Industry Labs Engineer-in-Residence Natalie Medich shares how she has made an impact on the South Bend-Elkhart region through her years of experience, innovative drive, and love of mentorship.
Before Amazon popularized flexible work schedules in their warehouses, Natalie Medich grew her manufacturing company with the aid of moms looking for flexible, part-time opportunities to work. Through her unique solution, Natalie offered autonomy to families while also economizing the resources of her business. The company engineered and designed products to support the movie industry, including some of the marquee signs you can still see hanging in movie theaters in South Bend. Seeing her vision come to life was amazing, even if it required creativity in learning how to handle new processes such as payroll and tax laws. Natalie’s resourcefulness enabled her to delegate those tasks to others and pour her own talent into engineering and process design, the areas where she knew how to drive the greatest impact.
Three years in, Natalie had the opportunity to sell her company. After the sale went through, she took some time to focus on raising her young family before getting back onto the shop floors and back offices, this time as a consultant. Natalie spent over a decade partnering with manufacturing, plastics, and automotive companies and leading them through their business and manufacturing process improvement journeys. During this time she became a trusted resource for company leaders in the South Bend Elkhart region, fixing broken processes and establishing a better work environment to sustain continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Natalie has always had a passion for helping young people see a future for themselves in manufacturing and engineering, and in 2018 she stepped into the role of department chair for Automation and Robotics at Ivy Tech. There, she spearheaded the formulation of the Larry & Judy Garatoni Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Automation at the South Bend - Elkhart campus as well as the Smart Manufacturing and Digital Integration degree - the first of its kind in the nation.
Despite all this, Natalie’s most inspiring attribute is not her vastly impressive resume (and it is certainly impressive) - but rather her innate capacity to drive value by investing in the lives of others. Describing her approach, she stated, “I really like to bring people, processes, and technology together to solve problems.”
At Industry Labs, Natalie believes the role Engineer-in-Residence was written for her. Drawing from her extensive industry background, she relishes the opportunity to blend her expertise with mentoring emerging talent. Throughout her career, every problem solved has involved training another person to do something that hadn’t been done before. “It’s a way for me to make a difference not only in people’s lives,” she explains, “but to be a part of this community and make sure it’s still vibrant 5 years from now… 25 years from now.”
An especially impactful project for Natalie involved helping a company to train operators on value streams via a digital platform. The project began with helping the company to access real-time data by bolstering their IT support, enabling the development. The outcome of the project was effectively controlled processes, improved staff skill sets, and an ability to enter new markets. Additionally, Natalie was able to recommend a team-member to become a permanent employee at the company.
As an Engineer In Residence, Natalie enjoys using her various talents to be part of something bigger in the region. Her passion for problem solving, new technologies, and working with new talent are the core of her approach. This people-centered and data-driven mindset is what unlocks her ability to help both companies and individuals to access their fullest potential.