What can an NC State student accomplish in one summer? 

For senior mechanical engineering student William Carter, the answer included solving production challenges, improving efficiency and generating an estimated $160,000 in annual savings for Edelbrock in Sanford, NC during his Rural Works! internship.

Led by NC State’s Career Development Center, Rural Works! connects students with paid summer internships at employers across rural North Carolina. As a Packways High-Impact Experience, the program gives students opportunities to apply what they are learning in the classroom to meaningful, real-world challenges while developing the skills, confidence and perspective that prepare them for their future careers.

William’s experience illustrates the two-way impact at the heart of Rural Works!: students bring their knowledge, skills and fresh perspectives to employers across North Carolina while employers provide meaningful experiences that help students grow personally and professionally.

Improving Production Efficiency

One of William’s primary projects focused on reducing operator downtime at the plant’s burnishing station. After conducting a time study, he identified that operators lacked an efficient and reliable way to measure cycle time.

William designed and built an electrical timing light system, known as an Andon Light system, that clearly displayed the appropriate cycle time for operators. With assistance from Edelbrock’s maintenance team, he installed the system at the station.

The result was an 18% improvement in reclaimed manhours and an estimated $14,500 in recurring annual labor savings.

William also worked alongside a lead engineer to develop tooling for a new dual-indexer system designed to improve efficiency through a major production bottleneck. Using skills developed through his mechanical engineering coursework, he created a detailed 3D SolidWorks model of the CNC machine and tooling system, providing the foundation needed to validate and manufacture the new tooling.

Solving an Immediate Production Challenge

William’s impact extended beyond engineering design.

When a purchasing delay left Edelbrock waiting for a critical component, William was challenged to find a way to make use of scrap parts already available at the facility.

He developed a repair process and used it to restore more than 5,000 components. After validating the process through Form, Fit and Function testing, the repaired components were put directly into production for two days while the company awaited its shipment.

The solution helped Edelbrock avoid a potential two-day production shutdown — a disruption William estimated could have resulted in approximately $500,000 in lost production.

For William, solving problems with immediate consequences provided a firsthand look at what it means to work as an engineer in a manufacturing environment.

“A lot of what I did at Edelbrock is design for manufacturing and assembly,” William said. “I think the most valuable knowledge I gained from my experience was understanding how the production plant worked and all the effort that goes into the daily products we use. It was beautiful to see how all of these departments interacted and supported one another.”

Taking Engineering Beyond the Classroom

William’s coursework at NC State provided the foundation he needed to approach those challenges. Throughout the summer, he drew on his experience with 3D modeling and design, along with concepts from solid mechanics and electronics, to solve problems with immediate, real-world consequences. 

For Dr. Jerome Lavelle, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in NC State’s College of Engineering, experiences like William’s are an important complement to what students learn in the classroom.

“Experiences like William’s allow students to take the technical foundation they build in the classroom and apply it to complex problems where there isn’t always one clear answer. That kind of experience develops not only stronger engineers, but more confident problem-solvers prepared to contribute from the beginning of their careers.”

For Edelbrock, William demonstrated the value students can bring to an organization when given the opportunity to apply their education in a professional setting.

TaLisa Kohan, Human Resources Business Partner at Edelbrock, said William — along with previous NC State interns — brought valuable knowledge and skills to the company. His solid modeling abilities, report writing, audit skills and ideas for component repair all benefited the team.

“William was always positive,” Kohan said. “He was willing to learn anything he could, put forth 100% effort in everything he worked on, and worked well with others.”

Building Confidence for What Comes Next

The experience ultimately gave William more than an opportunity to strengthen his technical skills. As he moved from learning about engineering concepts in the classroom to making decisions and developing solutions with real consequences, he began to see himself differently as an engineer.

“This internship has prepared me for my future career by giving me a platform to transform from a beginner engineer into a self-starting innovator,” William said. “I now have the confidence in my own abilities.”

William’s experience reflects the two-way impact at the heart of Rural Works!. Students bring fresh ideas, technical knowledge and new perspectives to employers across North Carolina, creating measurable value for the organizations and communities where they work. In return, they gain something equally valuable: the experience, confidence and perspective to see what they are capable of beyond the classroom.

For William, one summer at Edelbrock didn’t just show him what an engineer does. It showed him that he was ready to become one.