Autocam Medical Breaks Ground For 100,000-Sq.-Ft. Facility In Warsaw

WARSAW, IN — (Times Union) -– Autocam Medical has about 10 employees at the Medtronic building in Warsaw, but Thursday the precision-machined medical devices company had a groundbreaking ceremony for their own 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the city’s technology park.

The building and the advanced equipment for the business is a $70 million investment. Autocam Medical will hire 250-300 people to work in the facility that’s expected to open by October.

John C. Kennedy, Autocam Medical CEO, said, “It’s a privilege to be here and to be here in Warsaw. We’re excited about opening … We have a relatively short story relative to the length of time we’ve been pursuing a plant in Warsaw.”

Autocam Medical is visiting customers in Warsaw all the time, he said. They had made a decision to put a plant here a while ago. When Medtronic announced in October 2021 it would be closing its Warsaw facility, Kennedy said they jumped on that, and within 48 hours were talking to Medtronic’s people about buying the plant and hiring Medtronic’s employees.

“We saw it as a great opportunity to pick up really good people – machinists and engineers that were engaged in the machining trade of metals, which is what we do, so we jumped on it and took advantage of that,” he said.

In July 2024, Medtronic’s plans changed and they decided not close the Warsaw plant and agreed to let Autocam Medical employees continue working inside the facility. As soon as the new facility is built, those employees will move over from Medtronic.

“We think they made a great decision to stay here,” Kennedy said of Medtronic. “Really good people and I think it’s a benefit for the whole community to have both of us here, not just one of us.”

He said Warsaw is probably one of the “unique places in the country where you can find really good talent in the machinist area, engineering of precision metals, which is what we do. That’s what we’ve been doing since I started Autocam in 1988.”

It’s Autocam’s employees that have allowed them to grow and thrive, he stated. “I couldn’t be happier than to be able to do that now with a whole good group of people in Warsaw, Indiana, and we’re really excited about what this facility is going to do and hopefully it’s the first of many plants, because we see this as a good part of where we’re going to go from an expansion standpoint in the future. Warsaw and Grand Rapids are the two places where we’ll continue to build up our business.”

Kennedy said Autocam appreciated the folks from Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), the city and the county. He thanked the construction company, Pioneer Construction, as well as Pure Architects for the building design.

Pioneer Construction Senior Project Executive Jason Nyhuis said, “We’re just thrilled to be here. We’re privileged to work on a project like this, and we’re so grateful to Autocam Medical that they would trust in us to do this kind of project, and we’re so excited to continue to see these guys grow and everything that is happening there.”

Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner thanked Autocam Medical for their investment, and then provided a few numbers regarding the investment the city has put into the Warsaw Technology Park over the last 10 years.

“We’ve invested about $5 million in infrastructure and land. We’ve added about $100 million in private investment in this industrial park, to date. We’ve built three shell buildings with our partners, Robinson Construction, Westhill and G & G. We’ve added about 510,000 square feet of manufacturing – that doesn’t include what’s going to be added behind us. And we’ve added 555 new jobs in this tech park, and it has an annual payroll of around $36 million,” Skinner said.

“So a lot of investment, time and effort within the community’s great partnerships that we have, and today we’re here to start a great partnership with Autocam Medical and exciting to see their new investment – 100,000 square feet that will be added to that 510,000. Seventy million dollar investment in personal and real property and 250 new jobs. That’s why the city’s made this investment, to create opportunities for great companies like Autocam Medical. We’re excited to partner with you guys moving forward and help you guys grow in the future,” Skinner concluded.

Warsaw Council President Jack Wilhite welcomed Autocam Medical to Warsaw. He said a few of their career offerings include CNC machinists and programmers, technicians and various engineers. “Those are all highly paid and highly skilled jobs,” he said.

Wilhite highlighted Autocam’s company culture, which he learned about after visiting their website. He compared Autocam’s workforce development approach to his 42 years at Biomet. Wilhite talked about Autocam’s on-the-job training and educational opportunities.

“I’m grateful to Autocam Medical and the fact that they chose Warsaw, the orthopedic capital of the world. I’m thrilled Warsaw chose to partner with you. Together, we invest and grow our community, offering our kids real career opportunities in precision manufacturing with competitive wages,” Wilhite stated.

KEDCO CEO Peggy Friday said, “I’ll never forget the day that we met Autocam for the first time. Dawn (Wilkinson) and I had just received the news that Slate Auto had chosen Warsaw, and we left that car and then went and met with Autocam. So we’re really thrilled. This is true economic development in the orthopedic capital. It’s projects like this that keep us as the orthopedic capital.”

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce recently named Kosciusko County as the Community of the Year for 2025. Friday said the reason was because of projects like Autocam Medical.

The last speaker was Stephanie Kabel, regional director for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

“So today isn’t just about a building or expansion. It’s about commitment from a company that chose to invest here, from a community and workforce that continued to deliver. Today, we’re here to mark a milestone for Autocam Medical. What began as a decision to invest is now becoming a $70 million investment and over a 100,000-square-foot facility,” she said.

Autocam chose Warsaw for a reason, Kabel said. “This region is recognized globally for its strength in its medical device sector, its proximity to customers and suppliers and a workforce that companies trust to deliver precision and quality,” she said.

“Autocam’s growth is another example of how Indiana’s leadership in advanced manufacturing and high-skilled talent continue to attract world-class investment,” Kabel said. “Under Gov. Braun’s leadership, the state remains focused on supporting high-wage careers and opportunities for Hoosier families.”

After the ceremony, Kennedy said when the site gets closer to be upping and ready, Autocam will start hiring almost immediately. “I would say September timeframe is when we’d start bringing people in. What we may do is bring some people in ahead of time and give them the opportunity to come train in the Kentwood location. It may be a way for some people to get a head start on a job here. Obviously, it’s a way for us to train people on the kind of equipment that we’ll be putting into the facility.”

He said they recently just moved two new pieces of equipment into the Medtronic site, which will be moved to the new building once it’s ready.