Continuous Improvement Intern

What you’ll do:

Do you want to gain hands-on continuous improvement (CI) experience and work side by side with site leaders to strengthen daily management? 

This position is an 8- or 12-week paid internship based at the Ellisville, Missouri site (about 20 minutes west of St. Louis). In this role, you’ll support continuous improvement efforts by helping teams make performance visible, standardize processes, and close gaps when breakdowns occur. You’ll help set up and maintain visual management boards, track actions to completion, and assist with simple audits that confirm processes are being followed and sustained. 

You’ll be surrounded by a team that’s invested in your development and will coach you on practical CI tools (problem-solving, standard work, visual management, and basic data analysis) so you can build a  strong foundation for a career in operations and continuous improvement. 

Your career matters — and we’re here to help make it happen. Are you ready? 

What You’ll Do: 
• Build and maintain team visual management boards (daily huddles/metrics/action trackers), ensuring KPIs, top issues, owners, due dates, and status are clear and updated. 
• Support a CI mindset by capturing improvement ideas, helping prioritize opportunities, and following up on actions so improvements are completed and sustained. 
• Assist with auditing and “process confirmation” activities (e.g., standard work and 5S checks): document process breakdowns, gather facts at the point of work, and escalate recurring gaps to the CI/Operations team. 
• Use basic problem-solving tools (5-Why, cause-and-effect, simple Pareto charts) to help teams understand root causes and propose practical countermeasures. 
• Help standardize and document improvements by updating templates, checklists, and work instructions; ensure changes are reflected on boards and in daily routines. 
• Prepare weekly summaries of CI activity (open actions, completed improvements, measured impact) to share with site leadership. 
• Observe and participate in IATF 16949 auditing activities.

Qualifications:

Basic (Required) Qualifications: 
• Actively enrolled in a bachelor’s or master’s degree program in Engineering, Operations/Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Analytics, or a related field at an accredited institution 
• Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.8 or above (please don't round). 
• No relocation is offered for this role. Candidates must reside within 50 miles of the Ellisville, MO site.  
• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1,  E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Prior internship, co-op, or campus leadership experience in manufacturing/operations, quality, supply chain, engineering, or process improvement. 
• Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 or above. 
• Familiarity with CI/Lean concepts (PDCA, 5S, standard work, visual management/boards, basic root cause analysis). 
• Experience building simple dashboards or trackers (e.g., PivotTables, charts, basic Power Query, or similar tools). 
• Strong communication skills and comfort partnering with cross-functional teams; willing to facilitate short stand-ups/huddles with coaching. 
• Curiosity and a continuous learning mindset—able to see problems as opportunities and follow through to closure.

Skills:

Position Criteria:

• Strong attention to detail and comfort working in a structured, process-driven environment. 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (basic formulas, sorting/filtering, and creating clear tables); ability to summarize data into simple visuals is a plus. 
• Able to spend time on the floor/at the point of work to observe processes, ask questions, and document opportunities.