Summary
In this episode of Unfiltered Flow ELSC, Meghann Cook and Alan Burdette welcome Julie Fuller, a seasoned engineer with a remarkable career in hydraulics. Julie shares her journey into engineering, influenced by her mother and teachers, and discusses her various roles, from design engineer to COO. She reflects on the challenges faced as a female in a male-dominated industry and offers valuable advice for women entering similar fields. The conversation also touches on the transition from a family-owned company to a corporate structure, highlighting the importance of adaptability and continuous learning in one’s career.
Takeaways
Julie was inspired to pursue engineering by her mother and female teachers.
Engineering is fundamentally about problem-solving.
Julie enjoyed every position she held throughout her career.
Challenges faced as a female engineer often stem from perceptions rather than abilities.
Networking and building relationships are crucial in overcoming industry biases.
Transitioning from a family-owned company to a corporate entity can provide new opportunities.
Quality and process improvements are essential in corporate environments.
Women in engineering should focus on their skills and knowledge rather than gender biases.
A sense of humor can help navigate challenges in male-dominated industries.
Preparation and confidence are key to being taken seriously in technical roles.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Julie Fuller and Her Journey in Engineering
02:23 The Path to Engineering: Influences and Early Experiences
04:58 Career Highlights: From Design Engineer to COO
07:22 Challenges as a Female Engineer in a Male-Dominated Industry
09:39 Transitioning from Family-Owned to Corporate Structure
12:04 Advice for Women Entering Male-Dominated Fields
14:00 Conclusion and Future Opportunities in Engineering
Transcription
Meghann: Hi everyone, welcome to Unfiltered Flow ELSC. I’m Meghann Cook here with Allen Burdette and today we’re super excited to have Miss Julie Fuller on the show. Welcome, Julie.
Julie Fuller: Thanks Meghann I’m proud to be here. I really appreciate you guys wanting to have me on to talk about my experience and my history in hydraulics.
Meghann: Yes, I don’t get very many options with females on the podcast. I’m super excited to have you here today, especially with your background. You have an exceptional career going here. So very excited to talk to you today, Julie.
Meghann: So let’s start well, let’s start at the beginning if you don’t mind. So why did you choose engineering?
Julie Fuller: Yeah. It’s a little different story than a lot of people. I didn’t have anybody in my family that was an engineer, but I think I’m mostly, it was because of my mother and then a couple of my high school teachers, which also were women. My mother was the one who fixed things around the house. If something was broken, if something wasn’t working right, she’d take it apart, figure it out, put it back together, make it work.
Julie Fuller: So she always had that mechanical inclination and that aptitude. So I was never afraid to sort of dig into things. Never saw that as something that wasn’t something females could do. And in high school, I was…
Julie Fuller: good at all the subjects, you know, but I had a chemistry teacher and then a math teacher who both sort of presented engineering to me as an option and there was actually a program at Tennessee Tech University where they did a summer before your senior year camp that you could go to for a month that was sort of an intro to engineering. And I applied to that and went and after that I was like, yeah, this looks like something I could really enjoy.
Julie Fuller: And mechanical was what appealed to me most, just with my mother and my background. And that’s just sort of kicked me off for the rest of my career.
Meghann: That’s great. It’s amazing with these programs and you know I think there’s more and more there’s still not enough out there Julie you know with younger folks but you know I think you’ll hear it all the time. I had a professor in college and you know I fell in love with fluid dynamics or you know I had an opportunity as you were saying to do something you know in high school and
Meghann: I think that goes a long way in how people end up in engineering and fluid power overall, I guess.
Julie Fuller: Yeah, think it’s still something that people think they, you know, they don’t know a lot about it necessarily. If they don’t know people who are engineers, they always think it’s maybe a little different than the reality. But you know, I’ve always thought of engineering as just problem solving.
Julie Fuller: you know that’s what they train you to do in college you know they train you to take a problem break it down into pieces figure out how to solve it step by step and you know that’s that’s really what I think a lot of people would enjoy if they really understood more about what it involved and what the careers looked like.
Meghann: Agreed. Agreed. So, and I mentioned previously you’ve had such an exceptional career with lots of opportunity in the industry. what, of all the positions you’ve held, what is your most favorite?
Julie Fuller: That is a really tough question because I mean I’ll say that I enjoyed all of them while I was just doing them. You know, there hasn’t been anything that I was like, I don’t enjoy this.
Julie Fuller: Certainly, when I was young and I was starting out and I started in the design engineer role, in some ways that was the most exciting because the first time that I made a design, drew it up, modeled it, and had it produced and saw it built was really, I remember that being really special.
Julie Fuller: But like I said, just as I feel like I’d grown in a role, really gotten a handle on it, there was always a new opportunity. So every new position came with a lot of things that were exciting. And it was exciting to move up through the management of the engineering department and then vice president roles that had a little more scope and then the COO position at Todano. Because there was always something new to learn. And there was always new challenges to take on there.
Julie Fuller: that were different problems that needed to be solved, different ways to apply my background, and different ways to expand my vision of what the company was, how we needed to approach things, why things that looked one way when you’re sitting, one position looked different when you’re at a higher level.
Julie Fuller: I’ve enjoyed them all. I’ve really learned a lot throughout my whole career and through every position I’ve had.
Meghann: Okay, so your COO role at Tadano, that’s a good lead in for this. as a female in particular, what were your biggest challenges in that role or barriers that you had to really break to move ahead there?
Julie Fuller: Biggest challenges were the challenges that I had to face before I got there. mean, honestly, as far as being a female. I mean, starting in engineering in the 90s, there were certainly more women in engineering in that time than there had been in previous decades. But it’s still, I remember my final classes in college, I think there were four.
Julie Fuller: four of us in mechanical engineering that graduated out of a class of like 60 or 70. So I still remember early on and even in my, know, when I was chief engineer, you know, engineering manager, especially when we got to the new customers or you go to trade shows or stuff, there were people who just looked at you and thought,
Meghann: Really?
Julie Fuller: You’re somebody junior, you’re in marketing, you’re in sales, you’re you know, you’re everything but an engineer. But I will say, you know, if I had the chance to talk to them and, you know, spend some time, it didn’t take long before they realized that, you know, okay, I’m the technical person, I’m the one who’s, you know, leading or responsible. So it was really sort of just,
Meghann: You
Julie Fuller: not being discouraged by it. I mean, you can’t take it.
Meghann: personally.
Julie Fuller: Yeah, you can’t take it personally. You can’t, you know, sort of be upset by it. mean, very early on in my career, I was a little frustrated because I felt like, okay, this is because I’m a female. This is, you know, because of that. And I really had to take a step back and go, okay.
Julie Fuller: I can’t do anything about that. So what else is this? This is because I’m young. This is because I don’t have a lot of experience. This is because this. So you work on those things. Because I can’t change that I’m a woman in this job. So work on the things that you can improve. And really, that’s staying with Mantis and then Tadano after they purchased the brand.
Julie Fuller: You know, I had really worked myself into a position by the time I became COO that I knew the guys, the guys knew me. You know, I had a lot of contacts in the industry. I wasn’t a surprise to anybody, but I would still get some of our customers and they would say, you’re that lady engineer from Mantis, aren’t you? And you would still make me chuckle.
Meghann: That’s it.
Meghann: Mm-hmm
Allen Burdette: The lady engineer from Mantis, yes indeed.
Julie Fuller: Right. And you know, it made me memorable. They wouldn’t necessarily remember some of the other guys, but they weren’t going to forget me because I was a little bit different.
Meghann: Sure.
Meghann: Wow, and I appreciate what you said there. I instead of focusing on the things you can’t change, you focus on other areas and it just makes you better in other areas. then, obviously that helps also in career trajectory, right? I mean, the stronger you get in all areas, you’re just a…
Meghann: engineering force out there, Julie.
Allen Burdette: Hey, Julie, I’ve got a question about you came out of school and you went right into the crane industry, the construction equipment industry. that your choice? mean, were there a lot of billets or lot of openings for females at that point in time? Did you have trouble getting a job initially?
Julie Fuller: Yeah.
Julie Fuller: I did have trouble getting a job initially. I graduated from college without a job and spent the summer looking for something. getting into cranes and construction equipment was really just serendipity, I guess I’ll call it.
Julie Fuller: You know, back in the 90s as we remember, when there wasn’t internet and stuff like that, I was just looking through lists of businesses that looked promising in the area and sending out blind resumes and letters. know, Spandex at the time, but they were making the Mantis Crane brand. They were looking for young engineer and they had been looking for a little while, but hadn’t found anybody that was exactly what they wanted and they sort of took a chance on me.
Julie Fuller: that was how it started. Just kind of fell into the need that they had and it was something I really loved.
Meghann: That’s a good question, Allen.
Allen Burdette: Boy, you sound surprised, Meghann.
Meghann: So Julie, what were some of the differences going from a family-owned company to a corporate entity, a larger entity? How was that in navigating that?
Julie Fuller: It was really interesting and it was, you know, even for the company it was a good move at the time. The family owned company, there were a lot of good things about it. Everything has good points and points that they struggle with. Family owned company was small, lean.
Julie Fuller: You knew everybody. It was a fairly flat organization. You saw the owner regularly and they interacted with you. And you could move very fast. Decisions got made fast. You could decide to do projects and execute them really quickly.
Julie Fuller: It was a very dynamic and it kind of up, it felt a lot like, okay, some big problem project got thrown here, we gotta get it done in six weeks and everybody jumped on it. It was a real team kind of family atmosphere. But as many small family owned companies certainly have seen over the years, was cash flow and.
Julie Fuller: capital were a struggle. And at the time, the family said, OK, we’ve had enough. We want to move on to something else. And so when Todano purchased, certainly it was a big change. I mean, going from a small, like said, family-owned company in Tennessee to working for a Japanese-based company that was multinational. But they
Julie Fuller: they really respected the culture that we had. And so they sent a few people to come and join us. And they took about a year really working with us and trying to understand what we did and what we did well, what needed work, and started slowly implementing changes. In the end, think some of the best things about that
Julie Fuller: that switchover were a lot of support from a company that’s got a huge background in cranes and construction equipment, a real improvement in quality, a real focus on quality and processes and structure which the company needed to really be, to move to the next level.
Julie Fuller: And overall, for me in particular, I found it really rewarding to work with the teams in Japan, the teams in Germany. I got a lot of experience to international business and working and leading those teams, setting a product roadmap that was for the crawler crane product worldwide. So it was a…
Julie Fuller: It was what we needed at the time and I think it was what I needed at that point in my career where I needed to move on to something that was a larger scope. So it really gave me the opportunity to expand my horizons just beyond the small company that we were and look at the overall group and how the Mantis product fit as part of the TeDonna product line to…
Julie Fuller: to make that integration and to learn from the teams in Japan, the teams in Germany about how to make a better company, how to use different tools and aspects to refine processes, to have better designs, to utilize everything in a more efficient way.
Allen Burdette: Let me ask a question here, and this is going to be for both of you, I guess. You’ve both had careers in what I would call male-dominated industries, and you both have daughters. So what advice would you give to your daughter about entering or starting a career in a male-dominated industry based on your experiences? That’s for both of you, Meghann.
Julie Fuller: Mm.
Julie Fuller: You want to go first, Meghann? Since I’ve been doing all the talking.
Allen Burdette: you
Meghann: Julie referenced when she was first starting out, she was one of four females in the program. I think things have, have shifted a little bit. You’re going to run into instances where people may think that you’re less intelligent, just because of the package that you come in. Not all the time, but I think you’re going to run into that. And I think Julie hit the nail on the head what I would tell my daughter is literally that. You focus on the things that you are able to get better at and increase your knowledge base and you work on the things that you can work on and that you’re responsible for and don’t worry about the packaging.
Allen Burdette: Well, I know you worry about that, I just thought I’d hit you with it off script.
Meghann: Mm-hmm.
Julie Fuller: Yeah, mean yeah, mean Meghann like you said, or like I said, was, it’s, you gotta, you can’t worry too much about the things you can’t change. And honestly I think, you know, you can get inside your own head if you let that, if you let yourself think that that’s the reason things are happening to you. You know, you have to sort of take your own, you know, take responsibility for your own career path.
Julie Fuller: And you have to let it, I will say let it not bother you, which is a challenge. It’s obviously gonna bother, if you think that you’re being discriminated because you’re a woman or you’re being thought of as not kept as capable, that’s always gonna be upsetting. But.
Julie Fuller: You have to sometimes have a sense of humor about it, I guess I’ll say. I’ll tell one funny story. I was at a trade show, I was middle of my career, I was definitely head of the engineering group, but I can’t exactly remember what year it was. It was Con Expo.
Julie Fuller: And I was walking around with our VP of service, Jim Lamb, which I know Allen knows, and my chief engineer at the time. And we walked over to a supplier that we didn’t know. And we started talking to them. And…
Julie Fuller: they started asking some technical questions about what we’re looking for. And they’d ask a question, and both of these guys I was with would look at me, and I would answer the question. And then the supplier would ask another question, but he was always looking at the guys, even though I was answering the questions. And in the end, I walked off from that just chuckling, because it was just so ridiculous. And you know, in the end, you know.
Meghann: Hahahaha
Julie Fuller: It was one of those sort of things in passing where it was like, okay, well, that doesn’t, I don’t have to go through that every day and I don’t have to deal with those guys again necessarily. But sometimes you kind of have to, like I said, have a sense of humor about it, be able to see some of the absurdity in it and just let it be something you move on from.
Allen Burdette: Yeah, I think the comment of concentrate on the things you can change that you Meghann both made is very apropos. I mean, the things you can’t change might worry you, but.
Julie Fuller: Yeah, and I guess I’ll…
Julie Fuller: Yeah, the one thing I might add to that is, you know, think about how you present yourself.
Julie Fuller: You know, it always helps to be prepared, have the facts, stick to the facts, and you know, when you come in and there’s questions, know, answer them clearly and succinctly. So, I mean, that has always, I think, been a plus, and something that’s helped me is that, you you look like you’re on top of your game.
Julie Fuller: when you do those things and you look like you’re capable and it becomes hard to ignore that. can’t just gloss over that forever.
Meghann: Julie, thank you so much. Again, I’m so happy that you were able to take the time to do this with us. It was great having you on here. So thank you.
Julie Fuller: No, I appreciate it. It’s been fun. It’s nice to have a chat with both you guys and really excited about what you guys are doing in the fluid power world.
Allen Burdette: Yeah, it was.
Julie Fuller: opportunities for more people to join that industry.
Meghann: That’s the plan. One podcast at a time, I guess.
Meghann: So, alright, thanks again Julie, very much. I appreciate it.
Allen Burdette: Yeah. Thanks.
Julie Fuller: All right. Thanks, Meghann. Thanks, Allen
Meghann: Bye.