Employee Profile: Wrindy
Apprentice Program

Wrindy, how did you hear about Autocam Medical?

I’m from the Upper Peninsula and my husband took a job down here. I knew of Autocam Medical.

What made you want to apply here?

When we moved, one of the programmers I worked with told me more about this company. I applied and I didn’t know that they had an Apprenticeship Program until I was in my interview when they started talking about it. And that was the biggest selling factor to me because it was a hands-on experience, and you went to the college to do it.

You know, that just sold me instantly. I didn’t even apply anywhere else.

So, you applied for a job and got hired.
What happened next?

I started as an Operator/Machinist in September 2018 and then I got into the Apprentice Program in June 2019. I was hesitant about doing it at first because I was on night shift, and I’d basically not be working for one night while training. But as soon as I went down and saw the AMP Lab and how cool it was, and the stuff they were doing and making, I just had to do it anyway. Really cool.

What stands out to you about working at Autocam Medical?

Autocam Medical isn’t at all what you would picture as a manufacturing shop. We have white floors and it’s the cleanest manufacturing shop I’ve personally seen. I would also say that there are many different jobs here and not all of them involve oil and getting dirty.

Also, I am excited to come to work every day. I am, I love my job! I love the people I work with. I don’t ever want to go anywhere else.

You were working full time and going through the AMP Lab, Apprentice Program. What’s that like?

It’s fun and you have to work for it. They’re not just going to hand it to you.

Autocam Medical encourages you to grow and seek schooling if that’s what you want. They help pay for college if you want to grow in the manufacturing industry. The AMP Lab is more hands on, more geared towards being in industry. And so that was one of the biggest selling factors for me.

It definitely gave me a push to start learning more things. Then as I got to learn more, you know, “Hey, I can do this!”, so it was more of a confidence thing. From there my confidence just took off.

What would you say to people who might be thinking about the Apprentice Program or the AMP Lab?

My husband said “You’ve got to do this. This will make things happen in your career.” He knew that if I excelled it would lead to more opportunities. He was super supportive.

I was surprised at how much freedom we had to put our own spin on our projects. A colleague and I entered a worldwide competition and designed a Thor Hammer. You had to design and program something and send it in, send our programs, include pictures of us making it and then then they evaluate all the different entries by category.

My partner and I entered the College Team Category and we won.

Anyone who invests in themselves with the program can get something amazing out of it.

An awesome thing that Mr. Kennedy did is paying for us to each have our own Thor Hammer at home.

So, I have that in the middle as the centerpiece of my table. It’s a trophy.

I made that.