| WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE
COLUMBUS MCKINNON HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT
Allyson Wu is the senior engineering manager in charge of development at Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO) in the Crane Solutions Group. head of lifting and smart motion control technology, she leads and
manages an engineering team that designs and develops industrial controls and drives used in Material Handling, Elevator, Mobile Hydraulic, Mining product and Automation systems. The team consists of electrical engineers, software engineers, mechanical engineers and lab technicians, working together to deliver each project from concept to market.
for in my engineering career, following Siemens, Spacelabs Healthcare, Eaton and Caterpillar. Most of my colleagues are male engineers. They are smart, direct, honest and easy to work with. After 30-plus years’ experience, I don’t remember ever having a working environment,” she said. “I always tell high school students as long as
you love engineering, go ahead and pursue your dream, follow your heart. You will fail at times, but in the end, constantly learning, you will be a success. Never think of yourself at Siemens, I told myself, no matter what,
colleagues and not cry if things went wrong. taught me never to be afraid of failure. I hope we will see more women engineers, more female leaders, and managers and technical “Education has proven its worth in my career. in Electrical Engineering, three years for my and two years for my Master’s degree in Computer Science. This sounds like a lot but it will build your solid engineering foundation. My role as senior engineering manager and technical background allows me to better lead my team and understand project design issues in both electrical hardware engineering and software engineering, which many software engineering jobs nowadays and we will see even more in the future. It is fun controlling hoist and motion products and creating new systems to improve customers industrial operations.”
KONECRANES INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT
Carolin Paulus, is the executive VP and head of Konecranes’ Industrial Equipment business, a member of the company’s Leadership Team and the company is a member of FEM (European Materials Handling Federation). Industrial Equipment is one of Konecranes’ three business areas; in 2020 it had sales of €1.1bn and around 5,700 employees globally. “I have family roots within the legacy Demag part of Konecranes’ business, so this is an industry that has meant a lot to me personally. In that sense, I have not looked at it only from a “male dominated” perspective. My focus has always been on the people I work with, not the gender. I especially enjoy the contact with international customers and the technology – these sorts of things are exciting and interesting for me,” she said. “This said, diversity in the workplace directly and this has started to change for the better in the last couple of years, certainly in Konecranes. Internal discussions about diversity and inclusion dominate the work culture here, and we are in the process of outlining – very actively – how this can further our business success. We have a dedicated this. When I started to work in the industry
in the late 1980s, the preconditions for a woman’s successful career were far narrower and much harder than it is today. There was a lot of female potential we did not attract or use to its fullest. We still have a long way to go, but we are taking the next steps and Diversity is a proven success factor, and Carolin’s advice to others is to choose an industry where you are interested in the core products, processes, and services, and where the salary levels are good; “Traditionally women haven’t considered salary a decisive factor in their job choices. Our industry has a lot of change going on as we shift from individual products and services to a broader teams who create, support, and enjoy change. One area where it would help to have more women is in sales and technical functions: these are areas where we are very focused on “The best thing about this job is not one thing, it’s the whole package: the people, the products and solutions, the interaction with customers, the challenges we face in a fast- changing world. Even after decades in the industry, I can still say it’s a lot of fun.”
www.hoistmagazine.com | March 2021 | 21
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