Thirty-six years ago Joyce Moorhead landed a job at Kennametal working as a press operator and angle cutter manufacturing the company’s carbide-tipped mining tools. Slowly but surely this Schellsburg native worked her way up in the plant - moving from press operator to milling, from there to utility operator and then to welding augers. These experiences made her an ideal candidate for a job in packing and inspecting the final products before it left the plant. Finally, 25 years after starting, she was named a supervisor - the first female supervisor in the plant. She says gender has not been a handicap. “The company promotes based on ability,” she said. “I also think that because I’ve worked with all the guys in the plant for 25 years that they were very supportive.” In addition to being dedicated on the job, Joyce has taken advantage of Kennametal’s extensive in-house training program and took business management and accounting classes at Mt. Aloysius College. “I think it was good to have that on my record because it showed I had initiative,” she said.

As one of the plant’s eight supervisors, Joyce coordinates shop orders - scheduling her workforce, making decisions about which products to run on the various machines and what order to run them while ensuring that expedited orders are run through the plant quickly. Joyce is also one of the plant’s internal auditors, helping to audit procedures periodically through the year to make sure the plant is prepared for external audits. She’s also on the safety committee, coordinating safety tours for her areas of responsibility, taking care of safety issues as they occur or presenting them at the plant's monthly safety meeting. In addition, she oversees training new employees. “Business has been really, really good and we’ve trained 34 people this year,” Joyce said. “It’s a challenge getting new employees up to speed.”

Joyce said she likes the variety of her job. “There’s something different every day. You never know what challenges you’ll face from day-to-day,” she said. Dealing with people is one of her biggest challenges. She typically supervises about 30 employees and rotates among three shifts. “It helps to be a people-person,” she said. “You’ve got to be able to present new procedures to employees and be able to implement company policies on the floor.” You’ve also got to be self-motivated and be able to handle responsibility. “The workdays go very fast,” she said. “I like making the rounds on the floor and having the responsibility of my job.”

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