WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (December 2016) -- Ever since that hot summer in 1813 when the arsenal began shipping products to a young Army in what would become known as the War of 1812, women have toiled side-by-side their male counterparts in the arsenal production bays, packing flannel ammunition cartridges or running five-axis machines.
Today, that storied history is at risk of becoming a footnote in an arsenal history book.
Women's employment peaked here during World War II, when more than 3,000 women made up about 30 percent of the workforce. Women today are only 11 percent of the workforce, but it is their presence, or the lack of, on the production floors where the numbers may be most concerning.
A former director of operations who remembers the days of when the arsenal workforce was measured in the thousands recently spoke about the value of women he had known on the arsenal's production floors.
Fred Clas, now 94, began his career at the arsenal during World War II.
"Oh yeah, during World War II female machinists and machine tool operators were on par with their male counterparts," Clas said. "Women at one time performed in every manufacturing job from machinist to production planning to quality assurance."
What is interesting about those wartime years was that women were such a huge part of arsenal operations in an era when diversity and equal opportunity had yet to be fully adopted by the Army. The fact that there were so many women here tied to production must have seemed odd given the male-centric period of the time.
But, wars often have consequences that go far beyond the battlefields, such was the case here in regards to the numbers of women in production. The wide acceptance of women on the production floors during World War II did not carry over beyond Victory in Europe. Acceptance would have to be renewed over time, even at the highest levels.
Clas said he remembers one day soon after he became the director of operations when he came across a female machinist working on a critical prototype tube. He gave the managers hell and asked them why they didn't put their best man on the job.
A foreman looked Clas in the eye and said, "She is our best man for the job."
In Clas' defense, he said the female machinist had just moved from minor components production to tube production and so, he wasn't too familiar with her capabilities. Therefore, Clas said that it wouldn't have mattered if he saw a man machining that prototype tube. If he wasn't sure of his capability to machine such a critical part, he would have questioned the ability of that male machinist, too.
Nevertheless, what his foremen reminded him that day, ever so humbly, was to never again question the capabilities of women on the production floor. It also speaks volumes about how hard-nosed foremen more than 50 years ago here didn't care if a machinist was a man or a woman. As long as they could do the job, they machined.
Today, however, there remains just one woman machinist on the arsenal production floors.
Machinist Margaret Paone can often be found working in what is called the minor components production line. In essence, she machines products that are in layman's terms…smaller than a bread box. There is one other female machinist, Roxanne Mesick, but she now works in Industrial Management and no longer works lathes, milling, or honing machines.
And so, when Paone looks left or right she fails to see any fellow women machinists. One might think she stands alone, but not Paone.
"As far as my being the only woman machinist, I never really think about it," Paone said. "I just want to do the best job I can and feel satisfied when I leave for the day."
Paone said that ever since she started working at the arsenal she has been treated like "one of the guys." And so, a person's sex on the manufacturing floor is immaterial.
Right?
General Foreman Scott Huber said that he would like more women in production but they are simply not available.
"As long as someone is qualified and has a desire to work hard, I don't care if they are a man or a women," Huber said. "The problem is, however, we can't get women to apply for production jobs."
Michael Mullally, who is a high school Precision Machining Technology instructor with the Sullivan County Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) program, said that even at the high school level it is difficult to find female students who are interested in machining. In fact, Mullally has had only four female students in the last 12 years and two of those four are in his current class.
When Mullally recently asked his students why more female students aren't interested in machining, one student said that her friend wouldn't join because it's a man's trade.
According to a recent study by Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Manufacturing Institute titled, "The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing 2015 and beyond," an overwhelming majority (84 percent) of manufacturing executives agree there is a current talent shortage in the U.S. manufacturing sector and that shortage goes far beyond the shortage of women in the workforce.
Not only is there a shortage today of workers in manufacturing, but the study indicates there is a more pressing, longer-term issue confronting manufacturers. The skills gap is widening, and over the next decade 3.4 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed and nearly 60 percent of these positions are likely to be unfilled due to the talent shortage.
The Deloitte study concluded that there is not one solution to overcome the skills gap but suggests that manufacturing companies have to rethink their talent sourcing and recruiting strategies to attract new employees, as well as do a better job engaging schools and colleges to improve the overall image of manufacturing.
When one combines the fact that about one-third of the arsenal's workforce is near retirement with the fact that millennial-age workers do not in sufficient numbers consider a career in manufacturing, the arsenal may be facing a significant workforce shortage that goes far beyond the fact that it has but one female machinist today on its production floors.
There is no doubt that the national shortage of manufacturing workers will create a highly competitive environment as manufacturing demands continue to grow. For the arsenal, however, the answer may be to increase its efforts to recruit a more diverse workforce and thereby, expand the pool of qualified applicants.
Huber said that he has worked with Paone and Mesick and has the highest respect for their machining abilities.
In regards to increasing diversity within the workforce, Huber said he wishes he could find more female machinists like Paone and Mesick. They are that good, the arsenal just needs to find more of them.
Given that nearly one-third of the arsenal workforce will be retirement eligible in the next few years and the challenges that manufacturing centers nationwide face in attaining a satisfactory level of diversity in their workforces, the arsenal will host next month a job fair here to tackle some of these challenges. This will be the first job fair hosted on the arsenal in more than 10 years.
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The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. It celebrated its 200th anniversary in July, 2013.
Today's arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark had $138 million in revenue in 2015 and has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $90 million.
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