This Week in the Corridor: Women in Manufacturing (Part 1)

This Week in the Corridor

Women in Manufacturing Feature: Part 1

To celebrate these last two weeks of Manufacturing Month, we are excited to be featuring a few women in manufacturing companies throughout our region!

Margaret Schiernbeck works in Production Scheduling and Inventory Control at Demco Products in Spencer. She’s lived in Spencer and worked in manufacturing for 33 years. Starting at Witco for 10 years, when the company moved manufacturing production to Mexico, Schiernbeck found a job at Maurer Manufacturing, which later became Demco Products.

“Working in a manufacturing setting has been a positive experience for me,” Schiernbeck says. “If you can join a manufacturing company, I would expect you to find it as challenging and rewarding as I have.”

From the receiving department, through the production process and all the way through shipping, Shiernbeck wants more people to know the pride manufacturing employees have in their work and the products they create. “I wish more people realized that working in manufacturing can be anything but boring. There is a sense of pride throughout a manufacturing setting.”

Both Jody Hobmeier and her husband work at GKN in Estherville. Hobmeier, an Estherville native, enjoys building parts and finished products to contribute to the agricultural and earthmover industries. One of the biggest things she has learned in her time at GKN is that you can learn skills in manufacturing that can be used both inside and outside of the work environment.

“You can come in with no experience and learn the trade through training,” she says. “Keep an open mind that there is room to grow and learn. It’s always great to see what our finished products can do for others.”

Read more stories of women in manufacturing on our website, and stay tuned next week for more!

Moneyball works for communities too

The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays is tied at one game apiece. Not many people know that because not many people are watching; television viewership for game one on Tuesday was the lowest in history.

That’s too bad, because those who do watch will see a collision of divergent organizational styles brought about by economic realities. The most important message—there is always more than one way to win.

The Dodgers are gorgeous. They play under the open LA sky. Their stars are fast, fluid and frequently have great hair. (Well, except Mookie Betts.)

They also planned to have the second highest payroll in baseball, at $105.5 million. (COVID-19 changed the actual numbers substantially.)

They Rays? Well, they are the opposite of a blue blood. The Dodgers were founded in 1883, the Rays in 1998. The Dodgers drew 3.9 million fans last year, the Rays 1.17 million.

And about that payroll. The Rays expected to pay their players $28.6 million in 2019. Here’s one way to look at that: The average Dodger is worth 3.7 times the average Ray.

Read more about the award.

Investor Spotlight

Each week we want to feature and thank the businesses and individuals that have committed to economic development and growth in our communities. To learn more about these investors and others, visit our Business Directory!

R&D Industries, Inc.

Sector: Business Services/Other

Location: Milford

Description: R & D Industries is a 27-year-old company with offices in Milford and Des Moines. R & D has three divisions: Professional Audio-Visual, Computer Networking and Thinix. The Audio-Visual division is the premier provider of sound and media systems to houses of worship, schools and courthouses in Iowa and the surrounding area. The Computer Networking division is the leading provider of enterprise-grade networking software and hardware solutions in Northwest Iowa and beyond.

Ranco Fertiservice, Inc.

Sector: Manufacturing

Location: Sioux Rapids

Description: Ranco Fertiservice, Inc. is a premier manufacturer of fertilizer blending and handling equipment. They have have been manufacturing durable, high quality fertilizer blending and handling equipment since 1961. They pride themselves on being at the forefront of fertilizer equipment innovation. Ever since they perfected the continuous-flow blender in 1961, they constantly strive to incorporate the latest technology into the products to meet customers' changing needs.