My dad was a machinist for a few years and then he ended up becoming a mechanic. He taught me a lot and wanted me to be able to fix whatever around the house myself. Anytime something broke around the house, he would pull me over and be like, “Alright, I'm going to show you how this works and how we're going to fix it.”
I went to technical high school to study electrical. The high school I went to has changed in recent years, but it was mostly males. It didn't bother me. There was always a good level of respect and there were never any problems.
Nine years after joining Westminster Tool with no background in machining, Amy Skrzypczak runs the company’s wire EDM department. Photo Credit: Westminster Tool
After high school I went to our local community college and got an associate degree in engineering science. One of my professors knew the owner of Westminster and recommended me. I think his exact words were, “I know this company. They're great. They’re a bunch of misfits and I think you'll do well.”
I had zero background in machining when I started, and it was definitely a bit overwhelming. But it was also cool, right? It might sound weird, but I was impressed at how clean the shop was. I thought I was just going to be an intern, but I ended up really liking it and just never left.
When I started, the person who was running our CMM was needed elsewhere. So they immediately had me training with him on the CMM — writing programs, taking data and conveying that information to the machinist. It helped me get a feel for how things work.
I slowly took over electrode manufacturing and then went on to cutting graphite. I eventually took over the whole electrode manufacturing and design department for about three years and currently run the wire EDM department. I wouldn't call myself fully proficient, but given enough time and resources, you can figure anything out, right?
It’s always a different challenge, a different project. Thank God I found this job because I would have spent all my time and money going to school and found out I could never work a desk job. I think there's a lot of people who take that kind of work because it pays well even though it really makes them unhappy. There is a certain type of person who enjoys doing the same thing day in day out, but I'm not one of them.
What blows my mind is that we make parts that flow up to larger companies and become airplanes and medical devices. It’s all made at the small shops spread throughout the country. It really is just the little guys. We're probably 35 to 40 people here at any given time, but the things that we contribute to as part of an American manufacturing tradition is amazing. It sounds a little corny, but it feels good to be a part of that.