Industryweek 2296 13720putnam
Industryweek 2296 13720putnam
Industryweek 2296 13720putnam
Industryweek 2296 13720putnam
Industryweek 2296 13720putnam

The Changing Faces Of The Workplace

March 7, 2007
Attracting and keeping women in industry will be key to manufacturing's long-term viability.

On factory floors, within engineering rooms and in executive offices there is a noticeable difference: the number of female faces.

"When I first started at Caterpillar I think there were three women in my area. When I left as a VP years later, there were hundreds," says Sherril West, a former vice president of Caterpillar Inc.

As of December 2006, almost 30% of the manufacturing workforce were women (4.06 million women out of 14.12 million manufacturing workers).

While that number shows progress, companies are still pushing hard to attract female employees. "Enrollment of women in our program has increased as our corporate partners sponsor more women," explains Don Rosenfeld, director of Leaders for Manufacturing, MIT's joint MBA and engineering degree program.

Once onboard, automaker DaimlerChrysler AG provides its female employees with any needed support. "Mentoring is key to how we keep our new women employees on a smooth path," explains Sandra Bouckley, a plant manager at Chrysler Group's Conner Avenue assembly plant.

See more on women in manufacturing, including additional articles and educational resources.
Design software maker Autodesk Inc. accommodates its female employees with flexible scheduling. "Women need to be able to take care of all aspects of their lives, but that doesn't preclude them from having successful careers in manufacturing," explains Amy Bunzel, director of Inventor product management at Autodesk.

Ensuring that metrics rule rather than gender is how Amy Oesch, section manger of Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s Oak Hill Fab facility has found success. "It doesn't matter who is performing the work. We have specific metrics that we need to meet at every point."

And like Bunzel, Oesch also benefits from a workable schedule. "I have increased my responsibilities in the company, received an additional educational degree, all the while raising my children."

Katherine Putnam, president of Package Machinery Co., tests a new wrapping machine.Katherine Putnam, president of Package Machinery Co. looks to associations to provide the support that female business owners need. "Networking is something that many women don't pursue enough," she says. "I have found great business leads by participating in groups and sitting on boards." Putnam serves on the board of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.

But with all these strides, manufacturers still have other factors to consider when it comes to attracting women. "What fields women choose, as engineers, can be viewed as how a company directly affects society, and manufacturing companies can seem further down the loop," says Helene Finger, director of California Polytechnic State University's women's engineering program.

Autodesk's Bunzel disagrees, saying, "That's an inaccurate perception. The solutions we provide to our customers help them create innovative products that greatly benefit society. We just need to make the case that manufacturing is not the dirty, dark, dangerous place of the past. It's a clean, dynamic, multilevel process that needs innovative minds."

Attracting and holding onto female employees will continue to be a challenge for manufacturers who must sell this field to the new graduates and hold fast onto current female employees. Flexibility, training, education and recognition of a new set of working conditions will go a long way toward attracting and retaining the talent of these women.

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