The Engineering co-op program at Yokohama Tire provides the student with hands-on engineering experience dedicated to the design and development of passenger and light truck tires.  The program is designed to introduce the student to the intricacies of tire performance which are critically important to vehicle ride, handling, safety and comfort.  At the end of the co-op experience, the student will understand the single most important component that dictates vehicle performance – the tire.

The Yokohama co-op experience was designed to coincide with the progression of coursework while maximizing exposure to the tire development cycles.  The co-op program is three semesters, with each semester focusing on a different area of the tire development process.  The first rotation teaches the student about mold design and immerses the student directly into CAD design of actual tires that are headed to production.   The second rotation gives the student first-hand experience measuring and testing tires to determine things like braking and driving performance, handling, tire wear, vibration analysis, and noise, to name a few.  In the final rotation, the student will be exposed to methods for designing tires to meet specific targets, including more advanced development tools such as Finite Element Modeling (FEA), Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) techniques, and other tools.

• Complete Yokohama’s internal Tires 101 course and Safety Training
• Assist in creating or editing CAD Mold Designs
• Learn lab safety and tool operation
• Conduct Tire measurements and 3-D scans
• Assist in Tire Testing procedures
• Conduct more advanced design studies (FEA, NVH, etc.)
• Prepare presentations and present results and findings to engineering peers and supervisors

• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Strong technical, analytic and problem-solving skills.
• Exposure or use of engineering software tools such as CAD programs, Microsoft Excel, etc.

• Current university student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering
• Completed at least 45 credit hours with a GPA of 2.8 / 4.0 or higher
• Be able to commit to three full co-op semesters at the Yokohama Development Center America located in Cornelius, NC. Semesters do not need to be consecutive.