The All-Axis Podcast

Empowering the Next Generation of Women Engineers

• Michael Thiessen, Sarra Hmili, Samantha Thiessen

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0:00 | 47:34

While women currently represent only 15% of the manufacturing workforce, female technical leaders are breaking barriers and driving critical engineering advancements across modern CAD/CAM and production environments.

In this episode, host Michael Thiessen is joined by two accomplished female engineers: Sarra Hmili, Application Engineer at Tebis America, and Samantha Thiessen. Together, they share their personal journeys into industrial engineering—from early childhood fascinations with building and electronics to mastering complex CAD/CAM software, managing major supplier launches, and optimizing precision shop-floor operations. They candidly discuss navigating male-dominated technical spaces, overcoming industry stereotypes, the power of mentorship, and actionable strategies for encouraging more young women to pursue rewarding careers in STEM and digital manufacturing.

Whether you are a manufacturing leader, engineering manager, student, or advocate for workforce diversity, this episode offers an inspiring and insightful perspective on technical excellence.

In this episode: 
00:00 - Introduction: Diversity & Representation in Modern Manufacturing 
05:10 - Early Sparks: Finding a Passion for STEM, Electronics, and Building 
12:45 - From Engineering School to Shop-Floor Reality: Lessons Learned 
20:30 - Mastering CAD/CAM Technology & Managing Complex Automotive Launches 
29:15 - Navigating Male-Dominated Environments & Overcoming Workplace Stereotypes 
37:40 - Mentorship, Career Growth & Retaining Female Technical Talent 
43:10 - Advice for the Next Generation of Female Engineers

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Speaker - Voiceover

Welcome to the All Axis podcast from the Experts and Tebis. Each episode we'll talk about technology topics, trends, or solutions that manufacturers need to know in today's rapidly evolving times. Now, sit back, enjoy the discussion and let us know what you think.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Hello, my friends. Welcome to the All Axis Podcast. I am your host, Michael Thiessen. You know, these episodes that we're airing, we always try to bring you knowledgeable information that you can use in your own full walls that will help you in what you're doing on a daily basis. So this episode, of course, is no different. We have today some guests on that are very unique. And I'm going to explain a little bit why I'm saying unique. It's nothing bad, it's very, very good. But over the last year, on the last, I think I should say four years now, that we've been doing this, we've been talking about the labor force. And we have been talking, we've been listening to you that you are constantly looking for new talent and new individuals to work in your factories. And we've been talking for a long time about diversification and utilizing individuals that are out there that initially probably you were not even thinking of. So when we go into the majority of manufacturing locations, if that is in a mold or in a dye facility or even aerospace, the majority of people that we see doing the laboring, machine operators and so forth, are mostly males. Let's face it, in engineering, you probably see more males than you probably see females. And an interesting statistic is actually that 15% of the workforce that we're currently in are only women. Only 15% out of the uh out of the manufacturing environment, the rest of them are males. So what we want to highlight today a little bit is why some of the women that we know in engineering, and we have two of them on, why it is important to them to be in that field and why they make that decision. So we've invited, we've invited two individuals that are close to me. One of them works directly with me here at Tebis, and she was working at multiple other locations uh beforehand, and the other one is actually uh part of my family that works in an engineering uh field uh with one of the OEM suppliers. So we have uh on uh on this particular episode, we have Sarra Hmili on. She is the application engineer at Tebis America. She, of course, helps our clients that uh we deal with issues. She's very uh capable on the software, she knows the ins and outs. She makes training and learning the product very, very easy, and she really helps customers really fine-tune the operation so that they can get the most out of it. She has been immersed in CAD/CAM for quite some time, and she was previously at another company also doing an application specialist in a laser type of operation, and she has a bachelor's degree from Essex Business School. So she knows her stuff. The other one that we have on, the other lady, I should say we have on, is Samantha Thiessen. She is the PSD engineer at Toyota, and she supports the pre-production launches by looking at problems and risks that, of course, the suppliers go in and make sure that the products that they manufacture are accurate. Before that, she was also dealing in an engineering internships at other uh suppliers that uh that deal in the plastics environment. And she graduated from Ferris State University with a bachelor's uh degree and focusing on plastics and rubber materials. So it begs to say that these two individuals have a very good knowledge of engineering and dealing in that entire engineering field. So I don't want to go on any further because I want to get their input on why they chose this direction of manufacturing and not going into other areas that probably would be, I could say, friendlier. But without further ado, Sarra, Samantha, thank you very much for being on the uh All Access podcast.

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Oh, absolutely, of course.

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

We're happy to be here. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, hello. Thank you very much for having us today.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Sarra, let me start with you. Why the engineering field, why the manufacturing field for you?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

You know, like that is such a great question because, you know, like I found myself immersed into it and kind of happened by accident and not by accident, but you know, like after being in this field for quite some time, I I really understand a little bit more about myself. And really it comes down to two things is to be able to be creative, and the second part is the problem-solving and getting that blank together. I mean, it's it's what I've always been passionate about. That's how my brain works, and I just feel like that perfect storm that like it feels like me, and I just love that.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So, as a as a young child, were you always intrigued by manufacturing or putting Legos together or uh building towers or whatever? Or what happened? When did it happen that you went down this lane?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

You know, you know, like when I was a kid, I remember my mom, she got me like this whole bag full of Legos, and I just loved that. It was just a bunch of things, and I find myself like building different things and shapes, and um just kind of try to see what can fit, and if it doesn't fit, can I like make this work with another one? And you know, that was something maybe that was my first introduction, uh, which is playing with Lego. But as I grew older, I find myself I'm the person at my family who repairs with their TV is not working, I'm fixing it. If uh the radio is not working properly, I find myself like playing with it, and I become like kind of the fixer-up of the family, and I just love that. It kind of gives me a satisfaction every time something's not working, and it's working. Ah, that feeling's amazing.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Samantha, how about you? What made you kind of follow that pathway into the manufacturing field?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

So I would probably agree with Sarra for most of what she said. I think a lot of it I discovered when my little brother was born. I was helping him build all of his toys and play with his railroad tracks, trying to figure out the best way to make an efficient railroad system to transport all of his rail cars when he was younger. But then from there, as I continue to grow up, um, I always excelled in the math and sciences departments. And so I actually knew from the beginning that the calculuses, the chemistries, the physics, those were more my forte. That is how my brain operated. And so then from there, I was able to take an engineering class where I got into inventor and AutoCAD to understand truly how to design things. And then that helped set myself up for college, where I ultimately chose to get my degree in engineering. So I think at the crux of it, not only having a father who was an engineer and who was always fixing things around in the house, but also being able to play with my little brother's toys, my older brother's toys to um try and figure out the best way to build things and continue to improve them uh in order to make everybody happier. And ultimately that's what brings me to my role today, too. So, because it's all about continuous improvement.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So, Sarra, explain a little bit what does what do you do in Tebis? I mean, of course, I know a little bit of what you're involved in in all of this, but explain a little bit of what is your daily routine, or not routine, but what what does it entail that you're doing and help and doing in the manufacturing area?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

So I am an application engineer at Tebis. Um, my role does um entails a few things. Uh, mainly I am more focused on training. So, for example, when we do have new customers, or let's say one of our customers gets new employees and they would like to be trained on our software, they would come to us, and my job would be to teach them how to use tablets, how to program, design, uh, machine. And that's just a big part of my role is the training aspects uh as well as do like troubleshooting. I work a lot with the help desk. So, for example, if one of our customers have an issue or uh they post a program and they run into a problem with that, um, I'm always able to help them uh connect with them, troubleshoot the errors and uh get them just on track and set them up for success. Um, and those mainly um what I do. Of course, there's so many other side projects, like um making um a new curriculum for the training, trying to improve on a certain aspect of uh of a class or of uh a handout. Uh we do like some YouTube video tutorials online that we can post them, uh as we do have our YouTube channel, so we try to kind of improve on that. And whenever I have some extra time, I would try to build on that. And anything else that comes up, you know, we're doing some demos too for customers.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Well, I know you're you're very detail-oriented, of course, by working with you, and you're a um you were you're trying to always better yourself and in everything that you do. So I think that goes along a little bit on what you have to do in the manufacturing world. I know you, Samantha, you're a little bit of an overachiever as well, and also in trying to outdo yourself. Uh in your daily operations at Toyota, what does that entail? And and do you have to deal with a lot of uh individuals that you're dealing with?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

Yes. So my role at Toyota, we sort of didn't get into the acronyms in the introduction, but my role as a PSD engineer for Toyota, PSD stands for purchasing supplier development engineer. And what that basically means is we help mitigate risk for our suppliers by practicing and using one of our key core values is go and see activity to go to our suppliers, understand what their challenges are, what risks may be, whether that's in the supply chain, logistics, shipping, pallet systems, manufacturability, throughput, so on and so forth. So we analyze all of those uh key performance indicators to then apply it and assess their risk for our launches. So my commodity I deal with specifically is seats. Um, so I just work with a bunch of our seat suppliers to understand how they're gonna impact our vehicle launches, and with that means going to all of our different locations of our suppliers and flying everywhere to put my eyes on all of our products that go into a seat because as I'm sure all of you can guess, seats have multiple components in them. So my daily job role differs from day to day and week to week depending on where I'm at. However, they it always follows a similar operation procedure of making sure that our suppliers are prepared, they understand what expectations are set for them throughout the launch, and then as well, they have all the resources at their disposal to be able to achieve a great launch status. Um, because ultimately at Toyota, we believe everybody is a team and everybody is working together to get these products out to our customers. So that's pretty much what my day-to-day looks like.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So, Samantha, let me ask you this, and then I'll come back to you, Sarra. Of course, you're in a, I could say a male-dominated environment, constant, if that's at a supplier or maybe at Toyota. Does that worry you or does that scare you at all? Or how do you approach that portion?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

So I don't think it worries myself to be a female in engineering. I do think it takes a specific type of female to be willing to uh pursue the quote-unquote daunting task because unfortunately, we do live in a society still where there is sort of a stigmatism across the engineering field, as you mentioned in in the introduction, that it is a male-dominated industry. However, I think at the end of the day, times are still being turned, and there are enough support bases out there for female engineers to be able to excel in the field of engineering, such as like SWE, Society of Women Engineering, um, specific engineering groups. So I majored in plastics engineering, as you mentioned in the beginning. There's SP, Society of Plastics Engineers. So there's many resources for us to excel. Do I worry about anything when I work with my male coworkers? No, I honestly it's become second nature to me. I maybe I it's because I was blessed with two brothers in my family, and so I've always sort of been surrounded by males growing up, but I it never came as a worry to myself. And honestly, I enjoy the task of proving the individuals who who have the old stigmatism in their heads still, I enjoy the task of proving them wrong that we can't achieve similar statuses that our male counterpart would be able to do as well.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So how about you, Sarra? I mean, obviously, uh at Tebis and also at your former location, uh former location that you were at, was it mostly male-dominated that you worked with uh guys together? And how were you uh uh accepted, I should say, in those areas?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Yes, it's definitely uh male-dominated industry for sure. I agree with everything that Samantha just said. Like sometimes or one of the biggest challenges that I think I face is just simply being underestimated, you know? People just look at you, you're a woman, they just automatically assume that you don't know what you're talking about, especially if you're very technical and you're talking about highly like innovative stuff, like tools and machining. They just from the get-go, it's just look at you and like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about, but just to prove them wrong and not only to show them that you know what you're doing, but you're probably one of the best. It's just gonna something from my side, it pushes me to grow, it pushes me to master my skills. I just I I love that. I love proving myself and saying, like, hey, yes, I am a I'm not a female, I'm not an engineer who is a female, it's just I'm just an engineer. My gender has nothing to do with that, you know, and prove them wrong and you know, and say I belong here, just like anybody else.

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

Yeah, if I go ahead. If I may, I'd like to add to that because uh one thing we're not touching on is my past experience. And I will agree with Sarra, especially when doing hard labor jobs, my past roles, I was process engineer at um Yangfeng Automotive Interiors, uh, pretty much being in charge of helping launch programs across other OEMs and uh operating large injection molding machines. And so to be able, as Sarra just mentioned, to show in those labor-intensive jobs that we can also achieve operating this big machinery of equipment and still put out the same part at the end of the day is just a very satisfying thing and achieving success in our day. So I there's no worry, we'll get there. We will get there, and it's pretty soon we'll be infested so with women. But either way, I just wanted to add that on.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Oh no, that's awesome. I have to assume for both of you, and Sarra, let me ask you there first. Um, of course, going into an environment in a manufacturing such as Tebis or in your previous role, there had to be some kind of a mentor that kind of uh put you under their arms in order to kind of guide you along. Was there anybody in your life that kind of gave you those wings and helped you uh helped you on to move along in that field?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

You know, like it wasn't anybody like on my family side, there wasn't any person that was in the field. I was kind of like the what was the best word to say it? I just flew too much. Huh? Yes. But um I think I I first got into it with my previous job. I wasn't sure how it's gonna fit in, but I think I'm very grateful that they gave me the opportunity to be part of the industry, even though I might not be the most qualified or maybe the best candidate at that time. But I remember the person who interviewed me saw something. He's like, you know what? We like you. I know you're not the most prepared, and somebody more qualified than you, but would love to hire you. And that was just the most amazing thing that I I felt that somebody just gonna believed in me and they gave me the chance, and I proved myself. And I think that's just what opened um opened me to this word. And if anybody's listening to this podcast, and you know, like if you're in a hiring or you're part of, you know, like the interviewer committee, I would say like dress on the people, dress in the energy. It's not just like it's not ABC, it's not just math, it's not black and white when it comes to this industry, especially when it's uh a position that requires a lot of uh problem solving, being able to adapt on the spot. It's not something that you can learn in a school or some degree you can get. It depends on the person, and sometimes you can open a small door to somebody and believe in them, and uh they may take you just further and further. And you know, I I say like give them a chance, especially w women and you know, young ladies coming out of school or maybe interested in the field. We can prove ourselves, we're very hardworking, we're dedicated, we're we're just smart, we we can adapt, we have so many skills and just stress on that.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Oh, I I know you are. I know you are. How about you, Samantha? Any mentors in your professional life that kind of guided you along or put you under their wings?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

You see, I like how you put in the word there, professional, because I do think it's a little unfair um for myself. I would have answered that question. Actually, I have answered that question in interviews before. Um, and I usually credit my father. However, for the purpose of today, I will credit my father along with probably my first um boss. My first boss, he was really inspiring, always looking for new ways to solve problems. My first boss at my first internship. Let me make that specific. So, not my first boss when I was a receptionist. This is my first boss where I was a process engineer for twin screw extrusion. But my first manager, he truly challenged my way of thinking as well as continued to push me to find new ways of problem solving and methods to problem solve. And so throughout that, he was very welcoming at Ferris State. Um, we had a class we had to take during the summer where professors had to come in and look at our product throughout the year of what we've done or summer, not year. Um, however, from that standpoint, he was always very welcoming to the degree of plastics engineering, always willing to look for the next avenue we could go down. And he helped me establish my goals as well as learn very basic things, um, even just a simple of how to run a meeting when going into a meeting room. He was a lot of the introductory factors to the manufacturing field for me and how to operate in a Mac manufacturing setting. So I think besides my father, my first manager was probably a huge mentor and role because he was challenging. He gave me 20 projects over a summer to complete, knowing I couldn't get them all done, but he helped me understand how to prioritize them. And each one was a completely different project from one from the other. And I think that's what kept me going in my degree. Not that I ever wanted to change my degree, but it definitely kept me interested. Always fueled a new fire within the plastics degree and manufacturing degree as a whole.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Well, I'm glad there was somebody else there and not just me. So that's good. I have to understand this thing, and I'm going to start with Samantha here first and this one. It's not always going to be roses and candy every single day. Has there ever been a time where you have run into and you go, you know what? I don't know if I can do this. Maybe I'm in the wrong place. Maybe I'm in the wrong company. Maybe I need to be doing something else, but this is just crap.

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

Yeah, so I do think I've definitely hit that point at one point in time during my career. Fortunate enough to say it hasn't been with my current establishment. However, I will say there was that point, unfortunately, for myself where it was just not a great support system. And I think that's what I want to lean on for women out there in the engineering field, is if you build your network and your support system, your opportunities will be great. And if you understand that the culture surrounding you is there to lift you up and not bog you down, you're going to excel. They will always encourage you and improve, challenge you in every simple way that they can. So, yes, unfortunately, I have been in that standpoint. But what I did when I was in that standpoint was I reached out to my support network that I had because I was fortunate enough at Ferris State. Not that I'm trying to plug my college in for listeners out there, but at Ferris State, um, they were always big on going to career fairs, building a network. We always had all these companies coming in from all over to talk during our lunches to introduce their company overviews and opportunities that they had. So through those opportunities, I was able to build a substantial network in my career and in my life. So during that time, I was able to reach out to my network and ask, hey, what's your recommendation? Is this normal? Is am I overreacting, or would you be treating somebody of my status the same way? And that's where I think, like I said, if you're a female engineer, if you're an engineer, period, it doesn't matter. Build your support system, your network, so that you can always bounce ideas and opinions off of them to make sure that you're not going insane, right? You're everything that's occurring is sound in mind. So I think from that standpoint, yes, I've definitely run into places where I feel like it's a crappy situation. However, I've had a great support system built in to um give me the confidence to say, okay, I think it's I think it's time to find something new.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So Sarra, what about you? Did you run into a wall and uh did you have also a support system or did you lean on something else to get yourself back into, so to speak, the saddle again?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

You know, I I must say, Sam, I'm a bit jealous of you because you did have a nice group and support system. So just to give you like a little bit of um backstory, so I moved here in the US basically at the end of 2018. So it was late in December, so it was like just a year before COVID hit. And during that what one year, the first year I was working really hard, I was trying to prove myself, like I can belong here. And unfortunately, I did not have enough time to develop friendships or to grow the network, I was just work, work, work. And I did find myself at times in situations where I was not sure. It's like, is it because of me, because a woman woman, or is it because me as a person, just you know, in general, and I did not have the answer, and you know, at the times I f think I just kind of like my personality is like, oh it's okay, endure it, or just discard it and you know, keep going. It's okay. But after a certain time and some things that was repetitive, I kind of took a step back, and you know, I at that point a few years later had some friends were talking, and I was able at last to share some of my experience, uh, which most of them were like more like men than females, they didn't really quite understand it from my side, of course, but at least I was able to get some more objective opinion from the exterior, not just everything's in my head, and sometimes you don't know, you know. You do face challenges, you do face really tough situations, and I think on my side, I I don't know how to say this right. I just kind of like endured it until I found a better situation, which when I came to Tebis, uh it's been almost two years now, and it's been great, but um, but yeah, you you do sometimes find yourself in a challenge, and I think having a support group or uh people that can understand your situation is really important.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Right. Well, good thing is you have you have a support group at Tebis, so that's good. You've got 100%.

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

Um I was gonna say, Sarra, you got a new friend. So awesome support group. That's awesome, thank you.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

It it it it must be incredibly tough for the the two of you out there. You both of you I know uh are very headstrong and uh can get through almost anything that you put your mind to it. Um now the interesting thing, and I read uh an article just recently, interested me. It was all about the retention issues that females in engineering face. And what it said in there that the challenge on retention of women in the engineering field is that only about 30% of women that earn an engineering or a bachelor's degree in manufacturing engineering are still in the field 20 years later. So it was kind of interesting seeing this. And I want to get your opinion, Sarra. Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Do you see yourself still engaged in the manufacturing? Uh and I know you just had a daughter just recently, and uh you're you're continuing on in the manufacturing field, which I think is great, but where do you see yourself in 20 years? And are you going to be going against that statistic?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Oh, definitely. I'll be part of that 30%. I cannot see myself anywhere else. That's to it's impossible. I need to be technical, I'll always be technical.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Right, right. How about you, Samantha? In 20 years, do you still see yourself at Toyota or manufacturing, anything like that?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

You know, I think that's a great question because it's all all God's plan at the end of the day. And so I think for myself, I really don't know where I will be. Regardless, I do know whatever I'm doing, I will still be doing engineering because at the base of it, feel like everybody's an engineer, whether it's a home renovation type of project or you know, actually going out to a manufacturing line and helping people assess uh their problems and risks that they have throughout their line. I feel like everybody understands and has a little engineer in them to be able to continuously improve their systems wherever they are at. So I don't know where I'm gonna be in 20 years. I I would love to be against the statistic, but also um I know Sarra had her first child. So I could also see myself enjoying a family as well. So I don't know where the world will bring me. I will say for one thing, I enjoy where I currently work and I definitely would love to stay here if I can make that work. So um at the end of the day, if tides change in 20 years, I know at the root of it, I still will be doing some sort of engineering. If that's installing new vanities or fixing up my upstairs, there will be something still related to engineering and manufacturing involved.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

So if you would if you would see Samantha, a let's say 12-year-old young lady, or let's imagine this that you're talking to a younger self, what advice would you give her in order to move forward in the engineering or manufacturing field? And and what would you tell her?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

That's a great question.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Was there anything that you would do different that uh potentially if you could redo it, you would do?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

I don't think there is anything that I would do different. However, I would tell myself to um continue to pursue the niche engineering degrees. Like look for the diamond in the rough type of engineering, because I do think that is the one thing that kept me so interested in my degree, is that Ferris was one of eight universities that teaches plastics engineering uh within the nation. And then at an SWE event, the Society of Women Engineers event, I learned about forensics engineering, which is the reverse engineering of crime scenes in simple terms. And so I think to that standpoint, the advice I would give myself is there's not just one type. Yes, you're a math and sciences person, but that doesn't mean you have to do mechanical. That doesn't mean you have to do chemical. There are so many other opportunities out there. You could do manufacturing, industrial, you can do um plastics, you could do rubbers, rubbers is a totally different degree at Ferris State. You could do forensics, etc. There are so many different avenues that I think a lot of people, when they think engineering, and I see this in my daily role whenever I say plastics engineering, so many people think we're just individuals who take a bunch of calculus and we love our sciences. And yes, that is true. However, there's computer engineering, right? There's there's all these different avenues that can fit those of us who may not be the calculus mechanical engineers, but we can excel in you know aerospace engineering or different types of fields. And so, like I said, the advice I give my my little self, my younger self, is probably to find the niche degrees, find the things that cater to what you enjoy the most, and um continue to pursue those because oftentimes the niche degrees can fit in almost anywhere in a daily basis.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Sarra, I come to you here in just a second because what Samantha, what you just told me, and and I want to elaborate a little bit on this, uh, a study was done of all the women in the workforce in engineering. And because you brought up different disciplines, and I think it's quite fitting to put that in, that in 2023 the survey was done that in uh environmental engineering, there's about 34% women in the workforce. In industrial engineering, we have got 24.1 percent. I don't know where this word 0.1% came from, but it's there. Chemical engineering, we have 20.8% in biomedical engineering, believe it or not, across about 46% in 2022, and in 2023, 52.7 percent were in biomedical, mechanical engineering only 11.4%, aerospace engineering about 10.5, electrical engineering. It looked initially when I looked at it minus 10%, but then I looked again, it had that squiggly line on it. It's about 10%. And then we have an agricultural and mining geological engineering, about 8%. So it's kind of interesting to see the different engineering fields and how women are represented. And uh also you also mentioned the associations that kind of helped you through and many of them. Of course, there's the um the Society of Women Engineers, SWE, as you already mentioned. There's also the IEEE Women in Engineering Network. So there's a whole bunch of different networks that are out there for young ladies that are uh active in the engineering field. So, Sarra, let me come to you. If you would be talking to your younger self, would there be anything that you would do different, or would you tell yourself to do different, or or or is everything pretty much in line?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

That's such an interesting question because I feel like I want to say yes and say, like, oh, just go and because right now I'm just I've been working on uh taking classes, and eventually I want to have like my mechatronic uh degree done, and I would say, like, don't waste your time with marketing, just go straight to that. But also, like on the other hand, just like I want to say no because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. And I think so far, if I look back at my last 10 years, it's been like such a it's like a crazy complex symphony that took me from one place to the next to the next to the next. Eventually I am at Tabis right now, and and I'm so happy. And you know, do I want to change that? Would it change where I'm at right now? And I don't know, it's gonna go into that complex theory, like a paradox, yes or no.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Obviously, both of you guys went to high school at some point in time. Uh Sarra, probably for you, was out of country uh at your at your home country in Tunisia. And uh, Samantha, you at your high school too. I know for you, Samantha, engineering kind of fell in your lap a little bit later on at the end of your high school. Do you think if you would have had shop or something like this in your high school environment, that you would have flocked to that early on already in high school? Or do you think, because early on, at least when I went to school, we had shop, we had uh woodworking, we had all of those different trades in high school already. And then over time those things were removed and it was more onto the arts areas that was focused on. Do you think having a manufacturing shop kind of class in high school would kind of help the younger generation out a little bit more in that particular field to kind of see that field?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

100%. Yes. I do think having the shop classes, I think that is one thing that our school system is missing a lot, is some of the basics, you know, even contracting work or wordworking, like you mentioned. I don't think it's that hard anymore because there are such things as 3D printers. And let's be honest, 3D printers help people so often nowadays. I would love to see the statistic on how many people have a 3D printer in their household because you can continue to design and find new ways to fix things or make things for each and every daily use that you have, you know, whether it be a pot holder or you broke a part on a vehicle. I know my brother's done that a few times. And so consequently, I think if schools began to bring shop work back and allow kids, children who are excelling, not excelling, but interested in the engineering field experiment, fail, and continue to fix and improve their ideas and systems, it would help our field so much more because our industry would to continue to excel. Not saying that it won't without those CHAPS classes, but it helps instill the confidence when you're in those younger ages to be able to design a component, be able to make it, see how it performs, and then continue to improve it in your brain and in your classes and replicate it again, you know, your next iteration, your 2.0. And so I do think if I had one of those classes, I would have been all over it in high school. Um, unfortunately, I didn't. We were more CAD/CAM, you know, systems, and I never got to see the parts in real life. And I think that's why I love my job now, is that I get to see the commodities roll off the line at the end of the day and say I contributed to that. But yes, I think at the crux of it, every person needs to get their hands on products to understand what type of engineering they like best. Because as you just alluded to, there's many different fields, there's also many different tiers of engineers within every single company. You know, you got your quality engineers, your materials engineers, you got your, as I am, the supplier development engineer, so on and so forth. And so we each have a specific role to help get this product off the line. And I think the earlier you can understand what your likes and dislikes are in the engineering world, the better prepared you are for what you what your future might be.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Do you agree with that, Sarra?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Oh, 100% to the T every single word you have said. I can see that if they put classes in high school, yes, it would help. 3D printing 100%. You can see nowadays it's such a trend, and that helps really, you know, makes you understand better and see in yourself like the little engineer in you. And for me, I would make a suggestion. For example, what is in high school, it's four years in the US, right? Third grade, make it half a year school, half a year internship, kind of like they do it in school, you know. Have like companies, have these little kids and you know, come in and be part of their shop and they can get a tax break. So it will be beneficial for the company, beneficial for the student, I think would be huge. Yes.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

I I both of you of you have so great insights. And it what advice could you give the high the high schoolers or the people or the the young gals that really don't know and are struggling on should I go into engineering or should I not? What advice could you give them, Sarra?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Um from my side, I say like don't let anything doubt you or or doubt stop you if you're curious or if you have a curious brain, you know, if you're like problem solving, if you enjoy building or creating, or you have that instinct, you know. Just ask questions, challenge yourself. Remember that you don't need to know everything. That's the thing people they think if they don't know anything that they're not good enough or they're not ready for that part. So just try it, you know. It's uh the whole industry is ready for you, and to be honest, we need more women into this engineering manufacturing. Not just because the industry needs, but they believe because they're perspective, it just adds on to the innovation and it makes it stronger. It's just a stronger community overall.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Right. So, my thing, how about you? What advice could you give some of the young ladies out there?

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

I think some advice that I would give the young ladies out there is to continue to break the stigmatism that we're not as affluent in this industry. Continue to um challenge your peers and collaborate with your peers because at the end of the day, they're the ones that you're gonna help build this industry up with. And then probably at the end of all of that, continue to build your network so that at the end of the day you are able to lean on mentors, you know, managers, bosses, even just sometimes senior engineers, subject matter experts in every single field and type of way to help guide you through what your next goal or step might be. I remember my senior year in college was it was very hard for me to make a decision of where to go at the end of it. I had a job already lined up, and I I ultimately I did end up at that facility. However, I leaned heavily on the senior professor at my college, and I basically said, What do you see me doing, professor? And at the end of the day, he he read me to AT. He knew exactly where my brain was geared best for in this industry. And so I'd like to give that advice is build your network because they'll continue to support you. Everybody wants to see you excel, nobody's trying to tear you down. Um, and so build your network, lean on it, and continue to break the stigmatism.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Awesome. I think these are some great closing thoughts of both of you. Is there anything else you want to add that you have not yet brought across? Sarra, how about you?

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

I mean, I think at the end of the day it comes back to the same topic women in engineering.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Right.

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

I think, like Sam was saying, uh, build your network, nobody's trying to tear you down. I love that. I really love that. And I think sometimes we can get into our brain or into our mind, just step out of it, you know, be curious, be brave, and and ask, you know, ask mentors.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

Well, both of you, I want to thank both of you for for being on the podcast. You had both of you had incredible insight, and hopefully you guys both are continuing on for many, many years to come in the engineering world. And I love the enthusiasm and uh being so headstrong and and being really detail oriented in your manufacturing world. So thank you to both of you.

Speaker - Samantha Thiessen

Well, thank you very much for having me today on this podcast. It's been a pleasure with to talk with you, Dad and Sarra, um, about. Females in engineering and how we can continue to improve the industry and give confidence to the younger female generation that is that ultimately will be our bosses one day. So thank you very much for having me.

Speaker - Sarra Hmili

Thank you so much for having me as well. It has been like super entertaining to be part of this podcast. Uh just love to hearing from Sam, her experience, and uh to share my own, and just to give us the opportunity on this podcast to tell our truth and to you know uh say our voice is strong, and hopefully we can inspire one of the females out there or young lady who can be listening to this, or it's it's just been great. Thank you so much.

Speaker - Michael Thiessen

With that said, my friends out there, um the engineering world is so vast, and uh there is anywhere you look a spot for you. Uh, if you are a young lady with inspiring ideas or thoughts, look at it, take a challenge, go forward, grasp it, and and move forward with it. Engineering is an exciting field, and uh, as I told my daughter, Samantha, that is, uh, in early on when she was uncertain of really what to do, look around. Sometimes the environment kind of helps you out. And with her with her side, we looked at what's around her. There's a lot of plastics out there, and uh she became in such a way a really an expert when it comes to plastics and materials. Do the same thing, ask questions, be curious, always stay curious when whatever you see, and look at some of the parts that are out there because they all were manufactured at some point in time. So look at the uh institutions, high schools, when you listen to this, somebody from the administration from high schools, look at your own curriculum, look at the new technology, if that's 3D printing, have a shop available for these young minds to get them going in a trade. And uh, I hope that many more young ladies listen to it in college or in high school, and hopefully we will see you at one of the manufacturing fields in the near future. So continue on down that path. Uh, we thank all of you for that have turned in to the All Axis Podcast. We always appreciate you, and and we hope that you find that our discussions are insightful and valuable. We hope that you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe it if you liked it, spot on Spotify, on Apple, or wherever you get your information from. Um, feel free to share the episode within your network, leave us a review, or come up to us and say, Hey, I'd love to be on your podcast to discuss a certain topic. Contact us. For more updates, follow us on Instagram, on X, and on LinkedIn. Until next time, keep shaping the future of manufacturing. And to all of young ladies, keep moving forward and experience the power of manufacturing. Thank you to all of you. Have a good rest of your day. Thank you, and bye bye.

Speaker - Voiceover

Thank you for joining this episode of All Axis. Please leave a comment or review with your feedback or what you'd like to hear in future episodes. To learn more about manufacturing technology solutions and Tebis's capabilities, visit our website at Tebis. That's T E B I S dot com.

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Michael Thiessen

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