kp and me: Lisa Pendleton

kp and me

Lisa Pendleton

Material handler, Gordonsville, VA, USA

My job is to get raw materials where they’re needed. Raw materials come in on the railway and have to be pumped out of the rail cars into our silos. We have 32 silos and you have to get the right rail car attached to the right silo or you’ll fill one with the wrong material. Then the wrong materials end up in mixing and that would be a disaster – the resins would be ruined. It takes concentration.

But really, the job is about helping people. If anybody needs help, that’s what I do. I help take material, put it on the elevator and send it up to mixing. I help the guy that works on the dock take pallets off the truck. I also feed the grinding machines with rework, the offcuts from sheets and rolls of plastic. It’s very busy. I enjoy it because you are concentrating and constantly doing something. It’s never a dull moment.

It takes time to create equality. I believe it starts with parenting because incorporating beliefs about equality starts early. Then there wouldn’t be as much clashing when they get older.

There have been big changes for women in manufacturing over the years, and now I think it’s a lot more equal. It's all about embracing new changes. Because women can work just like men. The way some of the women here work makes me think, wow. One of my colleagues is so driven, she always comes in early. I multitask but she will work on the grinder, then up the floor doing recycling, then she will do some grinders on another floor. She's older than me and she has this fantastic momentum.

I like working here because they don't look at gender when asking who wants to work on which job. At kp if you are qualified and a job opportunity pops up, you are given the chance to show that you can do.

Share this story

Lisa Pendleton

Material Handler, Gordonsville, USA

I got out of high school in 1986 and started out at a grocery store in Charlottesville, then a friend told me about a job at a company that produces filtration systems. I enjoyed it there but the pay wasn’t very good and I had a family to support. So in 1998, I joined kp where things were very different. I worked at my prior job for 10 years and was never given the opportunity to drive a forklift. When I came to kp I was taught to drive a forklift straightaway.

It takes time to create equality. I believe it starts with parenting because incorporating beliefs about equality starts early. Then there wouldn’t be as much clashing when they get older.

I think the people I work with are the best part about my job. I try to look out for people. I know a whole lot of people who have looked out for me over the years and set me straight. We all help each other. People stumble. That's human nature, but when everybody works together, things run smooth. We have great teamwork which makes kp a great place to work.