Manufacturing: MFG DAY 2015!

Save The Date:

October 2, 2015

 

In lieu of my typical blog post, I wanted to take the time to increase awareness of a nationally focused day that is dear to my heart! Manufacturing Day℠ is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. Although Manufacturing Day officially occurs on the first Friday in October—this year is October 2, 2015—any day can be a Manufacturing Day. Copied directly from the www.mfgday.com mission (http://www.mfgday.com/about-us):

MFG DAY addresses common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show, in a coordinated effort, what manufacturing is — and what it isn’t. By working together during and after MFG DAY, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.

As of the sharing of this information, there are 363 events scheduled around the United States, and the list keeps growing. Throughout Arkansas, some participants include:

Arkansas First Incorporated in Little Rock

Baldor Electric Company in Fort Smith

Cameron in Little Rock

Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce

National Park College in Piney

Pace Industries in Harrison

South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado

To find an event in your area, visit http://www.mfgday.com/events

The purpose of these events is to give students first-hand, and oftentimes, hands on experience in understanding how things are made. It is also a good opportunity for parents to witness 21st century, advanced manufacturing processes and potential career paths for their children. Specifically in Arkansas, the Museum of Discovery has an exhibit, fashioned after the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood tv show, that demonstrates “How People Make Things.” The program applies STEM principles in a fun format to engage students in basic manufacturing processes like cutting, molding deforming, and assembly on multi-axis machines. To learn more about the exhibit that runs until September 22, 2015, visit http://www.mfgday.com/resources/teaching-children.  

There are lots of opportunities to discover and explore the excitement of manufacturing. If your company or community is sponsoring a MFG DAY event that you would like to highlight, feel free to comment or send me an email to latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

Million Women Mentors

Partnership Seeks to Engage

More Than One Million Girls and Young Women

in STEM Education and Careers

I am so thankful to be graced to continue to share this journey of Purposed Work. My 2014 travel schedule has started. In lieu of a blog post this week, I’m sharing information about an exciting program for “advancing women and girls in STEM careers through mentoring.”

The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) announced its partnership with the "Million Women Mentors" (MWM) initiative, launched January 8, 2014, in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club, as part of National Mentoring Month. A collective effort of more than 40 nonprofit, media, education, government, and industry partners and 9 corporate sponsors, MWM will support the engagement of 1 million science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) mentors--male and female--to increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and careers.

In the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs has been three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs. Today 80% of the fastest growing occupations in the United States depend on mastery of mathematics and knowledge and skills in hard sciences. Although women comprise 48% of the U.S. workforce, just 24% are in STEM fields, a statistic that has held constant for nearly the past decade. Although 75% of all college students are women and students of color, they represent only 45% of STEM degrees earned each year. Too many of these young women begin in STEM degree paths but leave despite their good academic standing, often citing uncomfortable classroom experiences and disconcerting climate. Even when women earn a STEM degree, they are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM field--even though STEM jobs pay more and have a lower wage gap: 92 cents on a dollar versus 75 cents in other fields.

NAPE, through its Education Foundation, has developed a suite of professional development programs for administrators, educators, and counselors/advisors to improve opportunities for underrepresented populations in STEM courses of study and careers, including STEM-related Career and Technical Education. NAPE's  STEM Equity Pipeline™ offerings include the  Program Improvement Process for Equity™,  Micromessaging to Reach and Teach Every Student™, and the  Focus on Counselors Initiative. To date, NAPE has provided professional development in these programs to almost 1,700 administrators, educators, and counselors/advisors in 372 schools. 

As part of National Mentoring Month, on January 16, 2014, at 1 pm EST, NAPE will actively engage those who mentor girls in STEM in a webinar titled Building Trust.  NAPE COO Claudia Morrell will discuss the importance of paying attention to the use of subtle but powerful micromessages in building trust in mentor/mentee relationships. As explained by Ms. Morrell, "Without honesty there is no credibility in the mentor/mentee relationship, and the mentor becomes just one more person in a long line of people repeating things the mentee doesn't believe. NAPE is excited to contribute to this initiative by providing guidance to mentors about the best ways to communicate with their mentees."

Register for this free webinar today!

 To become involved with NAPE or Million Women Mentors, please visit www.napequity.org  or www.MillionWomenMentors.org . Contact: Claudia Morrell, Chief Operating Officer, (610) 593-8038.

If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

Unseen Good Works

Blessed are those who have not seen

 and yet have believed

(John 20:29)

At last year’s Women in Manufacturing Summit, I learned about the “Dream It, Do It” initiative. This is a program launched by The Manufacturing Institute that “offers local manufacturers, schools, community-based organizations and other stakeholders the opportunity to partner with a respected national platform to promote manufacturing as a top tier career choice in the United States.” Recognizing that every region is different, the DI-DI program advances a national standardized brand that can be customized to fit the needs of the local workforce. As a follow up, I was pleased to see that in August 2013, my home state of Arkansas signed on as the 23^rd member as an avenue to address the growing skills shortage across our great state. To learn more about the national Dream It, Do It initiative, please visit http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Image/Dream-It-Do-It/Dream-It-Do-It.aspx

The state of Connecticut has identified a need for more machinists, assemblers, and CNC tool operators. To gain the attention of future of engineers and innovators, and to leverage the state’s DI-DI program, October was deemed as “Manufacturing Month” to introduce middle school aged students to future careers in manufacturing. At featured events, students were given hands on opportunities to experience additive manufacturing, cutting tools, and 3-D printers. Grace Sawyer Jones, president of the local community college shared that one way to increase awareness is by exposing students to potential careers as early as possible. “It’s by having students who are looking to these fields long before they come to college. And more importantly,  the manufacturing businesses are here (in CT). Those are the parts that you bring together early in their lives, so they really have a realization of the possibilities.” To read more about the Connecticut manufacturing event, please click on http://wnpr.org/post/manufacturing-event-targets-future-workforce-connecticut-made-products?goback=%2Egde_4239561_member_5800678290263916544#%21

As an advocate for careers in manufacturing, I agree that we have to introduce the next generation of workers to the possibilities of sustainable jobs as early as possible. Many kids are not aware of the products that are machined or assembled locally. More importantly, as adults, business owners, and community leaders, we should begin to challenge these young innovators to consider the unseen good works, potential products that could be assembled and manufactured in the future from local resources. We should not limit our or their focus to the types of manufacturing that we see today, instead testing their abilities to develop solutions without the benefit of tangible proof from current technology. That’s what engineering and innovation and the next generation of job creation in manufacturing is all about: believing in what we have not seen and yet have believed to be possible. How are you engaging young people in your community to Dream It, Do It, to ignite their purposed work? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

Ready for Good Works

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works,

to be generous, and to be ready to communicate

(1 Timothy 6:18)

I find it both disturbing and unacceptable that this country has 600k (yes, 600 thousand) manufacturing jobs that are not filled in this current economic season. I spend a lot of time in small-to-mid-sized shops and often hear business owners and operations managers say that they cannot find good talent to fill open positions. At the same time, I spend a lot of time in low-to-moderate income communities and often hear people complain that they cannot find good paying jobs. If the jobs are available and the people who desire to work exist, where is the disconnect? My theory is that there is a lack of awareness about manufacturing and career opportunities for non-traditional employees.

When I first started Latrobe, one of my goals was to increase consciousness among women and girls about the potential careers in manufacturing. As I have spent time in the field, my vision has broadened as I realized that parents, as well as young people in general, could benefit from knowing more about 21st century manufacturing, the cultural expectations of working in an industrial environment, and the work ethic required to be successful. As a result, our team developed a training and education program on workforce readiness in manufacturing.

What is workforce readiness? Our working hypothesis is to address how we can help to equip and prepare potential employees to be productive in a manufacturing environment. Employers are looking for more than just skilled workers with technical competencies. Most companies have on-the-job-training programs and procedures specific to their operations. Our workforce readiness training focuses on the critical skills required to be successful in industrial manufacturing environments, which differs from working in a service or retail organization. Interactive training and assessment includes the following:
 

1.      The four career pathways of manufacturing
2.      Manufacturing 101
(safety, basic shop math, gauging and measuring, and problem solving)
3.      Industrial Environment
(employer expectations, personal attitude and behavior, work ethic)
4.      Communication
(verbal, written, listening, social media, and networking)
5.      Life Management Skills
(time balancing, conflict resolution, and decision making)
6.      Financial Literacy
(job vs. career and the difference in lifetime earning potential)
7.      Prepare for Success
(resume writing, interviewing etiquette, proper dress/attire/hygiene)
8.      Onboarding
(matching prospective industrial employers with qualified entry-level employees)

I have to admit, that none of this training is rocket science. In fact, much of it feels like topics that should have been taught in high school. Employers expect young people to arrive with a core set of basic knowledge and the ability to apply those critical thinking skills in the workforce – but the reality is not matching the expectation. I know that not every young person will develop an interest and passion for manufacturing, so this training also serves to give those participants who successfully complete the program a confidence booster that they can succeed in this sometimes challenging environment. As parents, we have a requirement to make sure that our kids are ready for the good works available for them today and to prepare them for the future. My purposed work is to educate and inform about potential careers in manufacturing. What’s yours? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

A Teachable Moment in Good Works

…put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways…

(Psalm 51:12-13)

One of my favorite movies opens with the question: So when did you first fall in love with hip-hop? It’s a brilliant question for a thinker that allows you to contemplate the cause and effect of so many of life’s events. For example, if I were to ponder when I first considered pursuing engineering, I can point to another movie that had an impact on my life: the original Cheaper by the Dozen. The old black and white was the story of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, their family, and their work in time and motion studies.

 

No one really explained to me what an industrial engineer (IE) did. The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I attended an introduction to engineering session at the University of Arkansas. A group of us spent a week touring the campus and visiting with the various disciplines. During the IE session, someone identified Fredrick Taylor (my family name) as the father of scientific management and mentioned therblig (Gilbreth spelled backwards) as the basic unit of measure in time and motion studies, and I became intrigued to learn more. By the end of the week, I knew I would major in industrial engineering. I remember going back home, to work at Mr. B’s, telling my manager that I was going to be an IE. When he asked me what they did, my best example was still the Cheaper by the Dozen reference. He asked if I planned to become an efficiency expert. I told him not exactly, but that I would come up with a better use of our time in response to him constantly saying if you have time to lean, you have time to clean!

Today, if I had to explain what an industrial engineer does, I would say that we focus on improving productivity and quality in any work process. Although I have a passion for manufacturing processes, I have gained a lot of experience in non-manufacturing environments. Throughout the years, I have had assignments that ranged from getting the right dietary meals to patients in relatively large hospitals, to understanding how cash payments are processed and credited from retailers to banks, to performing job-cost analysis for material handling in warehouses, to developing a supply-chain study of components and assemblies required to operate wind turbine farms for renewable energy. I like to think of my work as the proper balance of processes and people that produces sustained profitability!

WSJ blog image of a new engineering grad 

That’s my experience, based on the cause/effect/exposure in my life. For students entering the profession today, the global possibilities are endless. The Institute of Industrial Engineers recently released the following video to illustrate some of the career opportunities that may be attractive in the 21^st century graduates:

IIE: Today In America

UPDATED 04.30.2013:  Interested in other engineering disciplines? Check out this WSJ blog on the highest paid college majors:

http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/04/29/and-the-highest-paid-college-majors-are/?mod=e2tw

 

In the Name of Good Works

There are currently nine women serving as her state’s Attorney General (Harris-CA, Bondi-FL, Madigan-IL, Mills-ME, Coakley-MA, Swanson-MN, Masto-NV, Rosenblum-OR, and Kane-PA). However, if you listen to the news, you would not consider that 20% of the country's Attorneys General are female because when the AG title is spoken about in general terms, it has a male connotation. Even with adequate representation, there are still some job titles that are associated with men.

What's wrong in this picture?

I see a similar stigma in manufacturing. When speaking of a plant manager, engineering manager, director of operations, VP of product development, the person is always assumed to be a man. I was recently asked to share a funny story about an event in my career. A common theme for me: When people in other countries see my name written, they do not know if I am a man or a woman. Before the days of intranet bio's, I was once introduced on a global video conference as Mr. Latanyua Robinson from Germany, until the camera zoomed on me, revealing that I was an American female...from Stuttgart (AR)! Even in the picture shown, welcoming me to a plant in China, I was (innocently) referenced as a man. The most logical explanation is that people look at the job title or function and automatically assume that the person is a man. And while the examples I cited involved an international audience, the same holds true in the United States. Why are we still assigning gender roles to job titles and functions in 2013?

A 2011 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (found at http://www.fortefoundation.org/site/DocServer/gendered_wording_JPSP.pdf?docID=16121) suggested that subtle biases exist in job listings for technical roles. For example, job titles for positions in engineering and other male-dominated professions used more masculine words, such as “leader,” “competitive” and “dominant.” Listings for jobs in female-dominated professions — such as office administration and human resources — did not include such words. Perhaps linguistics or culture play a role in why some jobs are more likely to be filled by a man, but I say it is still a numbers game.

Women represent 47% of the workforce, but fill less than 25% of the manufacturing workforce (http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/~/media/A07730B2A798437D98501E798C2E13AA.ashx). Advocacy groups like Women in Manufacturing are good associations for highlighting the accomplishments of women in the industry. As members, we have to do our parts at the grassroots level to educate young women about the career opportunities available. We have to share our stories about navigating through the ranks, bringing with us our rich experiences and diversity of thought. We have to be the driving force in the cultural shift that invites more women to want to become engaged in manufacturing so that 25 years from now, we no longer hear a job title and automatically assume that the role is filled by a man. We want a future state that assumes no gender biases, only that the role, any role in any industry, is filled with the most qualified person.

Train – Initiate and Educate for Good Works

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it

Proverbs 22:6

Practice what you preach is one of my mantras. We encouraged our son to develop his mechanical skills. We invested in blocks and Legos in our house and since I can remember, Q has talked about becoming an architect. He has always known that his mom is an engineer and that he gets his math skills from me and his mechanical aptitude from his dad. He’s aware of science, technology, and manufacturing vocations. All of the introductions and nurturing came naturally for my male child.

Tay, Q, and Tif--around the age we should initiate career talks.

God did not bless us with daughters, but I have two nieces who are both beautiful and smart. I do not live in the same cities or states as them, but we see each other frequently and are relatively close. They know that Aunt Tanyua is an engineer, but I do not know what they know or think about my work. More importantly, I do not ever recall nurturing their math or mechanical skills or ever talking to them about science, or technology, or manufacturing. I call myself an advocate for getting more young women engaged in manufacturing studies, yet I have not planted the seed with my own flesh and blood, until now. It’s time to stop being a hypocrite and to begin to practice what I preach!

Writing this blog is a good way for me to understand what teenaged girls think about high tech, engineering and STEM related professions. When I was younger, I wanted to be an accountant (because I was good at math) until my high school math teacher, Ms. Wilson, suggested to me that I was an engineer. In tenth grade, she introduced me to the vocation that would become my life’s passion. So today, I interviewed my nieces and introduced them to the idea of future careers in manufacturing or technology.

Name: Taylor

Grade: 10th
School: Southfield Bradford Academy
Favorite Subject and Why: English, because I like writing and I had a teacher, Mr. Kinniebrew, who made it fun.
Current College Thoughts and Why: University of Michigan to major in Journalism
What do you want to be when you grow up: Journalist (TV, newspapers, magazines, blogs, all kinds)
What do you know about manufacturing: It’s the mass production of goods starting from raw material. Everything is manufactured, like cars. (She obviously did some research before the call!)

My younger niece, Tiffany, is an eighth grader at Stuttgart Jr. High. She was shy about sharing her thoughts on college and careers. Both confirmed that I have NEVER initiated a conversation with them about engineering or manufacturing or my work, nor encouraged them to develop their mechanical skills.  When you know better, you do better (Maya Angelou).

I have some work to do in piquing their interest in potential careers in manufacturing or technology (or at least explaining how degrees in journalism, marketing, etc. can be applied to a career supporting the industry). It’s not too late. In 2011, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity hosted a conference focused on expanding options for women and girls in STEM.  Five strategies suggested to support girls’ success in STEM careers (or to increase awareness of the options) are:

• Know your own biases (challenge our girls to develop math and mechanical skills)
• Exposure early and often (start talking to them as young as possible)
• Engage parents
• Pay attention to the little things (a reminder that girls like blocks and Legos too)
• Use role models (introduce your nieces/cousins to women in non-traditional careers)

In the meantime, I know that discussions of careers and college will become a part of my purposed conversation with my nieces and other young women that I encounter. If we want these future leaders to seek their full career potential, we have to train and educate them early and consistently.

To learn more about efforts to advance careers in STEM, visit www.stemequitypipeline.org