Jack Ubersax
Aluminum
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
- Location
- Wilbraham, MA
Since jclegge has expressed an interest in hearing more tales from the memory bank (probably before it fades any further) I feel encouraged to continue the retrieval process and see what can be safely pulled out.
Soon after we began to encounter more women in Engineering positions in the firms that we called on, it was announced that W/S as going to take yet another innovative step and add some women to its classes of Special Apprentices. I would say that the general feeling among those of us in the field could be summed up as "oh brother, how is this going to work?" or "what are my customers going to say about this" because in reality, the number of women we saw in manufacturing offices was still pretty small, indeed.
Well, I must say that any doubters anywhere within the company who had exposure to these carefully selected women Field Engineer candidates, soon changed their thinking. By the time we all got to meet them at, say, their first Sales Conference, or at a Machine Tool Show, it was clear that they were fully capable of learning the same stuff we all had to learn. Us manly men. And, please forgive me, they had the added advantage of being better to view than most of the guys in the role!
I looked forward to having the experience of the first such trainee out here in New England for the reguired initial field sales experience. The week she spent with us out here put an end to any doubts we may have had about the appropriateness of women in such a role, in our staid old industry. It seemed that some of the men we called on on a regular basis were talking longer. We got fewer calls made than usual during that week. The discussons were better. I liked this a lot.
That first woman, the one sent here, had her initial assignment at the Nashville operation, in a Sales liason role. She did very well, to nobody's surprise.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, W/S was the first major machine tool builder to employ women in this role. It was but one more important area in which our company successfully assumed the role of pioneer and trailblazer.
Soon after we began to encounter more women in Engineering positions in the firms that we called on, it was announced that W/S as going to take yet another innovative step and add some women to its classes of Special Apprentices. I would say that the general feeling among those of us in the field could be summed up as "oh brother, how is this going to work?" or "what are my customers going to say about this" because in reality, the number of women we saw in manufacturing offices was still pretty small, indeed.
Well, I must say that any doubters anywhere within the company who had exposure to these carefully selected women Field Engineer candidates, soon changed their thinking. By the time we all got to meet them at, say, their first Sales Conference, or at a Machine Tool Show, it was clear that they were fully capable of learning the same stuff we all had to learn. Us manly men. And, please forgive me, they had the added advantage of being better to view than most of the guys in the role!
I looked forward to having the experience of the first such trainee out here in New England for the reguired initial field sales experience. The week she spent with us out here put an end to any doubts we may have had about the appropriateness of women in such a role, in our staid old industry. It seemed that some of the men we called on on a regular basis were talking longer. We got fewer calls made than usual during that week. The discussons were better. I liked this a lot.
That first woman, the one sent here, had her initial assignment at the Nashville operation, in a Sales liason role. She did very well, to nobody's surprise.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, W/S was the first major machine tool builder to employ women in this role. It was but one more important area in which our company successfully assumed the role of pioneer and trailblazer.
