organization ............................................................................................................................20
3.3 Weakness and recommendations ................................................................................................................20

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 21
References................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Executive Summary

In this section of the internship report I will be summarizing the duration of internship

and supporting a general idea about my experience. The internship opportunity that I was part of

was a 5-week summer internship during 2019. Furthermore, the internship was placed in Prime

Aluminum & Glass Works which is currently operating in the Northern Emirates region. The

main operation of the company is to create, produce and deliver a diverse range of aluminum and

glass products. During my working duration I operated in numerous departments of the company

where I was introduced to the utmost knowledge of the process and operations in the company.

In my first week, I was given a tour of the facility and an orientation of the process the company

works with, I understood how their manufacturing and products work. Additionally, I was

introduced to the method of how they store their data and historical transactions of the company.

Moving to the second week of my internship, I was handed the task of keeping track of most of

the transactions and balances of the company. I had to make sure everything was noted in an

organized manner. The third and fourth week of the internship was concentrated on data

management of the company’s information where I had to make sure everything is easily

accessible and well organized. The last week of my internship I had to sit down with various

supervisors and suggest methods of organization and data management for the company. During

the duration of my internship I have expanded my work experience, personal skill set and team

working skills where I had to excel to prove my capabilities and efficiency.

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Organization Chart .......................................................................................................... 9
Figure 2: Partners and Customers ..................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 3: Services Provided ...........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Acknowledgements

During my work involvement at Prime Aluminum & Glass Works, I was fortunate

enough to learn and enhance my qualification. Therefore, it was such a great chance for me to be

part of the company group. Meeting people from different cultural and professional backgrounds

improved my social communication and I was really thankful for that. Moreover, I am using this

opportunity to thank and appreciate Dr. Mahmoud Awad who even though was extremely busy

with his duties, he gave enough time to direct me and answer all questions I might have. My

deepest thanks to my internship supervisor, Mr. Jamal Abu Saadi, for putting his effort to

organize a well-arranged plan for the entire internship. Therefore, I ended up learning way more

than I believed I would be able to in the short time span. Moreover, he was always there to give

advices and help with decision making. Thus, he had a large impact on making my internship

extremely successful. I consider this opportunity to have a major impact on my career expansion

and growth in which I will do my best to practice the knowledge that I gained during the

internship period.

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Background of Company
1.1 Department/company’s setup and location

My internship took place in Prime Aluminium & Glass Works company that is located in Jurf,

Ajman. The company has partners with key construction companies in the Northern Emirates

which gives them an advantage in the area. Prime Aluminium & Glass Works is specialized in

supplying manufactured aluminium and glass products in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Departments within the company ranged from,

 Sales Department

 Procurement Department

 Services and Support Department

 Development Department

 Quality Department

 Logistics Department

1.2 Ownership and shareholders/management style

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Like many notable companies. Prime Aluminium & Glass Works is owned by two managing

partners. This management style works very well for the company since each partner provides a

certain skill for the company which complete each other and makes sure there is high visibility

and share of information to assure their quality.

1.3 Organization Chart/chain of command

Prime Aluminium & Glass Works follows a very specific chain of command to assure the

integration within the company. The organization chart is shown below in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Organization Chart

1.4 Customers

Prime Aluminium & Glass Works customers are clients that require services and support in

obtaining customized and complex windows, door fittings, automatic doors, gates, curtain walls,

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and partitions. The company manages various aspects of the company to guarantee to their

clients to handle their operations in a smooth and optimal manner.

1.5 Products/services provided

Prime Aluminium & Glass Works offers products that enables the completion of construction

projects that requires the usage and integration of well-designed aluminium and glass products.

The company has an exceedingly efficacious track record of implementing a satisfactory result in

the region with a good amount of pleased and fulfilled customers. Some of the main products

that are provided are,

 Aluminium and Glass structural façade for high-rise buildings

 Composite panels cladding works

 Aluminium and glass doors

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  Windows works

 Automatic and revolving doors

 Insulated glass products

 Glass tempering and processing

 Balustrades and railing works

 Interior decorative glass

 Mirrors & shower enclosures

1.6 Main competitors

Prime Aluminium & Glass Works promises to excel in their facility and what they afford to their

clients. Nevertheless, there is always a room for competition in such an area in Northern

Emirates. The main competition to the company is other aluminium and glass companies with

unique designs. Additionally, some of the competitors of the company are,

 AluGlass Tech

 MAS Aluminium & Glass

 Stars Aluminium & Glass Co

Even though such large companies compete with Prime Aluminium & Glass Works, as a

company, they strive to make sure they deliver professionally and deliver all requirements of

their business partners to guarantee the highest satisfaction.

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Training Experience
2.1 Goals and Objectives:

The core objectives of the project assigned to me throughout the internship period are to

design and build a database that stores data generated from previous orders in order to facilitate

easy retrieval of future forecasts and outcomes.

-Exposure to several departments within the company when possible. The goal

was to allow me to observe the procedures and managements of different core

divisions.

-Manage existing studies and data

-Recommending a relational database management system based on the company’s requirement.

-To be assigned to a special task that will allow me to develop and comprehend my effective

communications skills, administrative tasks capability, team building abilities, and problem

solving proficiencies. Preferably, a project should be designed to allow me to interact with

different departments, communicate with various people to gather information and prepare

myself. The project should provide useful information to me as well as their company.

-As an intern I should participate in meetings and costing processes, when given responsibilities.

- I should interact with external companies, when significant.

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- As part of the company I should meet with my supervisor to obtain comprehensions of their

knowledge/experience in the field and how they succeed in making decisions.

2.2 Responsibilities

2.2.1 Daily work

Most of my daily work required vast amount of time looking into Prime Aluminium & Glass

Works database and data files. This work helped me have a huge understanding of the

company’s operations and what information is usually required to forecast and choose accurate

outcomes. The day-to-day work shifted from week to another dependent upon the kind of errand

allocated in that week. The day by day work comprised of gathering information and data from

specialists, help the workers with arranging work documents, additionally arranging the

information assembled, alongside abstracting and looking for approaches to improve existing

procedures within the company, lastly, I needed to keep my administrator updated with my

advancement every day to get his conclusion and his interpretation of what I have learned and

completed.

2.2.1.1 Description of tasks

A goal of my internship was to create a database for an internal use that is easy and safe. In the

first week of working for Prime Aluminium & Glass Works I had to understand how their

products work and how their system works within the company so that I could gain some

valuable intake on the operations taking place. I was involved in managing previous study data,

researching and using information management systems and statistics related to the informatics

of the field of work.

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During the second week of my internship, I was place in a department within the company where

I was handed a set of data files where I had to organize and obtain useful information from. This

required using previous knowledge of the field and data mine for relevant sources information

that will benefit the requirement of a specific project.

In the third week I was given similar tasks that I was handed in my second week where I had to

manage more data files and arrange the company’s database. In addition to that, I tried a new

intake to the problems where I create my own databases of various information from the

company that were not collected, such as, all the currently owned assets of the company. I

worked hand in hand with my supervisor to ensure I am getting closer to implementing an

efficient change to the operations within the office.

Within the fourth and fifth week, I was given the chance to start attending the company’s

meetings to have an outlook on what issues do the company face and how can I ensure it is fixed

by suggesting fixes and adjustments to some factors that take place in the company’s operations.

Additionally, I had to organize all the databases required for more efficient decision making

process and emphasize more on the data collection phase for the company.

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2.2.1.2 Problems encountered & Ways to overcome problems

Frankly, I did not face many problems during my internship experience at Prime Aluminium &

Glass Works, nevertheless one of the issues that are worth mentioning was trying to implement

new changes within the company. Persuading people to try new approaches for various tasks was

hectic. In my opinion, most of the people that worked in the company are used to their positions

and find it suitable since they are used to the routine of tackling a problem. I had to work hand

on hand with my supervisor in order to try to implement some new changes which took a while.

Overall all the people working in the company were very supportive and cooperative. Another

problem that I faced was working with historical data files, these files were very confusing and

unorganized since all the information was scattered in different locations and no correlation is

present. Therefore, to counter this problem I had to spend shucks of hours just on organizing and

sorting their data before studying them in a manner that is useful for the job tasks. Another

problem I faced during my duration was vague requirements. The supervisors would use

different methods to describe their requirements which leads to some misunderstanding. A

solution to this is communicating more and using simpler means of communications such as,

creating planning lists.

2.2.1.3 Ways to improve tasks

For each kind of problem there was a different method to approach it in order to find a solution

to the problem. Some problems I faced where I improved the tasks assigned to me was when I

was being introduced to the company’s program I was given big number of data in which I had

to read to implement it and improve the operations. To use my time more effectively and

improve the tasks, I worked on organizing the data in a way where everything is clear and easy

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to access. This has helped me and other workers greatly in reading data. Eliminating the

unnecessary time in reading the data has successfully saved a lot of time. Additionally, some of

the files regarding some clients and customers of Prime Aluminium & Glass Works were not

entered and included in the main data needed in order to study new methods to improve the

clients experience. My task included incorporating these data to have a smoother customer

service platform.

2.1.2 Special assignments/projects:

2.1.2.1 Problem definition:

During my internship I stumbled upon working on a special project where I had to analyse the

machinery used in the facility and collect data on each machine. The project was part of my

assignment in making a data base of the facilities assets. Additionally, I made a database of the

initial cost of the machinery being used with their expected life.

2.1.2.2 Data collection:

The data that needed collection was obtained from the machines in the facility. Each machine in

the company had a handbook and a machine number. The handbook was used to figure the kind

of each machine and cost, while the machine number was used to collect data on the life

expectancy of the machine.

2.1.2.3 Data analysis:

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The data that I collected was analysed by the representations of the facility and machinery kinds.

Various data visualization techniques were used to help analyse and understand the data

collection procedure and results of the project.

2.1.2.4 Controlling

Such data collection projects are very vital for the company. Therefore, the project should be

looked into and controlled every specific period of time to assure that the data is updated and

revised. Such data is vital since it can have an important role in making decisions within the

company while working on future projects.

2.3 Lessons Learned

Throughout my internship I have expanded my knowledge in the field and gained a lot of

understanding and capabilities that help me develope numerous communicational and working

skills that are very vital in learning how to handle a professional work essence. During the

internship period, I got the chance to use knowledge learned from the engineering program and

use it in a real job environment. Additionally, I learn critical thinking skills that helped me in

analysing at a faster pace and having the knowledge of how to solve a problem in a quick

manner. In the duration of the internship I managed to sharpen my work ethics in areas such as

honesty, sense of responsibility, discipline, sense of quality and teamwork. The failures I faced

during the internship period has not only taught me how to be stronger but additionally, it helped

me overcome them with decision making skills to find solutions. I learned to make immediate

decision making, while I was dealing with customers with critical issues. If there was a delay in

their system it would ruin their whole system which often created pressure on me since I started

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fulfilling requests that had to finished with an urgency. Working alongside my supervisor taught

me how to become strong enough to face problems and efficiently solving them. I had been

taught how to successfully communicate with customers by not affecting the image of the

company in a way that it would hurt their reputation. Communication was a very important

aspect to understand my supervisor’s requirements and thoughts. I was constantly given frequent

trainings in fields such as, leadership skills, communication skills, and other training essentials.

2.3.1 Skills Developed

During the period of my internship I have established numerous personal related skills such as

following obligation, striving for teamwork, acknowledging resilience and critical thinking. I had

to deal with individuals from all ranks in the company such as administrators, head of

departments, engineers, and specialists. While dealing with these individuals I learned the most

suitable way to approach each person in a different proper manner reliant on his position.

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to apply my understanding of the information that I expanded

throughout my duration at the American University of Sharjah that also help me realize how to

account for different point of views of different people

2.3.2 Knowledge Gained

While I was gaining experience in my position as an intern in the company, I have gained

knowledge in more than one field that are very useful in our major. These fields include data

management, logistics, operations, process improvement, and quality assurance which are very

crucial skills to be learned. Additionally, I gained further knowledge in the usage of new

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programs that are used by the company and further improved my knowledge in technical

programs that I have been using for a while. I gained the knowledge of all the operations and

processes that take place in Prime Aluminium & Glass Works which is very valuable to have a

huge idea of how things are managed.

2.4 Potential ideas for senior design projects

Potential ideas for senior design projects can be,

 Detection of Spam Reviews using Data Management

 Studying data by using Python to transform data into useful decisions

 Optimizing the costs and time required in the operations by taking previous data into

considerations

 Creating new process to stream information in the chain

Training Assessment and Evaluation

3.1 Training assessment

I feel honored to have the opportunity to train and work as an intern in Prime Aluminum & Glass

Works; I further enhance my knowledge and received numerous benefits from working in the

company which help me gain knowledge and experience as I was looking for. Consequently, I

would recommend students interested in interning for a company to be attentive in the job

application since, all the problems and tasks that will be asked from you to solve are very related

to real life situations which will assist the students in using conceptual information learned in

classes to implement real skills. Another advantage of my experience was that I had to tackle

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different aspects of different genres in the company which helps me see insights from different

supervisors and departments within the company to understand how all the operations work hand

on hand. The people working for the company all come from different backgrounds which will

help students gain diversified knowledge in different fields. Additionally, all the workers are

very enthusiastic about sharing as much of information as they can to make sure the students

gain vital valuable information and skill set. Moreover, the involvement of the intern is huge in a

sense where he/she have a saying in some of the decisions of the company.

3.2 Suitability of organization

In my opinion, the organization of the company is very suitable for any students interested in

interning with a different background such as engineering, data management, data science

finance and industrial engineering. Prime Aluminum & Glass Works is very rounded around

various majors and has useful positions in many fields that are implemented in the company. The

departments in the company offer supervision in fields that all work together to have a similar

end goal, this is very suitable for people that have team working skills. Additionally, all the tasks

that are assigned to the people are within their field of scope and knowledge which will be very

useful in progressing in the field of work. Moreover, the environment of the company is very

suitable for people that are interested in working as a team since the company focuses on

achieving a vital team work atmosphere because of how vital good team work is for a project

success and future works.

3.3 Weakness and recommendations

The weakness that I have found in the company were minimum. One of the weaknesses I

stumbled upon while working in the company is that it was very hard to communication with the

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staff that are working. Hence, I had a hard time in arranging meetings and discuss various factors

with such workers. My recommendation to counter such consequence is to manage future interns

by assigning each intern to one supervisor that he would hand on hand with while making sure to

have a simple and fast method of communication between the two sides. Another problem I

encountered in the company is the share of complex information. A recommendation to counter

this problem is to break the complex project required down to small tasks to increase the project

success rate.

Conclusion

As to conclude my internship, it was a wonderful experience for me to work for Prime

Aluminum & Glass Works which made me familiar with business environment and the culture of

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the company that was very comfortable to work in. The main objective of the internship was

achieved while applying knowledge previously learned. The internship provided me with real

life working experience and opportunity in a short span of time. I experienced working with a

dynamic and committed team where I elaborated with them in working with the front and back

of the company. The management team of the company are a very vital asset in the company

with huge experience in the field, this helps keep the company excel in their field and be one of

the best options available. The company focuses on becoming a leading healthcare service

provider in the region by assuring they have high quality and reliability while making sure they

are affordable. I feel pleasured to have gained huge knowledge during my period of work.

Moreover, it was an honor working alongside friendly and intelligent employees with such

notable backgrounds.

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 Week
Department
From-to Work Assignment Host Supervisor’s
Total number of Completed Name and
days Signature

Week 1 -Completed tour of

Accounting the company and
28/7/2019-
Department understood all
3/8/2019 operations and needs
7 Days

Week 2 & 3 -Collected data on

Accounting various aspects of the
4/8/2019-
Department company and create
15/8/2019 database files for
10 Days keeping
Week 4 & 5 -Organized data
collected in a well
15/8/2019- Accounting informed and easy to
access manner.
29/8/2019 Department

12 Days

Appendices
Appendix A: Log sheet with signatures of work advisor:
Name of Intern: Khalid Sam Jijakli Major: Industrial Engineering

Date: 31/08/2019

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