Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/570520
14 | /INSIGHT ON MANUFACTURING • September 2015 w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m female factor c o n t i n u e d manufacturing plant and I was going to work there until I could save enough money. But I didn't. I got married, had three children and continued to work in the manufacturing plant. e longer I worked, the more I knew manufacturing was home for me. It presented so many opportunities. You could go the engineering route, the finance route, the supervisory leadership route or you could go into continuous improvement. I was recruited to Presto Products as the vice president of operations for six manufacturing plants. ere were a couple of older gentlemen that felt that was the worst decision in the whole wide world. at was probably my biggest career challenge — to make them understand that I understood manufacturing. I was in the role for nine months and was presenting at a sales meeting, and talking about visions for manufacturing. One of the two Jessica Schmidt Mechanical assembler Nercon, Oconto I build conveyer belts — I'm a sub- assembler. I've been at Nercon a year and four months. I was a stay-at-home mom and wanted to get back out into the workforce, and this is where I ended up. I previously worked at Carver Yachts for 11 years. I love challenges. I like to keep my mind busy and learning, especially with blueprints and layouts. e people I work with make the environment fun and welcoming. You do get dirty, I will say that, you do. When I le work (one day last month), I looked like I was rolling around in the dirt and mud. I basically have no nails. But it doesn't bother me, it's what I do. And I don't mind it. We have a lot of tours come through, and it's a lot of younger boys from high school. You don't even see gentlemen that had such heartburn when I was hired came up to speak. He said, "When we hired Rita, I was very boisterous that this was the worst hire that we ever made. And I want to stand here today and say I'm sorry. It was the best decision." As leaders we need to take personal interest in our talented employees, being mentors. It's really about understanding how diverse the field is instead of just thinking you're coming in and putting widgets together. Jessica Schmidt, Nercon Rita Cox President and CEO Coating Excellence International (cei), Wrightstown R ight out of high school I wanted to be a nurse, but my family just didn't have the wherewithal to send me to college. At 17 years old, I started in the local RITA COX COURTESY CEI COURTESY NERCON