As I reflect on my first year at Wenzel America, I think of all the people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited, from large 
companies to family-owned companies, and the interesting parts they manufacture. They are truly a testament to the backbone of America. What I remember most about these places is not only the experiences like cold Montreal’s genuine poutine and snow-covered mountains and Tennessee’s sweet tea and southern hospitality, but also the wonderful people I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with.
As my passport’s been filled with stamps, my first year with Wenzel has been filled with experience from AUKOM and AGMA, (both of which I’ve written about here) and Automation Alley. Each of these organizations, whose beginnings are almost a century apart, have two aspects that I believe are important to note: They continue to grow, and, in some way, they each promote educational programs to help all of us at Wenzel America and throughout the metrology community. No matter where my job has taken me in the last year, I’ve really enjoyed being both mentor and mentee.
As one of my colleagues, Scott, mentioned in his blog post, the company is continuously evolving to keep up with the demands of the industries we serve. This means reaching across borders to help new customers find solutions. When I was younger, I never imagined how much globalization would play into my career. Because of this, I would like to publicly thank all my international colleagues for aiding my development as a metrologist, including my focus on supporting our customers. One particular example is how I helped with the development of an improvement for one of our software modules to be able to measure enveloping worms.
Usually, I focus on the technological aspects of my job such as describing software, training customers, and touting the benefits of personal advancement through educational development. 
While this is still true (and you can read about it in my previous blogs!), what always stands out the most to me are the relationships. It is what I’ve come to cherish and will continue to foster throughout my career. I believe this focus on relationships is what defines a family-owned company.
As I continue to train more new customers, I know I will be their first stop for applications support. Because of this, I know that these are names that will be hard to forget. Because the world of metrology is relatively small, I know I will meet with the same people in the future because we are intertwined in what we’ve chosen to do. I usually call them “customers,” but perhaps a more appropriate term should be “partners” because, ultimately, we depend on one another for our continued success. It is because of these opportunities that I enjoy working at Wenzel America.
If you’d like to hear more of my story, please don’t hesitate to contact me here.