Medical machining leaves little room for error
Autocam Medical is a precision manufacturer serving some of the world’s leading medical device companies. Its components are used across orthopedic surgery, implants, surgical instruments, and robotic surgical systems.
The manufacturing environment is highly technical. Autocam runs 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis CNC milling, Swiss turning, mill-turn, grinding, EDM, and precision inspection across parts where tolerances, repeatability, and process discipline matter every day.
That puts a high bar on the people running the equipment.
Autocam did not simply need people with CNC experience. It needed machinists who could step into a precision medical environment, understand complex work, maintain quality, and contribute quickly.
As hiring demand grew, those machinists became increasingly difficult to find through traditional staffing channels.
“CNC machinist” was not specific enough
We started by getting much more precise about the work.
Which machines had someone actually run? Were they setting up or operating? Could they troubleshoot? Inspect their own parts? Work across tight tolerances? Had they worked with difficult materials? Did they understand the level of process discipline that comes with medical manufacturing?
Those details became structured data inside Laborup.
Instead of treating every machinist as interchangeable, the platform could distinguish between experience in 5-axis milling, Swiss turning, mill-turn work, complex setups, inspection, and other machining environments, then connect that understanding to our manufacturing workforce network.
Autocam’s feedback sharpened the model further. Interviews, hires, passes, retention, and performance all gave Laborup a clearer picture of the people who actually succeed on the floor.
Over time, we were not just filling openings. We were building an increasingly detailed model of Autocam’s machinist workforce.
93% retention changed the math
Autocam began hiring machinists nearly 10× faster, while reducing staffing costs by more than 50%.
But the biggest result was retention.
For highly skilled machinists, especially the kind of A+ talent Autocam needs, keeping even half of the people you hire can be difficult. Laborup hires have delivered 93% retention.
That changes the economics of the entire workforce. Autocam is not constantly replacing the same machinists, retraining new people, or losing production while positions turn over. The people coming through Laborup are staying, becoming productive, and adding lasting capacity to the floor.
Over time, Laborup hires have grown to represent roughly 10 to 20% of the machinist workforce across the operation we support.
Every one of those outcomes makes the platform better. We learn more about the machines, the work, the managers, and the kind of machinist who thrives inside Autocam.
For precision manufacturing, that continuity matters. The goal is not to fill a machine once. It is to put the right person behind it and keep them there.
