Keith Bornbach

December 1999

Job Title: Electrical Engineer
Employer: Rockwell Collins


Job Description:
My current job is as a collateral engineer. It fits my personality well as it is never the same thing every day. I deal with many people and organizations within Rockwell Collins. These include individual engineers working on a circuit card assembly that is included as part of the LCD displays I am in charge of, program managers who deal directly with the customers, factory personnel who manufacture the product, internal quality groups, and sometimes even customers themselves.

I am part of a sub systems group that deals with the issues of developing requirements for individual circuit card interfaces that are normally internal to the unit. It also includes assisting with the development of requirements for higher level systems, verifying these requirements have been met. The interesting part of this group is that it is focused on LCD displays. The requirements to be in aircraft environment are so strict it becomes quite difficult to even produce a product that can meet all the requirements from the FAA. Displays are fragile by nature and need to be ruggedized, (challenging part of the job) to survive aircraft conditions.


UWP Experience:
I was a non-traditional student at UW-P. The engineering professors were exceptionally caring as they very seldom closed their doors to students and many times were still there late at night helping students with their projects, as they really wanted you to succeed. Each of them had their own views on how to accomplish this but they never let you feel fully at ease with how much you had learned. I never had any trouble approaching any of them for assistance.

What was most helpful during my time there was becoming involved with a small group of friends that would study together. We would support each other when things got tough. It seemed as a group that we were much better than each individual was alone. This also prepared me well for the work world as most of the work I have to do needs a group to complete it on time.


TYPICAL WORK DAY:
My typical day begins at 7:00 am, when I try to get through all the extraneous things that don't need immediate attention. By 8:00 I am receiving calls for assistance with various problems. Since I have contact with so many people I am the first point of contact for most problems. Some problems can be answered right on the phone while others require me to locate the correct resources. I may get a problem that will take some time to complete. This may require planning for resources or, if it is a big enough problem, creating a bid to do the extra work. Some issues require delving into a circuit to determine if a design is incorrect or if the parts are at fault. Depending upon my workload and time constraints I may handle the research myself or assign someone to the task.

I may have a meeting or two to attend on any day but most are necessary. One of the best things I like about my job is that I am not tied to the desk all day long. Several times during the day I go to the lab to follow up on what has been found with the issue of the day. Other times I am involved in impromptu discussions about common product issues between the displays I am in charge of and other similar displays we produce.


Sample Project Description:
Since I am a collateral engineer I have not worked on an individual project. One of the most enjoyable things I was involved with was when an ASIC that is used in the display produced erratic results. This resulted in nearly grounding all the aircraft it was in unless we found the cause quickly. It was an intense several days of 15+ hours a day but eventually the problem was found to be a process defect in how our supplier was producing the ASIC. What made it so interesting was the failure shown on the display would depend upon which internal connection failed. We would think we had it figured out and then some other failure would appear. The supplier understood the gravity of the situation and responded accordingly. They worked around the clock to produce another batch of chips in less than a week. This process normally takes approximately 3-6 months to get new parts of this complexity.