Olivia Memmelaar
Mechanical Engineering Student, Rochester Institute of Technology
Growing Up in Manufacturing: An Inquiring Mind and Hard Work Creates Opportunities
Olivia Memmelaar pursued engineering after working on cars with her father when she was growing up. She considers herself lucky that she has two extended families – one at school (Rochester Institute of Technology) and one she grew up with at her father's company, Royal Master Grinders.
Sure, she learned to run a 3-axis vertical mill while in high school, but do you know how you can tell if someone really grew up in manufacturing? Pallet jack races.
“My sister and I decided if we found two, we could race each other. Sometimes it ended up with one of us getting hurt or in tears, but we had a lot of fun,” recalls Olivia Memmelaar.
Now a senior engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Olivia grew up on the factory floor of Royal Master Grinders (IMTS booth #236626) in Oakland, N.J. The company has been manufacturing the world's most advanced centerless grinding systems since 1950. Her grandfather, John Memmelaar Sr., was employee number 14. Her dad, John Jr., started counting inventory and mowing the company lawn at age 10 and is now company president.
Like many family-oriented businesses, the Memmelaars put in hours on the weekend, and that meant bringing the kids to work ... which leads to putting them to work.
“The only way to get me to stop running around was to show me what you're doing and talk to me,” says Olivia. Born with a natural engineering mind, Olivia learned the fundamentals of CNC operation by her mid-teens, working on a Hurco (IMTS booth #338319) VM10i 3-Axis vertical mill.
“I got really good at making blocks with holes,” she says. “If you're not familiar with Hurco conversational programming, it's simple. I found it to be a great way to learn how to program. You make lines, you can make circles, and it tells you exactly what to do. I found it very easy to use. Later in college, I got into regular CNC programming with Autodesk Fusion (IMTS booth #133310) and SolidWorks.”
Growing up inside Royal Master Grinders' operation was only half of Olivia's life as a hands-on, technical learner.
“I got into engineering because I often worked on cars with my father,” says Olivia. “When I was little, he wouldn't let me watch TV on weeknights, but he always had the Yankee game playing in the garage. If I went in the garage and I handed him tools and organized the workbench, I was allowed to watch the Yankee game.”
The cars in question were Ford Model Ts, which the Memmelaar family restores, drives, breaks, rebuilds, and rides again. At age 11, Olivia entered an essay contest for the chance to win a 1915 Model T, and she won. Over the next three years, she and her father restored the car. Today, it is her warm weather daily driver; if you see a red Model T flying around the RIT campus, that's Olivia.
Baja and Beyond
Given her background with machining, cars, and manufacturing leadership, it's not surprising that Olivia is now the manager of RIT's Baja team. Baja SAE is a collegiate design series sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The team builds a new off-road vehicle, powered by a Kohler 12-hp engine, that can survive and overcome multiple different terrains and obstacles and participates in three races around the country.
“It's not just your run of the mill college club. You're typically spending 40-plus hours a week there, whether it's designing, building, fabricating, or manufacturing,” says Olivia. The 60-person team puts in thousands of hours to get the car running.
“Changes can be difficult when you have a car that performed well the year prior, but we always find areas to improve,” says Olivia. “This year we rerouted our four-wheel drive system, lowered the center of gravity, and increased ground clearance of the car among other things.”
Olivia has learned a lot from managing the team and highly recommends the experience. In addition to being a unique opportunity, the team is also her college family.
“Family is super important to me,” says Olivia. “I have this family at Royal Master. This is who I grew up with and what I did growing up. Then when I got to school, I kind of built another little family with the Baja team. Everyone is very close. You need everyone to work together to be successful, and it's similar to being at home.”
When Preparation Meet Opportunity
Olivia does not think of herself as an exceptional person. Rather, she says she has been afforded exceptional opportunities by doing the hard work that creates situations where she can succeed. Part of that hard work was choosing the mechanical engineering technology/mechanical engineering program at RIT, which is a five-year degree.
“I think this is where my school differs from other schools in the nation; we have required internships,” she says. “By the time we graduate, we have worked three or four internships, which are full three-month blocks, so we have work experience. We just had seven kids graduate from my team, and all seven of them have full-time jobs lined up. That's pretty much the norm for the people that I'm around.”
During the summer of 2023, Olivia participated in Mazak's (IMTS booth #338300) engineering co-op program in Florence, K.Y. For the summer of 2024, she has an internship at Stellantis' North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. At the end of the summer, she will spend a few days at IMTS 2024. This year will be her second show, but growing up she watched her dad prepare the Royal Master Grinders IMTS exhibit.
“I would help him glue sample parts for the display at age five,” recalls Olivia. “When I was older, I thought dad's booth analytics were super cool. I'm a geek when it comes to business analytics and statistics.”
As Olivia walked the floors of IMTS 2022, she said she could discern good booth preparation.
Everything looks polished and runs itself when you're well prepared,” she says. “I was amazed by the amount of automation that was there. In every booth, there was some sort of robot or automation...
...From an engineering student perspective, it was clear to me that I better learn how to do stuff like that because everyone was demonstrating it. That was my biggest takeaway from the show.”
At IMTS 2024, Olivia plans to spend most of her time in the North and South Buildings, which encompass the Automation Sector, Accelerated by SPS – Smart Production Solutions, the Abrasive Machining/Sawing/Finishing Sector, and the Metal Removal Sector.
“Last show I tried to hit everything, but it's just so much for the time I have available as a student,” she says. “I like the manufacturing side of the industry, so I am going to try to spend more time in those areas. Also, this year, I'm going to talk to more people. I'm actually a little bit reserved.”
A reserved engineer? We're not surprised by that. Going from pallet jack races to mastering engineering software to Baja team manager to internships with industry leaders? We're not surprised by that either. That's what happens when you grow up in manufacturing.
Explore the world of advanced manufacturing; register now for IMTS 2024, Sept.9-14 at IMTS.com/register.