By Karen Hanna
At a time when Help Wanted signs are everywhere, extrusion blow molding plant owner Lori Schaefer-Weaton has a short answer regarding how to promote manufacturing as a career:
“Any way you can.”
Whether it’s talking to students in grades kindergarten through high school, or sponsoring local teams or charities, Schaefer-Weaton's Agri-Industrial Plastics Co. (AIP) is committed to making its presence known in Fairfield, Iowa. On Nov. 4, The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers, will honor her and 129 other women with STEP Ahead Awards for demonstrating excellence and leadership in their careers across all levels of the manufacturing industry.
Schaefer-Weaton credited her company’s 200 employees for the award. She said diversity is an advantage for companies.
“A diversified workforce is a strong workforce, and it makes for a better company in the long run. I always stress that we should have spirited discussions about our business and challenge each other to think bigger. Diversification makes that dialogue powerful and productive,” said Schaefer-Weaton, who also is president of the company.
The daughter of AIP’s founder, Dick Smith, Schaefer-Weaton is a graduate of Valparaiso University with a double major in accounting and marketing and a communications minor. Before taking over for her father, she held a variety of positions at Comdisco Inc., a Fortune 100 technology company in Chicago.
Having started her career as a middle schooler in 1978 making feeders for piglets, Schaefer-Weaton believes no effort to attract workers can match the experience of allowing people to see the inner working of plastics operations for themselves.
“I think getting people in our facility is the best-selling tool,” she said. “Inviting students, teachers, parents, potential employees into our facility is where they will see and really understand the number of different career paths available. It is also where people see that advanced manufacturing today is quite different from the misperceptions of the past. These [facilities] are safe, clean, high-tech workplaces with a ton of opportunity. It is pretty powerful to take raw materials and convert them into an end product … creating true value along the way.”
Agri-Industrial Plastics (AIP) is a 400,000-square-foot blow molding processor that specializes in manufacturing fuel tank systems for non-automotive applications.
Karen Hanna, senior staff reporter
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