SOP Sample for MS in Manufacturing Engineering | Early Career Profile

I want to pursue a master's in manufacturing engineering with a research focus on designing advanced manufacturing processes, equipment, and machinery. While studying industrial engineering as a minor course in my undergraduate program, I found out there are many kinds of manual jobs that put workers' lives at huge risk, like manual scavenging, construction work, mining, and several dangerous chemical jobs that require long exposure to chemicals. After meeting workers during my internship and industrial visits, I firsthand saw those insane and dangerous work environments, and I wish to change the style of working with much more sophisticated, safe, and efficient processes.

My career aspiration is to start a company which will design and manufacture machinery and equipment that will help many people in my country perform their dangerous and cruel manual jobs safely, with less risk of losing their lives, and replace those dangerous working conditions with something that is safer and more efficient to work in.

From a very young age, I developed a keen interest in machines and vehicles. Later on, that interest led to the curiosity to find out how exactly these things work, which drove me to opt for mechanical engineering for my graduation. I completed my bachelor's degree from [UNIVERSITY], where I learned the basic mechanics involved in manufacturing and the working of products.

In my second year, I participated in the Go-Kart championship where I worked with a team of 20 people who were very new to the idea of building something on their own, including myself. I thought of and implemented an idea in this project: to mount a proximity sensor in the back of the vehicle which would indicate to the driver about approaching vehicles from behind. This helps the driver keep focus on the road, reducing the chance of crashing in the race.

In my final year of graduation, I chose to design and build a weight lifting machine to lift heavy weights up to 80kg to a height of 5 feet from the ground with very little effort as my capstone project. We used a linear actuator to lift the weight attached to the fork arm with the help of a hook fixed at the end. By precisely calculating the force required to lift our target weight, we chose the fork arm length according to that force and the height we wanted to lift, and chose the actuator according to those calculations, so that the actuator and the fork arm would be able to withstand the force required to lift the weight we wanted. We used wheels with brakes which help the machine be stored in a vertical position to save space, as the brake on the wheel prevents it from skidding over the wall. This saves space and prevents accidental falling of the machine on workers, which can cause injuries. I came up with this idea to help manual workers avoid fatal back injuries while lifting weight, as almost every industry requires loading of raw materials, and in many companies, this is commonly done by manual labor, including in the construction field. Yearly, many people report backbone and spinal cord injuries while doing these kinds of jobs.

As part of my internship, I worked as an assistant machine operator in a company that manufactures pipes, where I found that there are a lot more steps and processes than we know of involved in manufacturing even a simple product. I also found that the dust from the granules and chemicals used in the mixer to make pipes was spreading inside the company floor where the workers work, and this was causing the workers to feel uneasy with a huge chance of it leading to breathing problems. So I came up with an idea to close the powder dropping section with a glass chamber where everything related to those chemical ingredients would be done inside that chamber, hence reducing the risk for the company workers. I also instructed them to use gloves while handling the chemicals.

When I decided to start my own company and change the manual working environment to help those who are in need, I realized that the knowledge I possess is not enough. What I know is just the tip of an iceberg, which intrigued me to pursue my master's in manufacturing engineering from your prestigious university, which I believe will give me enough knowledge about the processes and techniques involved in manufacturing and ways to improve conventional processes.

During my internship and industrial visits, I got a good glimpse of the industrial manufacturing department. As I have worked in a desk job for the past 2 years, I understand that this field is not suitable for me, as I always want to explore new challenges and work with hardware machines and tools.