Martha Holly, Sheet Metal Foreman.
Happy Women in Construction week! Today we want to highlight Martha Holly, our Shop Sheet Metal Foreman.
MacDonald-Miller’s 100,000 SF prefabrication shop has a reputation for running like a well-oiled machine. A large part of this streamlined success is due to Martha’s contributions (including working with over 100 employees). Because of her dedication and work, we were able to produce a record of over 2.1 million pounds of sheet metal in 2016! That number is impressive, but made even more so when seen as the 50% increase from the 1.3 millions pound built in 2015 (also a record-breaking year). There is high volume, fast-paced project timelines, and great expectations for the work produced by our shop. Martha plays a key role in MacDonald-Miller’s success so we wanted to hear from her why she chose a career in construction, what she enjoys about her role, and why she works for MacMiller.
How did you choose a career in construction?
My career in construction started in 1995 at Everett Community College while taking a welding class. The instructor encouraged me to apply for the sheet metal apprenticeship and the rest history! I’ve been in construction ever since and became a Foreman at MacDonald-Miller in 2010. Since becoming an apprentice I’ve been very active in Local 66, first as a trustee (the first woman elected!), then as a shop steward at MacMiller.
What do you enjoy about being a Shop Foreman?
Being a Foreman has had so many highlights – building multi-trade racks, copper fans for UWMC, huge stainless steel pipe and the biggest milestone of my career, our shop fabricated 1,000,000 LBS in the first 5 months of 2016! The thing I love most about being a Shop Foreman is training, coaching and mentoring of apprentices. Developing the future leaders of the sheet metal and construction industry is one of my passions.
Currently I’m a member of the Women’s Committee whose goal is encouraging women into the sheet metal trade. We have also developed a mentorship program for new female apprentices. It’s very satisfying to assist fresh new talent into the industry.
Why MacMiller?
The culture at MacDonald-Miller is very in-line with my beliefs and that is very important to me. There is diversity, room for anyone at any level to grow within the company and the people are fun to work with! I’ve worked with most of the crew for over 13 years. Management is extremely supportive of continuing training and education and are willing to focus on continuous improvement of processes on and off the shop floor. We are a team all working to the same goal, making MacDonald-Miller the most successful mechanical engineering company in the PNW!