As we enter a new decade, we are reflecting on the milestones, accomplishments and celebrations from Orchid and our employees in 2019.
Orchid Design Celebrated 15 years
In September, Orchid Design celebrated 15 years of serving the Orthopedic and Spine industries. The team has helped hundreds of customers during this time to take their concept and make it a reality.
Orchid Rolled out New Core Values and Mission Statement
This year we rolled out Orchid’s new vision, purpose and core values. These are the foundation of our culture and strategy, so our leadership team met to update and clarify them to be more descriptive of our culture, what is most important to us, and what we believe in. They outline why we do what we do and how we approach doing it with and for our customers, employees and supplier partners. Our core purpose is a enabling a longer, active life. We provide an opportunity for people to live a better life by enabling them to be active longer through our products and services.
Employee Achievements
Our employees had some major accomplishments this year that we were excited to share. Here are just a few:
- Rob Debney, Director - International Business Development, completed TWO, yes two, IRONMAN competitions this year, making that a total of 6
- Paul Shock, Application Support Analyst, completed his third IRONMAN competition.
- Our team of CNC Programmers in Arcadia, CA completed an 11-week Fanuc programming class
- Amanda Rowe, CMM Operator (Oregon) took home the gold with her paddling club
- Detective Manuel Campos, the step-son of Curtis Rose, Orchid’s Supervisor of Operations, was awarded of the Irwindale Police Department, the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington
Local Events and Activities
- A few of our employees from our California sites attended the Donate Life America to promote donation and raise awareness on becoming a donor.
- Our team in Holt, MI came together and provided 1,949 food items to Our Savior Lutheran Food Bank in Lansing. They have been donating to this food bank for the past four years and each year the donation increases on our end. Big shout out to Damon Fisher, Maintenance Assistant, who helps put this food drive together and continues to make each year better than the last.
- We sponsored the Byron Robotics Team, supporting the daughter of Keith Wasilenski, Tax Manager. The Byron Robotics has competed better this year than it has in its past four years. They made it to quarterfinals and were ranked 92 in the state out of 549 teams and were able to go to state competition. They made it to semifinals in their division, but did not advance to the finals.
- Our Sheffield facility was a sponsor at the Get up to Speed event is a highly interactive event aimed at showcasing the sector, its employers and employment opportunities to school children, students, parents and teachers. Its aim is to inspire and build confidence and knowledge in science, technology, engineering and manufacturing as a great place to work.
- Our facility in Switzerland celebrated National Future Day in November! The holiday invites children to begin considering their future careers by visiting local companies and colleges to learn about potential jobs. Three children visited our facility. They took a tour and were able to work on some small projects themselves. They also gained insight into the varied activities Orchid employees engage in.
Guest Speaker Opportunities & Sponsorships
During the annual Orthopaedic Manufacturing and Technology Exposition and Conference (OMTEC) in Rosemont, IL, we had a couple of guest speakers. Parimal Bapat, Ph.D., Lead Product Innovation Engineer, was a moderator and Armando Salito, Chief Engineer, Product Innovation, was a panelist during the session called Joint Replacement: The Current and Future Impact of Coatings where they discussed what research demonstrates about current hip and knee coatings and helped gain perspective from leading device companies about the future of coatings in joint replacement implants. We also sponsored the Coatings Tech Center where it brought together coating experts together to discuss how coatings work, coating test methods and coating manufacturing applications.
We want to thank all Orchid employees for their hard work this past year and making Orchid a world leader in the orthopedic industry. We are excited to see what we will accomplish in 2020!
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