He has an education in mechanical engineering and many years of experience working at Onyx Medical, a company that is a part of the Elos Medtech Group. Tim Turner (standing to the right in the picture) is the Business Development Manager who is driven by team spirit and challenging projects. His contribution to meeting the global customers’ demands made him “Employee of the Year”. But, according to him, it was entirely a team effort.
Hi, Tim! You have been working at Onyx Medical since 2004. Tell me about your journey at the company?
When I first came to Onyx Medical I was hired in as a Production Engineer with no medical industry experience nor machining experience; just an excitement to be here and a willingness to learn. My journey started with learning our machining processes and gaining knowledge about our industry needs. I quickly began writing machine programs and training operators on how to run our equipment. It was a fun and exciting time with new challenges each day. As my understanding of our business grew I began to help provide information for quoting and lending a technical hand to our sales team as we worked with our customers on new projects. Four years into my time here at Onyx a need arose on the Sales and Business Development side and I decided to take the opportunity to move my talents to that side of the business. Today, as a Business Development Manager I oversee the sales and customer service at Onyx Medical as well as our production scheduling.
It has been a great journey as I have watched and helped play a part in seeing some very substantial growth through the last 13 years. Since we have joined the Elos Medtech Group in 2015 I see great potential for more exciting possibilities for our team!
So, how did you end up at Onyx Medical in the first place?
Before Onyx Medical, I worked for 6 years as a Production Engineer and Production Manager at a company that produced and sold soy protein to health food companies. As I later started looking for new opportunities I was told by a lady at a local university that Onyx Medical was in need of a new production engineer. After meeting with the team at Onyx I felt that it would be rewarding to work in the orthopaedic industry and be a part of developing, manufacturing and supplying medical devices that help people in their daily lives. It also appealed to me that Onyx Medical was a relatively small company with positive energy and team spirit. I like the idea of working in an entrepreneurial organisation that encourages innovative ideas and has the ambition to grow.
Based on your experiences, what is the most important thing to consider in your current role?
It’s important to understand that as the Business Development manager of Onyx Medical I serve as the face of our company to our customers, not only for Onyx but for the entire Elos Medtech organisation, and I also serve as the face of our customers to our team within our organisation. With that, I believe that clear communication is key. From a sales perspective, it starts by listening to the voice of the customer and understanding their needs then clearly communicating how we can use our products and services as well as our design and supply-chain management solutions to meet their needs. Also, it is important to listen and understand where our customers are heading in the future so we can then internally implement the resources that are needed to meet the market demands and stay at the forefront as a viable supplier of orthopaedic products.
You were named “Employee of the year”! Tell me about your work that lead up to the nomination?
First and foremost, this award is the result of a team effort. Since Onyx Medical was acquired by Elos Medtech we have gained a lot of new resources and capabilities throughout the world. Being a global manufacturing partner is of great value to our customers since we now can meet even more of their needs.
An important long term goal for Elos Medtech is to achieve a unified company. We want to utilize the synergy effects between our business centers in Sweden, Denmark, USA and China, to drive global growth. As a way of doing this, we started to network within the Elos Medtech organisation to get an overview of our collective resources and present those to our customers. We have a number of projects we are working on now that are utilizing the capabilities of our other sites with even more projects now in discussion. For one particular project, I specifically worked with our facility in China with a customer that is very interested in our ability to manufacture in the US as well as in China. Our goal is to setup our China facility in a manner that would best allow us to serve our customers needing products in and from China. This project served as a way for us to identify what resources we have there and what resources we need to add to meet the demands of the orthopedic market. By doing this, we have now created a platform that we can use to aid in our continued expansion in China.
What is the most exciting part of your job?
The most exciting part right now is seeing the entire Elos Medtech organisation working together and as a result of that, we can now take on larger scale projects! I also enjoy that my work is never the same. I face new challenges every day. It is very motivating to be a part of an organisation that wants to continue to grow and always aims to be better.
What are your thoughts on Onyx Medical and Elos Medtech for the future?
My vision is that we will continue to expand globally and meet more of our customers’ expectations in the medtech industry. The work that we have done in China is a part of this. If we continue to listen to our customers as well as keep our innovative spirit, I believe that we have a great potential to keep growing across the world. We are and will continue to be, a partner to our customers, not just a contract manufacturer. By this, I mean that our customers get more than quality products from us, they also get extensive knowledge and support from all parts of our organisation.
Exciting! So, how do you spend your time when you are not working?
When I am not at the office, I spend time with my family. Both of my kids are very active in sports so me and my wife are coaching and traveling with them a lot. To just be a part of their lives and watching them grow up is something I enjoy very much!
Thank you for a really nice chat, Tim. Congratulations to you- and your team- on being “Employee of the Year”. We are looking forward to the continued and shared venture of Onyx Medical and Elos Medtech!
Would you like to get to know more employees at Elos Medtech? Visit our knowledge Blog, where they share their experiences and knowledge.
