Meet Brett Herdegen. Brett works as part of the engineering team here at Vita Group, as an electrical engineer. His background is actually biomedical engineering, but he’s currently working on getting his master’s degree in electrical engineering, as that type of engineering is more applicable to his responsibilities at Vita Group. He has been an employee for Vita Group for almost a year and does valued work for the development of medical devices. Before we get into what Brett does at Vita Group, let’s go over what electrical engineers do.
WHAT DOES AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER DO?
Electrical engineers like Brett focus on the electrical components of products. They combine engineering and problem-solving skills to design, test, and manage the development of electrical devices. EE's responsibilities include:
Designing new ways to use electrical power to develop or improve products
Understanding and communicating the client’s needs and requirements for the development of their product
Managing the development of projects to ensure safety and functionality
Testing and evaluating products for problems, safety, and efficiency
When developing products, EEs have to be focused and concentrated to understand complex electrical systems. They use advanced mathematical skills and critical thinking skills to achieve in-depth understanding of electrical designs, and they must be able to apply their experience and knowledge to each project they undertake. Their job also heavily relies on working with coworkers on projects, which means they have to be thorough with their communication and collaboration skills. They must be able to explain their designs and reasoning clearly and to relay instructions during product development to their team.
EEs also have to learn to use CAD, a computer software that generates designs into 3D prototypes. They transfer their ideas and concepts for a product from their head to the CAD program to create a basis for 3D models, which over time develop into final renderings for prototypes. EEs require complex thinking skills and experience for engineering and product development.
BRETT’S WORK AT VITA GROUP:
There’s actually no specific schedule Brett follows every day, so this is less a day in his life and more delving into what valued work he does for Vita Group. His job entails a variety of tasks that adds to the quality of developing devices. Typically, Brett manages two device projects with a team of engineers. He works on process development and manages suppliers and manufactures through constant communication to ensure Vita Group complies with our high-level standards for our clients. He also consults with our regulatory partners to guarantee our devices are on the right path to commercialization. Each day he follows up on previously discussed tasks with these suppliers and partners and checks things out on our QMS system.
He mostly works on projects in Phase 0 to Phase 4 which includes concept development, prototyping, refinement, testing, and manufacturing.
As stated above, EEs work closely with CAD programs for 3D printing. Brett uses his knowledge of math and physics to design the electrical components for devices. Once the prototypes are printed, Brett gets his hands dirty by working out its kinks. He’s constantly developing prototypes until they are highly functional and safe for use. Sometimes, he even gets to test these prototypes, and with Vita Group’s access to in-house labs, he is able to conduct testing on the prototypes himself to test for efficiency and effectiveness.
Vita Group is very proud to have Brett on our team. He adds a lot of value to the development of products and works hard to create quality designs for devices. We can’t wait to see where his future at Vita Group takes him.
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