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# When can this story stop being a story?
- URL: https://www.plasticsiq.com/when-can-this-story-stop-being-a-story/
- Published: 2026-10-30T09:54:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T09:54:57.000Z
- Author: Giulia Daniele
- Tags: BP&R Magazine, Insights, Injection Moulding

*Three of five management positions are now held by women at* [*Stephens Plastic Mouldings*](https://www.stephensplasticmouldings.co.uk/?ref=plasticsiq.com)*. We spoke with the team to discuss what this means for the company and the wider industry.*

In an industry that often feels one-sided, seeing three of five management positions held by women at Stephens Plastic Mouldings makes for a refreshing twist. 

When asked why this matters, the team said, ‘It matters because it proves the talent pipeline works when you stop assuming what a director should look like.’ Jorden started at the company at 17 on the shop floor and earned her way to Operations Director. Sandra came back to lead the finance function. Cheryl joined from the agency side to run marketing. ‘None of those were diversity appointments; they were the best people for the job, who happened to be women. For an industry with a well-documented skills shortage, that’s not a nice-to-have – it’s basic arithmetic. You can’t afford to be recruiting from half the available talent.’

Stephens Plastic Mouldings has always strived to promote from within, but they’re doing it even more deliberately now. ‘We used to assume good people would find their own way up. Now we’re more conscious about making that route visible and actually achievable, rather than hoping it happens by accident.’ Working in manufacturing comes with a baggage of different misconceptions, particularly among young women at the start of their career. 

The team elaborates on this further: ‘The image most people still carry is a noisy factory floor and heavy lifting. Walk round our site, and you’ll see precision tooling working to half-thousandth-of-an-inch tolerances, quality and metrology roles, process engineering, programming. It’s closer to a technical trade than the industrial-era picture in people’s heads.’ They continue, ‘The other misconception is that it’s a dead end. It isn’t. Jorden’s our clearest example, but she’s not the exception we point to because she’s rare; she’s the exception because not enough people know that route exists.’ 

The industry seems to be struggling to build an image for itself where everyone can see themselves represented. So, what practical steps can we take to attract more talent without gender being a factor in it? 

> ‘Start with visibility. Put your own people in front of schools, colleges, trade press, LinkedIn, wherever the next generation is actually looking, before the stereotypes have already set in. Make progression routes explicit rather than assumed — if nobody can point to how someone gets from the shop floor to the boardroom, don’t be surprised if people don’t believe it’s possible. Look hard at job ads for language that’s quietly filtering people out before they’ve even applied. And treat apprenticeships as a genuine route in, marketed as seriously to young women as to young men, not as an afterthought.’

When asked what success looks like for Stephens Plastic Mouldings, the team said, ‘Success is this story not being a story anymore. Three women in five management seats stops being something a trade title writes about and just becomes unremarkable, because it’s normal everywhere.’ They conclude, ‘The businesses that solve this first won’t do it because it looks good in a trade magazine. They’ll do it because they worked out earlier than everyone else that talent doesn’t come in one gender, and they stopped competing for half the market.’

Perhaps the real measure of success isn’t having a story worth telling, but reaching a point where it no longer needs telling. For an industry struggling to attract talent, that day can’t come soon enough.