Page 35 - MetalForming November 2009

The Morality of Manufacturing
partners, grant-fund donors or fundraising-event sponsors. Contin- ued industry support of the Educa- tional Foundation will play a key role in preserving the future of our industry.”
Networking—Face to Face and Electronically
Along with leveraging the education
and training products and services offered by PMA, Zierick Mfg. has enjoyed several additional benefits from its nearly 25 years of membership. As many as eight of its employees with varying responsibilities within the com- pany attend local PMA New York/New Jersey District meetings on a regular basis. These invaluable networking
opportunities often include plant tours of local manufacturing plants. In fact, the information gathered at these meet- ings is so good that Zierick employees often attend district meetings of the Southern New England District.
“The employees we send to the local PMA meetings and plant tours love to learn and are enthusiastic about bring-
Engineer by Training, IT Person at Heart
Gretchen Zierick has worked in every department at Zierick Manufacturing except for the pressroom and assembly area, even running the plating department for a stretch. She trained for and became a quality-control inspector, and took class-
es to learn how to program and operate wire-EDM machines. An engineer by education and training, Zierick is an IT person and programmer at heart.
Zierick grew up in the family business, often working alongside her brother at the company owned and operated during her youth by her grandfather, father and uncle. She learned the business—that of high-speed electrical-con- nector metalforming and assembly—from several different angles, including production control, purchasing and accounting. After earning an engineering degree from Bucknell University, Zierick joined the engineering department
at the family business and continued her education by taking classes in the machine-shop curriculum at Westchester Community College.
“I learned to run a lathe and milling machine, and took classes in tool- and-die-design,” says Zierick. “Then, soon after I started working here, we acquired our first CAD system and I learned programming. Eventually I began writing programs to take our die layouts to the production machines.
“Next I took on the task of upgrading our MRP system,” Zierick adds. That proved to be such a rewarding experience that Gretchen decided to leave Zierick Manufacturing and go to
work for its ERP vendor.
“It was important for me at that time (1988) to go to work for someone else besides my family,” she says. “I was able to learn more about manufacturing software from the inside looking out, and to also get a look at how several other manufacturing companies—users of the software—functioned. This proved to be a very insightful time for me.”
After two years away, Gretchen rejoined Zierick Manufacturing as an IT consultant. And the rest, as they say, is history, as Gretchen gradually took on more and more responsibilities at the company, soon became assistant to the president (her father) and worked side by side with her uncle (company vice president). In 2000, upon the retirements of her father and uncle, Gretchen became president of Zierick Manufacturing.
“Since taking the reins of the company, my focus
here has been on mistake-proofing our processes,”
says Zierick. “We’ve installed vision systems on numer- ous machines to optimize internal PPM, and added even more sensors to our tools. And, even in this down econo- my, we’ve continued to invest in new technology. This year we upgraded our controls on two presses with new Wintriss SmartPac units.”
Even as she has ascended to the top of the company,
Zierick continues to keep her hands in some of the day-to-day operations of the company. “I always have at least one IT project on my desk,” she shares.
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