The document is an internship report written by a student for their supervisor. It summarizes the student's internship experience at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a global food processing company. The student found the internship through their university career fair, learned various operational and business tasks during the 11-week period, and accomplished a project refabricating grain loaders that saved the company costs. The student recommends attending career fairs to find internships, working hard to earn respect during the short period, and asking questions to fully learn about the business.

1. Date:
November 13, 2013
To:
Jeff Suchy
From:
Andrew Motycka
Subject: Internship Report
As you requested, here is my internship report. My internship was a very rewarding experience,
and I am happy to tell you about it in this report. Internships should continue to be required to
graduate with this degree as it opens up the door for job opportunities and helps students to find
out what they want to do or do not want to do for the rest of their lives.
How I Found My Internship
I found my internship by going to the Ohio State career fair. I wore a suit to the fair and walked
around talking to various companies. I was very nervous going into this event but everybody was
very friendly and very relaxed. It was actually fun in a sense that everybody was interested in
what YOU wanted to do for your career and then told you how their company would fit your
desires. I would recommend the career fair to every student in the major and it should be a
requirement to attend a career fair before you can graduate.
Company Information
The company I did my internship with is Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). ADM is a global
food-processing and commodities-trading corporation. ADM employs 30,000 people in more
than 140 countries on 6 continents. Converting corn, oilseeds, wheat, and cocoa into processed
products is what ADM specializes in as well as commodity-trading and ethanol production. The
location I worked at is Columbus, Ohio which is located at 4260 Groves Rd. This is a rail
loading grain elevator facility.
Supervisor Contact Information
The supervisor for my internship in Columbus was Adam Shipley. His email address is
adam.shipley@adm.com and his phone number is (614)403-8817.
Tasks
My responsibilities included gaining an understanding of everything involved with the
operations side of the location, along with acquiring basic knowledge of the financial,
accounting, and marketing scope of the location. On the operations side I learned how to load
railcars and specifics of working with the railroad, maintaining inventory in the bins, blending

2. grain, grading grain, maintenance tasks, drying wheat, and obtained a basic knowledge of how
everything works in the facility. On the business side learned about the profit and loss figures of
the location, how the futures market works, how the accountants keep track of the contracts with
farmers, and contracting logistics when the location sold grain.
Accomplishments and Lessons Learned
During my internship I had the task of refabricating loaders on the spouts on the bottom of the
bins where the grain came out. These loaders distribute the grain evenly on a drive belt as it
comes out of the bins. These loaders are made of sheet metal and many of them had weakened
and been “chewed away” by the flow of grain running off of them over the years. To accomplish
this task I had to remove the old loaders (after the equipment had been shut off and locked out),
cut the new loaders out of sheet metal, drill holes to be able to bolt them on, and install them.
This project saved the location several thousand dollars in labor and installation costs.
I learned several lessons during the internship. Grain elevators have a lot of moving parts and
mechanization that takes a significant amount of time to learn. I made several mistakes that
resulted in spilled grain and temporary shutdown of equipment. A lesson that I learned is to
always own up to your mistakes no matter the circumstances. Mistakes are bound to happen
when new to a facility, but they become unacceptable when you try to cover them up.
Several of the employees at the location were older gentlemen who had worked at the location
for years. To them I was a young kid coming into their domain to work for a short period of 11
weeks. Faced with this situation, I quickly obtained people skills. There is a unique way to
approach every individual as everyone is different. There is also a certain tact to use when trying
to obtain knowledge from them. I learned to show them respect and to help them in order for
them to help me.
Student Recommendations
My first recommendation to students is to attend the career fair. I am certain that I never would
have had the privilege to experience this opportunity if I had not attended the career fair.
Companies are looking for students to recruit at these events and it is a great way to get an
interview with them. It is a little intimidating at first but after talking to a few companies you get
more comfortable and I actually ended up having a good time there.
My next recommendation is to work your tail off. Respect is earned through hard work in a short
11 week internship such as this one. If there is one impression to leave on the people at the
location, it is that you are a hard working individual. There is only so much you can learn over a
summer, so it is almost more important to show your superiors that you have the work ethic and
desire to learn. It is also good to go out of your way to accomplish something that needs done
without being told. Instead of going to your supervisor every time you accomplish a task, look
for stuff that needs done. Your supervisors are busy with the everyday operations of the business,
so if you can get something done without taking their time away, it is very well looked upon and

3. they will remember that. I have seen where other interns do not go the extra mile to do
something right, and do not take the initiative to get something done on their own, and it did
them no good.
My last recommendation is to ask questions. The internship will be what you make of it. If you
are not there to learn, then what’s the point of doing an internship? Do not look at this internship
as a requirement to graduate. Get out there, work hard, and try to learn the business. If you end
up going into the same industry as your internship was in, everything you learned will be highly
valuable and will make you more marketable to companies. If you work hard enough and show
your supervisor that you have the capacity and drive to learn, the internship can lead to a job
offer as mine did.

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