In the build up to the end of 2020 The Manufacturer and KTN have teamed up to bring you profiles of 30 Inspiring Women in Manufacturing.
Continuing our Inspiring Women in Manufacturing profiles we bring you the second part in our serries in association with KTN.
At The Manufacturer we are passionate about representing the industry to the fullest and to give a platform to champion diversity within our sector. Writing in the December issue of the magazine, Grace Gilling, Managing Director of Hennik Group said: “At Digital Manufacturing Week a large proportion of our people and skills focused content was delivered by females.”
She continued “In 2020 I set the target that 40% of our speaker line-ups needed to be female. With time pressures to deliver conference programmes, and with some subjects being more challenging than others (industrial data = hard, sustainability = easier), our diversity quota slipped. It is a fact that there are fewer females in senior roles and therefore they are harder to find. But it is our job to be part of the change and to research the women in these roles and profile them. We must do more at The Manufacturer and we are 100% committed to this for 2021.”
In fact, we are not waiting until 2021 to get this started and want to get our readership thinking about how we can tackle this disparity together. So please read and share the second part of our Inspiring Women in Manufacturing serries in association with KTN.
Rachel Eade MBE, Director, Red Ltd
“Top advice: 1. listen, look and learn – every day is a school day; 2. never say no to an opportunity, especially those that push your boundaries, talking and presenting helps you learn and grow and present women as equals in the world of business.”
Rachel Eade has over twenty years’ experience in business support and development, specialising in the automotive and transport manufacturing supply chain, awarded an MBE in the 2014 New Year’s Honor’s list for services to the automotive industry, and in May 2015 receive the ISME Gold Medal Award. Rachel played a pivotal role in evolving the SME business support offer and has assisted more than 5000 companies, worked with and supported in excess of 50 supply chain development programmes, along with more than 250 SME supply group networks. Currently working both independently and with the Birmingham Centre for Rail Research and Education at three University of Birmingham to promote innovation and growth opportunities across the transport supply chain, Rachel enjoys acting as a judge for manufacturing and supply chain awards. She is a passionate commentator on transport manufacturing issues and as a go-to spokesperson for local, regional and national media.
Dr Yan Wang, Principal Lecturer – Remanufacturing, University of Brighton
“Be determined towards your goal in your career”
Dr. Wang’ research direction is remanufacturing which adds value to the waste stream by returning items to working order with case studies on automotive, machine tools, rolling stock etc. She has published 50+ journal papers and been granted 10 patents. She is a committee member of BSI technical group (BS8887 which provides remanufacturing protocols), was involved in the standard writing of BS8887-part 3, and she is an initiator and a member of the China-UK Remanufacturing Standard Working group who is working toward joint ISO remanufacturing standards. Dr. Yan Wang has rich experiences in engagement with policy makers in remanufacturing, including G7, BEIS, Innovate UK and Chinese government. e.g. her engagement with policy makers in China and the UK has been listed as one of the policy outcomes of 9th UK-China economic and financial dialogue (Item 57).
Charlotte Horobin, Region Director, Make UK
“Take every opportunity that comes your way to train, develop yourself and broaden your interests, you have to invest in and back yourself”
Charlotte’s role as Region Director is to engage manufacturers and assist them in advancing their business by providing bespoke introductions, providing industry insight, attendance at events & networking, promoting their business and ensuring their views are heard. Charlotte also is a Trustee of the WMG Academy for Young Engineers business led schools for 14-19 year olds who are interested in a STEM career, she is a Careers and Enterprise Advisor in Lincolnshire and has recently been appointed as a Senior Industrial Fellow at Aston University. She gained her undergraduate degree from The University of Leeds in Biomedical Science before completing her Masters at The University of Nottingham. Before joining Make UK (formerly EEF) in 2013, Charlotte worked in food manufacturing where she focused on business development and food safety management.
Eser Torun, Chief of Staff, Everledger
“Don’t be content with the status quo, be resilient. Career is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, ask questions, and take risks.”
Eser is the Chief of Staff at Everledger. She is the force-multiplier and strategic thought partner to the CEO and the Executive team. Her mandate also includes investor and government relations at Everledger. She was previously a Senior Relationship Manager at Barclays Investment Bank in London, where she was responsible for growing business partnerships with the biggest UK insurance and asset manager clients of the Bank. She has 20 years of experience across Investment Banking, Relationship Management and Business Management. Eser holds an MBA degree from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands. She is also a CFA Charterholder (Chartered Financial Analyst). She is part of the Executive Team for the Inclusion & Diversity Network of the CFA Institute, where she plays an active role to help increase diversity across professional services.
Dr Sara Ridley, Project Director, Autocraft Drivetrain Solutions
“The piece of advice I would give to other women is to not doubt yourself, mistakes are fine as long as you learn, you must believe you have a right to be where you are because you do.”
Dr Sara Ridley is the Project Director of Autocraft Solutions Group. Inspired by WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), Sara put her enthusiasm for problem solving to good use, completing a manufacturing apprenticeship. This led to a first-class BSc Engineering degree at the University of Northampton. Whilst studying, Sara began working for Caterpillar Remanufacturing in engineering and operations eventually working at sites across Europe. This led to Sara being awarded an Industrial Fellowship for her research from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Her award-winning research has been published in both remanufacturing and production journals. Sara’s aim is to encourage young people to see value in the inspiring range of engineering and technological careers. Sara is concerned about the image of engineering that she feels contributes to the lack of diversity in the profession. She regularly engages with schools and universities to develop strategies to counter this.
