Marquis Macadamias Work Experience

Placement objective

The placement objective was to gain practical engineering experience inside an active manufacturing plant, supporting plant engineering, maintenance, equipment improvement, and documentation tasks. The work connected CAD and mechanical design to real production-floor constraints, fabrication practicality, maintainability, safety, hygiene, and equipment downtime.

Placement overview

Role: Engineering Intern - Plant Engineering & Maintenance Support
Dates: January to March 2025
Site: Marquis Macadamias, Lismore / Lindendale, Northern NSW
Environment: Live food manufacturing and macadamia processing facility
Team context: Plant/project engineering, maintenance staff, operators, trades, production staff, suppliers, and fabrication support
Primary focus: Colour sorter integration, hopper and chute fabrication drawings, CAD design, shaker grader, air knife and bucket elevator components, plant-floor measurements, maintenance documentation, inspections, and installation support

Engineering context

The placement took place around live macadamia processing and production equipment. The work involved practical plant engineering support rather than isolated design exercises: measurements had to match existing equipment, drawings needed to be useful for fabrication, and solutions had to consider operators, maintenance staff, cleaning access, production flow, and installation constraints. Several CAD tasks were tied directly to material handling and product flow, including size grading dehusked nuts, kernel spreading after a water sorter, and nut-kernel conveying.

Macadamia processing and production equipment
Colour sorter integration, support structure, hopper, conveyors, and chute interfaces
Chutes and material-handling interfaces, including replacement chute work
Air knife / kernel-spreading component after the water sorter
Bucket elevator and nut-kernel conveying equipment
Shaker grader equipment for size-grading dehusked nuts
Packing and production equipment
Mechanical plant systems
Factory layouts and plant-floor equipment arrangements
Preventive-maintenance checklists
Asset records and maintenance documentation systems

Main project: colour sorter integration

The main placement project was an Autodesk Inventor assembly for a proposed colour sorter installation. Marquis wanted to add a new machine into an existing processing area, so the work started with plant-floor measurement of the surrounding support structure, conveyors, chutes, and connection points. The colour sorter, discharge hopper, and support structure were modelled as clear sub-assemblies before being combined with incoming and outgoing conveyors, chute paths, and interfaces to existing equipment.

The support structure was modelled separately before being combined with the machine and surrounding equipment. This made it easier to review the baseline geometry, identify where reinforcement would be needed, check whether the colour sorter arrangement would fit, and design new hopper, chute, and connection geometry. The model also supported contractor coordination, including reinforcement to the supporting structure and manufacture of new hopper and chute components.

My technical contribution

Measured existing plant structures, conveyors, and chutes to check whether a proposed colour sorter installation would physically fit in a live production area.
Created the main Autodesk Inventor colour sorter integration assembly, combining the new machine, support structure, conveyors, hopper, chute interfaces, and surrounding plant constraints.
Modelled the proposed colour sorter and support structure as separate sub-assemblies so fit-up, reinforcement needs, and connection points could be reviewed clearly.
Designed the colour sorter discharge hopper and prepared contractor-ready 2D fabrication drawings with key dimensions, wall thickness, edge details, and open-face direction.
Designed new chute geometry and a separate replacement chute for damaged plant equipment, translating maintenance needs into practical remanufacture models.
Designed a shaker grader for size-grading dehusked nuts, prepared the fabrication drawing, and supported the manufactured unit through factory implementation.
Designed an air knife component for spreading kernel after the water sorter, plus bucket elevator components and detailed assembly views for nut-kernel handling.
Prepared BOMs, technical drawings, and plant documentation while supporting inspections, condition-monitoring work orders, and the move toward online / CMMS-style maintenance records.
Worked with engineers, operators, trades, maintenance staff, suppliers, and external fabrication support to keep designs practical for manufacture, installation, cleaning, and maintenance.

Design and production constraints

Food manufacturing changes how even simple mechanical work is judged. A part has to fit, but it also has to be cleanable, maintainable, safe for operators, practical to fabricate, and possible to install without unnecessary disruption to production.

PPE, hygiene requirements, food-safety standards, housekeeping, and cleaning access.
Operator access, maintainability, production flow, and equipment downtime constraints.
Fit-up between a proposed new colour sorter, existing conveyors, chute paths, and the supporting structure.
Sheet-metal hopper geometry, open-face direction, edge details, conveyor placement, and contractor fabrication requirements.
Fabrication practicality, contractor communication, installation access, and fit-up inside a live plant.
Designing around existing equipment, real measurements, production schedules, and maintenance needs.

Results and evaluation

The placement produced practical engineering outputs and learning across CAD design, process equipment components, fabrication documentation, plant layout measurement, maintenance planning, and installation support. It met the objective by exposing me to the full path from real factory problem to measured layout, CAD model, drawing, manufactured part, installation consideration, and maintenance documentation. The colour sorter integration work was the strongest example: the CAD assembly was used to evaluate real fit-up constraints, support new hopper and chute designs, and communicate structural reinforcement requirements with the contractor.

Produced an integrated CAD model that showed how the colour sorter, structural platform, conveyors, hopper, and chute interfaces would fit together before fabrication and installation decisions.
Used measured plant geometry to identify fit-up issues, guide chute redesign, and support contractor coordination for structural reinforcement and manufactured components.
Delivered contractor-ready drawings for parts including the hopper, air knife, and shaker grader, with the shaker grader manufactured and implemented in the factory.
Created maintenance-driven CAD work for damaged or replacement equipment, connecting plant-floor problems to practical remanufacture outputs.
Built practical experience in mechanical design for manufacturing, installation support, maintenance planning, inspections, and condition monitoring.
Worked around real food-manufacturing constraints including hygiene, cleaning access, production downtime, operator access, maintainability, and fabrication practicality.

Tools and documentation

Autodesk InventorCAD drawingsBOMsTechnical documentationMaintenance recordsPreventive-maintenance checklistsOnline / CMMS-style documentation

Visual gallery

The gallery below focuses on project visuals from the placement: integrated assembly models, fabrication drawings supplied to contractors, production equipment components, and supporting CAD details.

Autodesk Inventor CAD assembly of a colour sorter, supporting structure, conveyors, and chute connections for a macadamia processing line — **Colour sorter integration assembly** Main placement assembly showing a proposed colour sorter positioned on its support structure with surrounding conveyors and chute interfaces. The model was built from plant measurements to check fit-up, guide chute redesign, and coordinate structural reinforcement with the contractor.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of the proposed colour sorter machine and hopper model — **Colour sorter machine CAD render** Standalone model of the proposed colour sorter machine and hopper, used as a sub-assembly before placing it into the wider support-structure, conveyor, and chute layout.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of a hopper designed for the colour sorter conveyor interface — **Colour sorter hopper CAD render** CAD render of the hopper that sat on the conveyor beneath the colour sorter discharge, guiding nuts from the sorter into the required downstream position.

2D fabrication drawing supplied to a contractor for the colour sorter hopper — **Hopper fabrication drawing** 2D drawing supplied to the contractor for fabrication, showing the hopper views, key dimensions, angled faces, open-face direction, wall thickness note, and edge-piece detail.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of the support structure used for the colour sorter integration project — **Support structure CAD render** Standalone model of the support structure that the colour sorter and surrounding machinery needed to sit on, used as the baseline for fit-up checks, reinforcement planning, and interface layout.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of a replacement chute designed for a damaged chute in a separate plant location — **Replacement chute CAD render** Standalone replacement chute designed for a separate plant location after the existing chute was damaged. This was maintenance-driven CAD work for practical remanufacture and was not part of the colour sorter integration assembly.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of a shaker grader assembly designed to size-grade dehusked macadamia nuts — **Shaker grader CAD render** Autodesk Inventor render of a shaker grader assembly designed and made for dehusked nuts, using spaced rods and side supports to separate product by size as it travels along the grader.

2D fabrication drawing supplied to a contractor for a shaker grader used to size-grade dehusked macadamia nuts — **Shaker grader fabrication drawing** 2D drawing supplied to the contractor for fabrication, showing rod spacing, side-plate profile, mounting holes, material note, nuts, and key dimensions for the shaker grader that was later implemented in the factory.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of an air knife component designed to spread macadamia kernel evenly over a conveyor after a water sorter — **Air knife CAD render** Autodesk Inventor render of an air knife component designed to help spread kernel evenly over a conveyor after the water sorter, showing the flanged inlet, tapered body, and discharge geometry.

2D fabrication drawing supplied to a contractor for the air knife component — **Air knife fabrication drawing** 2D drawing supplied for fabrication, showing the air knife views, flange and bolt pattern, tapered body dimensions, outlet detail, wall thickness, and key angles for manufacture.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of an individual bucket for a nut-kernel bucket elevator — **Bucket elevator bucket CAD render** Individual bucket design for the bucket elevator, showing the carrier volume, rounded internal surfaces, mounting features, side geometry, and end profile used in the larger assembly.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of the full bucket elevator assembly for nut-kernel handling — **Full bucket elevator assembly** Full Autodesk Inventor assembly render of the bucket elevator, showing the horizontal conveyor section, vertical lift, bucket sequence, frame geometry, and overall material-handling route.

Autodesk Inventor CAD close-up of the upper bucket elevator section showing bucket routing and frame geometry — **Upper bucket elevator close-up** Upper bucket elevator close-up showing bucket routing around the top section, frame members, bucket spacing, and the geometry used to guide the return path.

Autodesk Inventor CAD close-up of bucket elevator and conveyor detail for nut-kernel handling — **Bucket elevator transfer detail** Autodesk Inventor close-up of the bucket elevator and conveyor interface for nut-kernel handling, showing bucket layout, frame geometry, and transfer-region packaging.

Autodesk Inventor CAD render of a latch mechanism designed during Johan van Tonder's Marquis Macadamias work experience — **Latch mechanism CAD render** Autodesk Inventor render of a latch mechanism designed during the placement, showing the assembled lever, pivot, bracket, and mounting geometry.