30 Under 30 Class of 2021: Women Impacting Mold Manufacturing

Edro Specialty Steels (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania)

Katherine Pistorius, Project Engineer

After graduating from Penn State with a degree in industrial engineering, Katherine joined Edro as an apprentice learning the fundamentals of the specialty steel industry. Her strong ambition for future growth, good work ethic, interest in innovation and determination were evident immediately.

During her three years with the company, Katherine has shown outstanding leadership potential, excellent communication skills and the ability to apply herself to various tasks and projects focused on mold steel production, internal manufacturing processes and distribution activities.

Katherine is currently working in a project engineer role, tasked with leading several key lean projects on improvement and waste reduction. She completed her Six Sigma Green Belt qualification.

KTM Industries Inc. (Richfield, Wisconsin)

Rebecca Kluever, Program Manager

Rebecca was an honoree in MMT’s inaugural 30 Under 30 Honors Program in 2018 when she was a 21-year-old design engineer at Mantz Automation (Hartford, Wisconsin). She is now part of the KTM Industries team as a program manager. Her role uses her prior tooling, programming, design and organizational experiences to effectively manage customers’ development and production projects. Rebecca is responsible for integrating internal and supply partner resources and communicating project deliverables between the KTM mold shop and customer engineering. She continues her educational pursuits and has begun formal CNC programming training.

The last year has seen Rebecca spend most of her time at a KTM customer facility, coordinating an extensive new product development project. This experience has broadened her manufacturing perspective, as she has been involved with nearly every phase of the project.

Rebecca is a prime example of the opportunities available for the current and next generations in U.S.-based manufacturing. Combining her attitude, ambition and willingness to learn with work environments that support her growth will ensure she enjoys a successful career path.

Westminster Tool (Plainfield, Connecticut)

Hillary Thomas, Account Manager and Vice President

Hillary Thomas rejoined her family business at Westminster Tool in 2017 after working in international sales in Australia. Since returning, she successfully rebranded the company as a solutions-focused manufacturer and leader in cultural innovation. Her leadership extends to service on the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA, Indianapolis, Indiana) Emerging Leaders Board, PLASTICS FLiP Engagement Committee Society of Plastics Engineers and the (SPE, Brookfield, Connecticut) Foundation’s Marketing Committee.

Hillary has expanded her technical knowledge to serve her customers better and her abilities to drive strategic improvements in the company. Her goal is to sell a product and remain intimately involved in a project from beginning to end to be a better customer resource.

Her goal is to always set her team up for success. She accomplishes this by working closely with each employee on an individual level, by looking closely at sales and engineering goals and diligently tracking performance metrics to find areas for improvement. Hillary also has a natural talent for growing leaders within the company and providing them with the support needed to improve.

She is also always looking for ways to innovate and help the community and the industry. Her passion for people extends outside the company, where she sees the value of spreading awareness of manufacturing and its benefits to our community.

The transformations directed by Hillary’s leadership can be seen across the company. Her advancements in sales made a direct impact on company revenue and the type of complex work brought in. This has opened opportunities for investments in technology, equipment and talent development.

Victoria Rooke, EDM Specialist

Victoria joined Westminster Tool in 2016 while still attending Windham Technical High School as part of a work-based learning initiative. After completing high school, she joined Westminster Tool full-time in the production department.

Victoria demonstrated a great deal of passion and enthusiasm for her work early on, so the company encouraged her to enroll part-time in the Advanced Manufacturing Program at Quinebaug Valley Community College. As part of our company’s “Learn While You Earn” initiative, Victoria continued to excel in the production department while taking classes part-time. After graduating from the Advanced Manufacturing program, Victoria moved from production to our EDM department, where she immediately made an impact.

In her current role as EDM specialist, Victoria is not just an asset in her role but a major contributor to our entire CNC line. She is constantly updating and improving our current EDM procedures. She has created countless training documents to maintain consistency in training and set the entire team up for success.

Outside of her EDM role, Victoria has become a key member of our safety team and one of our continuous improvement (CI) champions. Victoria is also intimately familiar with our in-house training program, Westminster Academy, and takes a proactive approach to train others. Her affinity for documentation and innovation has impacted her work's quality and efficiency and has established a strong foundation of learning for those who train with her.

Because of her experience, Victoria has become essential to our shop tours. Her ease with explaining an EDM operator's role makes her very accessible for all ages and skill levels. As a young woman in a traditionally male-dominated area of manufacturing, she also serves as a model for other young women interested in pursuing a STEM career.

Alliance Specialties and Laser Sales (Wauconda, Illinois)

Courtney Ollendick, Laser/TIG Welder

Courtney is a talented, dedicated and valuable member of the Alliance team. She came on board as a TIG welder specializing in the delicate process of aluminum welding. Since then, she has continued to learn and grow and is now a laser welding professional. She has even saved the day on some occasions. Courtney’s ability to tackle every task with a smile makes her an incredible asset.

Courtney is always grateful for the opportunities provided to her. Whether learning a new technique or being assigned a new challenge, she embraces each one and excels positively. She is a true team member and has built strong relationships with other members of the company. 

Courtney asks questions and helps others to learn, displaying integrity in all that she does. She is eager to share her knowledge and is tenacious in her work ethic, always pushing to grow her skill set and find new ways to benefit the company.

The company feels extremely fortunate and blessed to have Courtney as a member of the team.

Harbour Results (Southfield, Michigan)

Cara Walton, Engagement Manager

Cara has been a critical member of the Harbour Results team by helping to build a culture of inclusion, curiosity and customer service. She collaborates across the team to ensure we can help our clients and all those in the industry.

She is responsible for growing HRI’s Harbour I.Q. product, which was developed to provide moldmakers with data and insight to make intelligent business decisions. She is the main liaison with the Harbour I.Q. clients, ensuring they get access to the information they need.

Cara also built the organization’s economy/tariff/trade competency to ensure we know how these factors impact manufacturing today and tomorrow. She played an important role in the company’s effort to put tariffs back on China-made molds. We worked together gathering data and interviewing shops to help draft messages and case studies to share with key decision-makers within associations and local and national government.

Cara has positioned herself as a thought leader in the industry through one-on-one interactions, presentations, events and bylined articles.

M.R. Mold & Engineering (Brea, California)

Valeria Magadan, Technical Center Manager

Valeria came to M.R. Mold as a press operator but has become so much more in a short amount of time. She shows great potential for becoming an effective leader by always leading by example. She always lends a hand to her coworkers, looks for ways to gain more experience and expand her knowledge base, and takes on challenges beyond her original job description.

Valeria is a valuable asset in the testing center. She uses a variety of inspection equipment for checking molded product, developed procedures for parts handling and removal during production molding and participate in mold installations and removals. She also disassembles, cleans and reassembles cold runner systems, which has given her a better understanding of injection-mold construction.

Valeria seeks more responsibilities. Her ultimate goal is to learn processing. She is intrigued by moldmaking and sees the challenges of generating molding processes and preparing molds to be production-ready. Her strong work ethic, attention to detail and willingness to work with others make her a positive addition to the company.

Innovation Mold & Design (Germantown, Wisconsin)

Hannah Lautenschlaeger, Tool & Die Apprentice

Hannah is a student in a tool and die program at a local technical college and previously worked onsite at Innovation Mold & Design, mounting electrodes on a sinker EDM. She mentioned that her goal was to become a tool and die maker in the plastic injection mold building trade.

The team quickly noticed she was mechanically inclined, excelling with time management and eager to learn the trade. She then accepted the opportunity to enter the tool and die maker apprenticeship program in the wire EDM department at Innovation Mold & Design. Today, Hannah has transitioned into the full moldmaker apprenticeship program.

Hannah is a pleasure to work with and a true asset to the team. Her positive attitude, attention to detail and ambition for continuous improvement are perfect for the company’s environment, culture and colleagues. Hannah has a great future at Innovation Mold & Design, and the team feels blessed to have her as part of the company.