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Women in manufacturing: One company’s 50-50 workforce

Why women work there, and why they stay

While women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, they make up only 27 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce. PPI, a diverse manufacturer in the Southeast with close to 600 employees, defies that statistic.

Its workforce is nearly 50 percent female. They work in the plant as machine operators, technicians, engineers, and supply chain managers. They also add value to teams in IT, HR, marketing, and other areas.

They come from diverse backgrounds. Some have a family connection to metal fabrication and manufacturing in general, while others don’t. So what made them turn to manufacturing, and—most important—what makes them stay?

About Legacy

PPI’s workforce gender ratio goes back to its roots and two business partners, Dr. Sherrie Ford and Steve Hollis. Years ago Ford launched Change Partners with two other colleagues, and Hollis joined the team six months later. Change Partners was (and still is) a consulting firm specializing in building company cultures that can sustain continuous improvement.

More than a decade ago, the firm started doing consulting work with an ABB factory in Athens, Ga. The plant itself was built in 1958 to make Westinghouse’s distribution transformers, those cylindrical sheet metal enclosures atop power poles. ABB purchased the operation in 1990, and in 2003 ABB sold it to Hollis and Ford. The entrepreneurs used this as a platform to launch a new company, calling it Power Partners Inc.

Today PPI is the parent organization of a diverse mix of companies. It still makes transformers through its Power Partners business, but it has also entered precision sheet metal fabrication, with Gap Partners Inc. Rabun Gap, Ga.; as well as metal stamping and fabrication at Charlotte, N.C.-based StampSource. PPI’s Change Partners—the consulting arm that started it all—still operates in Athens.

Ford was a pioneer in culture assessment and invented a methodology to improve company culture. With Dr. Ford as chair of the board, PPI became the seventh-largest certified women-owned business in the U.S. She died of cancer in 2011.

“With Sherrie, it was all about understanding culture and enabling people to solve their problems,” said Hollis, who today is co-owner and chairman of PPI. “She believed that people have the answers and that by engaging them, you can own the future.”

Juniper Ford, Ford’s daughter, started working for Change Partners with her mom and eventually joined full time. She supports the executive team, consults with customers, leads the environmental program, and manages communications and PR activities.

“I grew up working with her and Steve [Hollis] in [a company that has valued] work culture, and I love this company,” she said.

Cammie Bell-Garrison
Executive Director of Operations for Power Partners

About Process

Cammie Bell-Garrison, executive director of operations for Power Partners, came to manufacturing late in her career. She joined Power Partners in 2004 as a consultant, working with its information systems group. This was a natural fit; she previously worked in IT for other companies as well as Green Consulting, a business she owned.

“When I enrolled in college, I knew that I wanted to go into business but didn’t want to be limited to only one area or industry. [The information systems position] allowed me to try many different businesses and find the one that I liked the best,” she explained.

“After working with the information systems group, I moved to the supply chain area. [The supply chain area] in Power Partners has a major influence on daily operations and is very commodity-driven; aluminum, copper, steel, and other raw materials are a significant part of the company’s cost and profitability,” she said.

Her familiarity with lean processes allowed her to implement lean initiatives including kanbans, inventory management, and material flow. She worked with buyers, supply chain coordinators, and material handlers, ensuring the teams experienced small wins throughout the process.

She also worked as a mentor and team builder, concentrating on operator development within the shipping team.

Today Bell-Garrison can be found almost anywhere in Power Partners. She recently worked with Rebecca Ratz, supply chain and purchasing manager, to do a holistic supply chain presentation to a customer.

“We wanted to see the customer’s challenges and figure out how we could help extend across the supply chain. We started with raw material and took it to the end user for the customer, providing information on kanbans, inventory, and material flow, and helping them understand how to identify and eliminate waste in the supply chain,” she said.

Bell-Garrison emphasized that the key to success in manufacturing is earning respect, listening, and supporting your team. Gender has not been an issue.

“People need to see you as willing to work with them to understand problems. Take advantage of all your strengths, analytical, perceptivity, and learn the human relations aspect. You need to rely on all of these for success,” she said.

About Teams

A decade ago Sales Manager Christina Burdett joined Gap Partners Inc. She entered the sheet metal fabrication business the same way many people do—through family. Her father owned the fabrication operation that PPI purchased in 2005.

Christina Burdett
Sales Manager at Gap Partners Inc.

“I grew up in manufacturing, working for my dad expediting parts, knowing where and when to ship products,” she said. “Manufacturing is in my blood. The more I work in it, the more I love it. I love touring other sites and seeing people make things. The equipment is unbelievable; it’s so automated today, but we still need humans.”

Over the past decade Burdett has worked with different groups, focusing on teamwork and using her creativity to introduce customers to Gap. “I came up with a different way to present Gap to people. We created a presentation that showed the culture here.

“At the end of the day, I don’t want to be the person my customer is concerned about,” she continued. “I want them to know their part will be there on time. I always remember that our customer is a person—not a part.”

Burdett has seen changes for women in manufacturing, primarily due to team building and more women entering the profession. “I’ve been in manufacturing so long I can hold my own; manufacturing [is now] second nature to me,” she said. “In times past I had to have pretty thick skin working with male employees, especially when I had to expedite parts. Now people are much more accepting. Team building makes a huge difference.”

About Questions

Rebecca Ratz works at Power Partners as a supply chain and purchasing manager. She started with the company three years ago after working as a consultant for Gap Partners.

Like Bell-Garrison, Ratz previously owned and ran a company, AES Sales & Consulting, one she started after working at General Motors, where she worked on the Chevy Volt®, the company’s first mainstream electric car. While at GM she worked as the rechargeable energy storage system thermal development engineer and received a patent for her work.

A chance meeting with PPI leadership team members led to the consulting job and, ultimately, an offer to join the company full time.

“I absolutely love the small-business work environment where everyone knows each other and works together toward a common goal,” she said. “My previous experiences were with large Fortune 500 companies, where many co-workers didn’t always know your name, your role, or responsibilities, but at PPI it’s different. Everyone is very attuned to current projects and provides support.”

Even as a child Ratz was interested in how things work. “Growing up with two older brothers, I found myself more intrigued with their Lincoln Logs, Capsela, and Erector Sets than my Barbie dolls. Ultimately, this strong curiosity for how things work led me to pursue a [bachelor’s degree] in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.”

Ratz still asks questions about how things work. “I’m frequently saying, Wait! I have a question. I want to know how things work and I have to fully understand in order to make the best decisions.”

Rebecca Ratz
Purchasing Manager at Power Partners

About Learning

Doris Clark spent nearly 30 years with a small plastics manufacturing company in Detroit. Her jobs included operator, inspector, quality engineer, quality manager, director of quality, and lead examiner.

“When I was small, growing up in the Detroit area, I thought everybody worked in manufacturing. My dad owned a machine shop, and all my friends’ parents did that. I have a mechanical, logical mind and problem solving comes naturally to me.”

Moving to Charlotte, N.C., Clark earned her associate degree in business administration, then went to work for StampSource.

“After I got my degree, I decided it’s what I know and what I love to do. Once a shop rat, always a shop rat,” she said.

Clark manages the entire plant schedule and also works in quality. She sees a lot of room for advancement as StampSource grows, and she likes doing different things.

“I schedule all the manufacturing, shipping, and receiving,” she said. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world. I get to juggle a lot of things. I’m basically a production control person … emphasis on control.”

She told a story about a high school teacher who discouraged her from becoming an architect because he felt that as a woman she would have a hard time doing it. She said that comment stopped her from going into architecture.

“When I started working, I never let anyone stop me from advancing again. I’m a curious person and I love learning new things. I feel women bring attention to detail. We think of things men don’t—little things and important things, from a woman’s point of view.”

Photos courtesy of PPI, 200 Newton Bridge Road, Athens, GA 30607, 800-545-3121, www.ppiway.com.

Doris Clark
Manager at StampSource