When Amber, a Technical Service Engineer at North American Höganäs, started wondering about one of her customers and how they work, she did the most sensible – but not the most obvious – thing about it: she arranged to work there for a couple of months.

“I had dealt with them as a customer, so I had a basic understanding of what they were doing and what kind of problems they encountered, but beyond that I didn’t really know much,” says Amber. “Working there meant I could get all the background information I wanted, while at the same time bringing my expertise to them.”

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Amber did her senior year project with North American Höganäs, and then an internship the following summer. After graduation, she was hired by the company.

Amber’s inquiring mind gets put to use on a day-to-day basis. She carries out detective work together with customers who make components from Höganäs metal powder. The puzzle she often has to solve is why components are breaking: is the customer using the correct powder? Are they having cracking issues when they compact? Or perhaps they don’t have the correct sintering temperatures?

Working at an innovative employer like Höganäs, Amber will never run out of questions to answer.