Two women technicians are helping lead a multi-million-pound investment to secure a future at Kimberly-Clark’s Barrow site for the Kleenex brand.

This will bring a new portfolio to the site eliminating the need for importing the product from China.

This is a big step for Kimberly-Clark, a commitment to Cumbria and an amazing opportunity for Tammie Fallows and Ashley Gribbin.

Ashley, a mechanical technician, and Tammie, an electrical technician, have been assigned to the project to help safely implement the investment.

The project involves buying different machines from countries across Europe and bringing them together to create a production line to produce the Kleenex Compact box.

While they may be among the youngest on the team, their work has been integral to the project.

Ashley, 25, says: “We were both chosen for the project following a review of our focused development plans. We set our own expectations of where we want to be in the coming five years of our career and use our plans to help execute that goal.”

Tammie, 24, says: “Being asked to help implement the project was a great achievement in my career and I feel I have got to this point by my own credit, I wouldn’t want to think it was because I am a girl.

“At Kimberly-Clark everyone is judged on their own merit. I think this is the way it should be throughout all companies and you shouldn’t be penalised or favoured because you are a boy or a girl.”

Both women enjoyed engineering while at school and decided apprenticeships were the way forward.

Tammie adds going abroad to visit vendors for the project was an eye-opener.

“We visited factories in Europe, and it was great to experience the different cultures and ways of working and compare it to the UK.

“From what I noticed there is a definite lack of women in engineering roles in factories abroad, but everyone took a great interest in what made us decide on this career path and made us feel welcome.”

Ashley adds: “I was at Gen2 for two years and came to Kimberly-Clark on my work experience. It really got me interested in what they did, and I applied for an apprenticeship and embarked on a recruitment process where I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of four apprentices out of 400 applicants.”

Both Tammie and Ashley feel Kimberly-Clark is a great example of a diverse company and although there aren’t many women in engineering at the moment at the Barrow site, they don’t feel like they are the minority and are fully accepted as part of the engineering team.

Both girls add that in future it would be great to celebrate an engineering day and not require the need for a separate day for women.