Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
      Machine builders meet pressing needs for plastic in 2020
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      COVID-19 stories dominate 2020 headlines
      Plastic Globes ask: Was there a lighter side in 2020?
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
    • Kickstart: Another push to reduce plastic packaging
      Kickstart: People bought a lot of refrigerators in 2020
      Kickstart: RVs gain ground as 'tailor-made' social distance vacation option
      Kickstart: Building a foam platform
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • Chase expands giving campaign in 2020
      McDivitt will showcase Ascend's COVID-19 work on CNBC's Mad Money
      Move over, Plastic Man: Here comes Plastic Woman
      Star in spotlight with West Virginia philanthropy award
    • The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
      ACC, NAM eye economic priorities in Biden presidency
      As scrap exports drop, will plastics recycling rate fall?
    • Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
      Changing names for compounders embracing corporate branding
      Diversity the key to outperforming the market
      A timeline of the industry's COVID response
    • Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
      Perspective: ‘Fake news' of a different sort?
      Perspective: Making products in the USA is good for the planet
      Perspective: Reflections on a decade of global industry collaboration on marine litter
    • Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
      Mailbag: Oil-plastics connection is overstated
      Mailbag: Plastics recycling not cost-effective
      Mailbag: Price increases hurting North American PE buyers
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
      Video: Structural foam molding
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      College training, programs
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - July 2020
      Polymer Points Live - October 2020
      Polymer Points Live - August 2020
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
      Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Canon Virginia Inc. brings collaboration to the table
      Sponsored By CDS MACHINES
      Facing medical equipment shortages during COVID-19 outbreak?
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Transform your molding capabilities with the Canon Shuttle Mold System
    • Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 20, 2000 02:00 AM

Owners taking a fresh look at leadership

Joseph Pryweller PLASTICS NEWS STAFF
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    COON RAPIDS, MINN. — With a large personal and financial stake, Maureen Steinwall uprooted the culture of her injection molding company soon after she became president.

    Steinwall, owner of Coon Rapids, Minn.-based Steinwall Inc., decided to do more than just replace people or hold more meetings. Instead, she tore away the trappings of a traditional molding shop by its roots.

    "I wanted to turn us into more of a humanistic manufacturing company," Steinwall said. "It was my personal objective. I felt that I couldn't run a plastics company with all the tension and chaos and negative energy affecting the environment."

    Ridding the plant of negative energy became a campaign that escalated during the past five years, when Steinwall moved to a new plant location in the Minneapolis area. It cost the company about $600,000 — a large amount for a small-sized processor that has grown to sales of close to $8 million annually.

    The remaking of Steinwall Inc. includes everything from improved plant conditions to new hiring policies. The effort is similar to what has taken place at several other woman-owned plastics companies.

    While many woman owners say they should not be treated differently than men, some also say they can bring a different perspective to the workplace.

    When Martha Lewis took over Lewis Pipe Co. from her father's estate three years ago, she had given up a career in nursing. But some of her people skills transferred to the plastics industry, she said.

    Her management style brought a new kind of energy — and few preconceived notions — to the Ardmore, Ala.-based pipe-extrusion company, she said.

    "At first, some people looked at me as a woman and asked what does she know about plastics," said Lewis, president and chief executive officer of the company. "But women tend to be more people-oriented. It's easier to approach problems from a people perspective and less from a mechanical perspective."

    Lewis said her philosophy is to allow people to do their jobs. A similar approach has benefited Edge Plastics Inc., an injection molding company based in Mansfield, Ohio.

    President Shelley Eckstein Fisher joined the family contract-molding business in 1985 after a career as a department-store buyer. After becoming plant manager, she rose to become chief executive officer and majority owner in 1995 upon the retirement of her father, David Eckstein.

    Fisher said she never has encountered much resistance from the male-dominated industry. But presiding over a large company with two molding plants, more than a half-million square feet of warehousing space and $25 million in annual sales offered other challenges, she said.

    Juggling family and work were among the main ones, Fisher said. Fisher and her husband Mark, who heads Edge's assembly and packaging operations, are raising three children while she runs a company.

    "It helps me understand a little better what some of my employees go through," Fisher said. "Not a lot of women enter technical fields or have the mathematical training, and that's too bad. And so many women desire to take time off to have children, and that can be difficult."

    At Edge, Fisher altered shifts. Instead of employees working eight to 12 hours a day, they now work six-hour shifts. Employees are still paid for a full, eight-hour day but have extra time to spend with family, Fisher said.

    Meanwhile, a specially designed conveyor system that runs the length of the plant allows workers more space and safety farther away from the machines.

    Fisher has converted her second-floor office into a personal day care area. Her 18-month-old daughter, Arianna, plays with toys and watches Barney tapes while Fisher works and oversees the plant floor below.

    The company is considering expanding into proprietary lines to better use its 23 presses, Fisher said, but she has no great desire to grow too large at the expense of family time.

    At Steinwall, the issues also center on employees and a hassle-free environment. Steinwall, who has a master's degree in operations management, takes the philosophy that human needs should come before corporate financial gains.

    That approach has led to both material and psychological changes. A visible change is the pressurized, climate-controlled plant floor.

    The well-lit molding center is air-conditioned at a uniform 78° F. The low humidity keeps parts from warping and employees from wilting, Steinwall said. The enclosed environment also cuts down the decibel level.

    Steinwall's investment cuts through to employee attitudes. In the past few years, she has tried to erase what she calls "negative forms of management." Workers who make mistakes are not chastised or punished. But employees who so much as throw a wrench in anger are treated harshly, she said.

    Employees are trained extensively to modify behaviors. They are told to work as a team — not get in the face of other employees but to work with them. They are told that laughter is better medicine than harsh words.

    The company has even developed a computer program, called Orient Me!, that is being marketed by Washington-based Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. Topics on the multimedia employee-training program include personal boundaries, harassment policies and corporate values and beliefs.

    In a heated economy where workers are hard to find, Steinwall said that attitude can stem the heavy costs of turnover.

    But the work has not been easy. The plant remodeling meant thin profit margins for a year, she said. And the new behaviors have meant a major time investment to communicate values, police them and deprogram workers, she added.

    In fact, the company will hire and keep only those workers who act in a positive and trustworthy way, no matter how technically skilled or assertive that person is, she said.

    The turnover rate at Steinwall has dropped from 67 percent annually to 12 percent since the program was adopted five years ago, according to an Orient Me! brochure. Meanwhile, sales per employee have grown 32 percent in that time.

    A woman business owner is well-suited to that softer approach, Steinwall added.

    "Females tend to be nurturers by nature," Steinwall said. "We're different in how we talk about issues and try to work them out vs. going to more counterproductive measures. I'm absolutely convinced that what we're doing here is worth it."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • Processor of the Year submissions
      • White Papers