Kickstart: Women gaining ground in manufacturing jobs

Manufacturing jobs are climbing again after a slowdown because of the pandemic, and the U.S. Census Bureau reports that women are key to filling many of the job openings, some of them rejoining the workforce after having to cut back because of other priorities in 2020 and 2021.

While men still make up the majority of manufacturing employees, women now make up 30 percent of that workforce and one out of every four management positions in manufacturing are held by women.

"As manufacturers strive to foster creativity, they have found that gender diversity boosts employee morale and retention," the Census Bureau said in an Oct. 3 report. "As a result, there has also been some growth of women not only in manufacturing, but also in science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] related fields — skills that manufacturing employers increasingly require."

Increased automation on the shop floor also is making it easier for women to take jobs previously seen as only for men, the bureau said in the report timed to lead into Manufacturing Day on Oct. 7.

Ukraine-based urethane dosing equipment supply company OSV Technology is making machines again, but not at its hometown plant.

OSV was forced to abandon operations at its facility near Kherson when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The region is still occupied by Russian troops, although U.S. military officials say the Ukrainian Army currently is making headway in pushing them out.

Most of the staff of OSV fled but have been able to reestablish operations at a subsidiary warehouse in Rybnik, Poland, as well as additional space near Kyiv. Our sister paper Urethanes Technology International reports it has produced metering and mixing machines for customers in Ukraine, Poland and France and static mixing guns for Spanish and Polish customers. Work on more dosing machines is underway for customers in Ukraine, Estonia, the Netherlands and the U.S.

An agricultural storage recycling program in Canada is continuing its strong growth, with farmers returning more than 75 percent of containers sold into the agricultural marketplace in 2021, nudging a three-year rolling average recovery rate to 77 percent.

Cleanfarms, a Canadian national stewardship organization that develops programs to manage on-farm agricultural waste materials, says that while the recycling effort began with a focus on empty plastic jugs 23 liters and smaller, it has expanded to include other materials.

"Empty plastic jugs aren't the only ag containers producers are recycling," Cleanfarms Executive Director Barry Friesen said in a news release. "They are bringing back several essential items used on farms for recycling — like empty nondeposit bulk drums and totes, too. … By returning them for recycling, farmers are ensuring the plastic in both smaller and larger containers is used to make new products in a circular economy."

Plastic grain bags fall under an extended producer responsibility program in Saskatchewan, and the province posted recovery rates of 64 percent of bags in 2021, representing 2,100 metric tons of used bags.