Kickstart: A home for artistic flair in manufacturing

Several years ago, I was talking to the owner of a mold making shop who talked about how he'd recruited a neighbor's daughter into joining the company's training program. He did this not through talking about money or alternative education opportunities. Instead, it was all about creativity.

She wanted a career in creative arts. "You like making things?" he'd asked her. "You should see what you can build with metal tools."

She was hooked. And it seems she's not the only one drawn to manufacturing by the ability to build something. As Catherine Kavanaugh writes in a feature about Manufacturing Day 2020, other companies are using the same creative appeal.

Consider the story of Ashley Carr, who thought she wanted to be a makeup artist and hair stylist. She's now in the second year of a mechatronics apprentice program at machinery maker Bekum America.

"Here I am building machines from the ground up covered in dirt. You have to try it. Maybe you don't like it … but see all your options," Carr said.

Plastics News will be doing a virtual version of its Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum this year, Nov. 17-19. Going virtual keeps people safe in this unusual year, and it also is opening the door for more people to attend, since they no longer have to book travel time.

Two sessions during the forum will focus on human resource issues. Maybe in normal years, if you had a question about flex time or maternity leave, you could pop into the HR office. That's harder to do this year.

So instead, these events — both a workshop and a more wide-ranging event, "Ask the HR Manager" — will give attendees a chance to drive the discussion.

We're asking you to tell us what topics you think we should cover.

Perhaps you want to know how to ask about implementing flex time while you're dealing with both work and virtual school for your kids. Maybe you want some advice on how to advise coworkers on the proper use of the company Slack channel. Or maybe what you should do to prepare to ask for a raise or a promotion.

You can email topics and questions to me, and I'll forward them to our speaker, Nikki Kallek, as she prepares for the sessions. No need to identify you or your company specifically for these, so you can retain your privacy. Just drop me a note with "Ask the HR Manager" in the subject line to [email protected].

Can supporting recycling make you calmer? I don't mean the process of putting your PET bottles in a recycling bin, but rather supporting companies that are converting old fishing line into a solar-powered art piece that slowly revolves to help you unwind.

The Uplift 2.0 is a slender spiral made of nylon 6 recovered from used nets by recycling startup Fishy Filaments of Newlyn, England. The nets are used by the fishing fleets based on the coast of Cornwall in southern England. Fishy Filaments converts them into pellets, which are then injection molded by Silvergate Plastics and Plastic-IT Ltd. into the Uplift.

The Uplift has 2 percent virgin resin content, to control the color, but otherwise uses the nets as the material source.

See it in action, and hear from inventor Tom Lawton, here.