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MiMfg Magazine
November 2019
2019 MFG Lifetime Achievement
Al Thieme
Amigo Mobility International Inc. • Bridgeport
Al Thieme is a man with a heart the world
doesn’t deserve.
Over the last half century, he has been a hero to
millions of people worldwide — most of whom have
never met him and wouldn’t even know his name. While
most manufacturers hope their products make a positive
change to the world, Thieme never has to wonder if his
has — he has scrapbooks full of thank you letters and
walls decorated with images of the people he has helped.
Amigo means “friend” and Thieme’s product, the
first three-wheeled mobility vehicle, has been a friend,
a life-changer and a miracle for so many people facing
a disability, stricken with illness or struggling with
advancing age.
“I had a sister who grew up having great trouble
walking and another family member who struggled
with multiple sclerosis and had tremendous fatigue.
One day we had to rent a wheelchair and it was just
a horrible experience. She didn’t like being pushed
around— I just thought that there had to be a better
way,” recalled Al Thieme. “I couldn’t find something
better so I just started to sketch some ideas. I found
an electrical engineer to help and out of that came
the first Amigo, though it didn’t have a name yet.”
Looking back, that first design was pretty crude
but it did what it needed. The Amigo improved lives
and Thieme knew that there were others unable to do
things most take for granted. He’d found his calling.
“I think of the impact he has had and it’s almost
overwhelming; the way in which Al and Amigo Mobility
are able to touch the lives of others,” said Beth Thieme,
Al’s wife and vice president for Amigo Mobility. “It’s
amazing to meet the people who come in to visit us and
write to us and see how mobile and active they are.
That’s all because of him and who he is as a person.”
Thieme never sought recognition; he simply wanted
to help people. That doesn’t mean recognition didn’t
find him. He was awarded the U.S. Small Businessman
of the Year Award in 1981 and the John G. Thodis
Michigan Manufacturer of the Year Award in 2012.
Along the way, the letters poured in, thankful for what
he had given to the world — his invention, their friend,
their Amigo.
“I know it can be difficult to understand when you
don’t live with it, but the Amigo can help a person with
a disability feel non-disabled,” said Ronnie Bachman,
a motivational speaker and an Amigo customer for nearly
40 years. “I grew up with wheelchairs and artificial legs.
I grew up with the looks people would give you, the
way they’d talk differently to you and the words they
would use to try and define you as this thing. It is so
refreshing to use something that puts you up high, at
eye level; something that is maneuverable. On an
Amigo, you don’t feel like you’re lacking something
the same way you would without it.”
Despite the accolades, the love, the thanks,
there’s one person who is never satisfied and that’s
Thieme himself.
“He’s so persistent and honest about what he’s built —
he still to this day believes there’s got to be a better way,”
Beth Thieme said. “Whether it’s with the product, the
processes or ourselves as people, there’s always room
for improvement and I think that’s why to this day
he works so hard. He knows there’s more he can do.”
Upon hearing this, Al Thieme will simply smile
and shrug, saying that “I can’t help it. I like to work
and I like to change things. I like to find ways to
improve whatever I do.”
Consider his story and accomplishments. With
no background in engineering or manufacturing, he
started the entire mobility industry. When medical
insurance did not recognize the Amigo as a mobility
aid, Thieme changed social security in 1977 so that it
was covered — eliminating countless costs and financial
burdens for so many people. Walk into almost any
grocery store in America and you’ll find motorized
carts to assist those with disabilities; something only
possible because Al Thieme dared to dream that
there must be a better way.
And, along the way, Thieme did become a
manufacturing leader as well.
He is an active member of the MMA, the Great
Lakes Bay Manufacturing Association, Stevens Center
for Family Business and the Saginaw Chamber of
Commerce. He has chaired the Saginaw Valley Branch
of the MS Society, been a board member for the
Michigan State Chapter of the National MS Society,
the Northwest Airlines Disability Awareness Advisory
Board and served as president of numerous community
organizations including the Chamber of Commerce
and Lions Club.
“I’ve been so very fortunate and I encourage anyone
out there with a dream to pursue it,” Thieme shared.
“Read books. Take chances. Fail but get back up. Find
your passion and work so very hard to make it real.”
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