Women entering Hunter manufacturing and taking on diverse roles shows how much the sector has evolved in the region, driven by the creativity and determination of those leading the charge.

Hey Zomi’s Mika Koelma, Quarry Mining’s Kari Armitage, and Deeps Engineering’s Rachel Jameson are a few examples. Sisters Mika Koelma and Zoe Fehlberg co-founded Hey Zomi Australia’s first reusable menstrual disc, launching the product into market in January 2023. The young business picked up the Hunter Manufacturing Awards excellence in marketing award 10 months later.

Mika said the process of entering HMA 2023 was a turning point.

Hey Zomi made multiple applications, and the experience enabled the sisters to consolidate their journey and consider their achievements, products, and best path forward.

“The extra time we put into our applications was worth it,” she said. “The process was amazing because we had only been in market for about eight months or less.

“But we’d accelerated our growth so quickly that being able to take a moment to go through and validate what we had done, not only as manufacturers, but the direction forward, and show that data in the application process was good for us. It enabled us to strategise our next steps.”

The co-founding sisters realigned their priorities and in the year after the awards, have made multiple changes and experienced significant growth. “It’s really cool to look back and see how far we’ve come,” Mika said.

“This manufacturing journey is addictive. It is amazing to have manufactured this product and see what we are capable of. We are already asking ourselves what other things do we want to innovate? And what other problems can we solve?”

“And that’s a beautiful part of being able to grow as a start-up. With the rapid growth of our company, we can reinvest back into making new products that solve real problems for our customers. It’s a positive part of owning a manufacturing business.”

Kari Armitage knows the feeling. She took over from her father as managing director of Quarry Mining 18 years ago. The company has been providing a wide range of quality bespoke products,service, and support to the construction and mining industry for 30 years.

“Our sales team are all former underground coalminers,” Kari said. “They still go underground, and they know what it is that mines need to make their lives easier. We will manufacture it for them. We make a lot of bespoke stuff and there’s a lot of tweaking involved in those bespoke jobs.”

Kari studied civil engineering, and her first job was with WorleyParsons, the Australian engineering professional services company. Her boss was a design engineer consultant.

“When I came to Quarry Mining, I think I brought a consultant-style approach to a manufacturing business,” she said.

 “In hindsight it was a lucky thing because Quarry Mining has learnt to listen to the customer, consult them, find out what their problem is, and then manufacture something to provide a solution rather than offer a widget off the shelf.

“That has been ultimately a competitive advantage or point of difference from traditional manufacturers where they just offer what they have. So, it’s been a great benefit to have that background.”

As for being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated sector, Kari mentioned it is not something of which she is conscious.

“I come across some other women in the mines,” she said, “but not in manufacturing.

“I do remember attending an executive connection event. It was great. There were all these CEOs in the room, and we just learnt from each other. We talked about the challenges, problems, and stuff you go through daily when you’re CEO of an SME.”

“At the end of the day, the organiser said to me something like, ‘Oh you know the guys thought you were really good, and they didn’t mind having you there at all’. And I hadn’t even realised I was the only girl in the room. It hadn’t occurred to me because I’m so used to it.”

Rachel Jameson has worked at Deeps Engineering for seven years, but the manufacturing industry has been her life. Deeps is her dad’s company. It specialises in custom injection moulding and spent years not having its own proprietary line and making things for other people. This year, Deeps purchased two other businesses to provide it with a proprietary line.

“Obviously, custom mouldings is not going to last forever, particularly with many people taking their work overseas where it is cheaper,” Rachel said. We saw the opportunity to buy these two businesses to give ourselves a proprietary line to make sure Deeps goes further than what we were originally doing for 30 years.”

Rachel was three when her father opened his own business, and she grew up around the plastics moulding.

“I remember as a kid it was very much a male-dominated industry, but then as I got older and through my teens, I saw more women coming through working in the factory. It was good seeing that. Now we have as many women working here as men.”

Rachel knows they are as effective as their male counterparts, and she often goes onto the floor to help dissect the moulding machines and assist where she can.

“Girls can get in there and get dirty as well,” she said.

Deeps shares a similar HMA experience to Hey Zomi.

“We’ve been in business coming up to 33 years this year and it wasn’t until 2021 that we entered HMA,” Rachel said.

“It was the first-ever awards we entered, and that was at my initiative. Noone at Deeps really had the time to enter awards and get our name out there. So, I took that on.”

“We entered the HMA and it’s great to go to the event and meet other people within the industry. It gets our name out there. We spent 30 years of people not knowing we even existed. Much of our business came from word of mouth. Since entering the awards in 2021, we have made connections with other businesses in the Hunter. It’s a good opportunity to meet other businesses where we can help them, or they can help us.”

The entry process was an enlightening experience.

“The questions HMA asks really bring to light aspects of your business you might not have considered,” she said “When providing information to answer a question, you go, ‘wow, we could actually change this and improve it’.”

Kari recognises HMA’s efforts to promote the region’s manufacturers and Mika appreciates its efforts to broaden its categories and acknowledge diversity. Mika said when she and her sister were on stage last year accepting the award, she felt proud to represent a female-led manufacturing company.

“It normalises the gender conversation and makes the valid point that anyone can do this,” Mika said.

“And that’s the whole point. It’s not, ‘oh and now women can have their say’. It’s not about that. Manufacturing is an industry accessible to all. We’re all educated and have these opportunities and that’s worth celebrating more than the fact that it’s a women-led thing. It’s accessibility and equity to all in this journey.”

IMAGE | Hey Zomi ‘s Zoe Fehlberg and Mika Koelma