Steinwall offers alternative outlook on workforce

As Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing turns 10, we're looking back at 10 people who made significant contributions to the industry during the past decade. Read more of our 10 People for 10 Years here.

By Karen Hanna

“No one wants to work anymore.”  

It's been a common refrain over much of the last 10 years, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But if yours is one of those voices, former plastics processing CEO Maureen Steinwall might respond with a question, “Why not?” 

The author of the 2024 book “Managing with Optimism: Employee Empowerment,” Steinwall is the president of the Plastics Hall of Fame and a former board member of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS). As the CEO and CFO of Steinwall Inc., a Minneapolis injection molding shop, she has decades of management experience. She has a doctorate in organizational management and leadership. 

But she’s hardly old-school.  

She has a keen interest in artificial intelligence and robots. And a heart for the 150 or so employees who worked under her.  

A relentless innovator, she strived to open doors to women in the plastics industry.  

In 1991, she created Orient M, then gave rights to the orientation software package to the organization now known as PLASTICS. 

In 2010, according to the Plastics Hall of Fame, she achieved an industry first, by implementing iPads throughout her shop, using the devices to standardize the company’s information and make it available to workers.  

She recognizes that creating an environment where workers can thrive is in their best interest — but also the company’s. 

As she told us in 2021: “I’ve always said that anybody can buy an injection molding machine, and anybody can buy the resin, but what’s uniquely different, what differentiates you from everybody, is the human element and how they respond and how they service the customer and how they think creatively.”