Breaking barriers and finding solutions: Meet an Accelera senior quality engineer
“I grew up in male-dominated spaces, which has helped me thrive even when I’m the only woman in the room,” says Shelby. “It’s special to have so many inspiring women colleagues and leaders at Accelera, as that’s not the case in most engineering departments.”
Shelby Freese is a Senior Quality Engineer at Accelera™ by Cummins. Her love for engineering was ignited by a visit to a race car chassis manufacturing plant as a teenager. Now, she spends her days coming up with creative solutions for customers’ problems and supporting a team of engineers.
I found Accelera because…
In 2016, I attended the Society of Women Engineers conference in Philadelphia, where Cummins was recruiting for interns. I secured a product validation engineering internship for summer 2017, and then a manufacturing engineering internship at the Columbus Mid-Range Engine Plant (CMEP) in 2018. From there, I moved into a full-time role while I studied for my MBA. I briefly left Cummins to work for a startup in 2020, which taught me a lot of valuable lessons, before coming back to be part of its Accelera business segment.
I'm from a racing family - even my Nana used to drag race in the ‘60s. My dad, though, is the one who helped spark my love for it at such a young age. He would take me to his races, and I’d help him build race cars since my hands could reach through the tiny gaps. This got me into go-karts and BMX, kickstarting my racing career at five years old.
My resume stood out initially because it had the word engine all over it. Now, when I do things like attend the Indianapolis 500, I feel grateful to be part of a company with such a rich history in racing and engineering. Accelera really is a great fit for me, and I’m thankful my journey with Cummins led me to it.
My greatest learnings over the years…
I made an active choice to carve out my own path, which taught me a lot. I chose not to pursue a role in my family’s business. That meant I was the first person in my family to graduate from college and the first to take on an internship, so I had no idea what to expect. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I learned a lot about myself because of it.
I've also learned that the most challenging projects are the most rewarding, even if they don’t feel that way at first. There's something so satisfying about working with cross-functional teams to find and implement a solution that isn’t a band-aid and should eliminate the problem for good.
My typical day involves…
I’m based in California but work with lots of Central and East Coast colleagues, so I start work very early to fit in my internal meetings. I manage four technicians who report to me daily from customer plants, and I help them resolve any issues around customer builds. Data analysis is a key part of this, as I use my technicians’ feedback to track and resolve bigger issues or negative trends.
My role is focused on customer quality specifically, so I act as a communication hub to ensure information is always flowing between the customer, product engineering and plant teams. We also operate pretty zoomed in in the quality world, so I take a macro view of our work to see how the details are shaping our bigger picture.
My afternoons are dedicated to any meetings with West Coast customers. I go to bed pretty early to fit it all in, but I thrive on a busy schedule!
Something I tell my colleagues is…
There will always be some kind of problem in business, but there is always a solution. It doesn’t matter how great you are at your job, or how strong your business is. Some issues are just unavoidable, especially when you have lots of competing priorities. What's important is how you approach the problem, which sets the tone and can help you find a faster, smoother resolution.
I always try to put my emotions to the side and focus on the facts, like whether we’ve seen this problem before and how we can translate past learnings into a new solution. I don’t really panic, because I know we’ve got the right people with the right skills to figure it out.
We’re pushing boundaries by…
Ensuring innovation is always at the heart of what we do. As part of Accelera, we’re continuing to develop our products and industry demands. It feels like we’re on the brink of something exciting right now, with solutions that can make a genuine difference.
In my role, it’s important to be ...
Innovative, of course, but also supportive. In my team, we all trust one another and respect each other’s abilities. That makes it easier to divide and conquer, even when the pressure’s on, to deliver to the high standard we all expect. I know that if I need to step away for a few days to handle something in my personal life, my team has my back just like I have theirs.
In fact, I still work with some of the people I interned with – who took me out for dinner on my first day, which happened to be my 21st birthday! Accelera really finds people who are truly great and aligned around the same values, which has built a very caring culture.
In the future, I’m excited to…
I get a lot of gratification from solving problems and love working with data, so I see my future in the quality space. It's fascinating to analyze data and spot those tiny changes we could be making to better support our customers.
Outside of work, I’ve been building up seat time to compete more in drag racing. My goal is to compete at my first national event in Super Stock by the end of the year. I'm also getting married in October, so I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my personal life!
