A group of women have come together to work on the fact that only 24 percent of durable goods manufacturers in the US are women, causing women to be called the “largest pool of untapped talent.”

In 2014, Women in Manufacturing reported that while an estimated 47 percent of the U.S. workforce was women, only 24 percent of durable goods manufacturers were women.

To improve this figure, the Lady Tech Guild was created. The LTG, based in New York City, are working on redefining what it means to be a manufacturer in the industry.

The Lady Tech Guild will put part of their revenue towards empowering women in 3D printing and related advanced and digital manufacturing techniques including CNC machining, 3D scanning, milling and CNC knitting.

They also intend on offering paid memberships to gain access to what Lauren Slowik, design evangelist for education at Shapeways, called “a trusted network of vetted experts in their various fields.”

“While Everyone Else was Working on Art, we were Working on Tech”

The founding members of the guild met two years ago at a Museum of Arts and Design project which lasted for seven months and identified each other as misfits.

Slowik said to the New York Business Journals: “We were all the weird ones in our graduate programs. While everyone else was working on art, we were working on tech.”

Last year, Asha Jadeja Motwani, who invests in tech startups in the Bay Area, Boston, New York, Africa and India, invited the women to be her guests at the India Maker Faire.

The Lady Tech Guild agreed and they headed over to India where they set up a booth from January 22-24 which exhibited a wide range of products.

After such a hit at the India Maker Fair, the founding members of the Lady Tech Guild have decided that they will pursue both a non-profit venture as well as a for-profit consultancy to help increase the number of women in the industry.

Slowik said: “We’re working toward providing consulting in 3D printing and manufacturing. For whatever space people want.” Watch this space!