Talking Supply Chain: Behind the manufacturing of Olympic medals

Have you ever dreamed of winning an Olympic Gold medal? Most of us are not that lucky, but for those that are, they become memories for a lifetime.

But, what is the process to produce Olympic medals? Afterall, the Olympics only come around every few years, so there are no assembly lines pumping out Gold medals. Fictiv, which specializes in custom manufacturing processes, was not involved in the manufacture of this year’s Olympic medals, but it does have experience with one-off and limited-run production processes.

“I've been in manufacturing for over 10 years, and I have a lot of experience in product development, from concept feasibility to prototyping, testing and then production,” explained Tessa Axsom, director of CNC for Fictive. “I’ve done this as a design engineer, quality manager, metallurgist, and consultant. But, as I said, the Olympic medal design manufacturing follows the standard product development process that’s overseen by the Olympic Committee.”

Axsom joined the Talking Supply Chain podcast to explain how the custom manufacturing process for producing Olympic medals is approached, using her own experience in custom manufacturing. While most companies are not producing Olympic medals, their projects are no less important to their customers, so nailing the manufacturing process is critical.

“It’s often a little bit overwhelming to handle one project of this caliber, let alone you’re probably handling more than one. So my first tip is [to] stay organized,” she said, adding that you should not be afraid to ask for help and seek out the counsel of those with expertise.

Here more from Axsom, including how a bit of the Eiffel Tower is added to each Olympic medal, in this episode of Talking Supply Chain.

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