Maria Alejandra Sucre

2020 STEP Ahead Honoree

Site Engineer
The Procter & Gamble Company

I am passionate about manufacturing because you have the opportunity to design and fabricate products or goods that improve people and the lives of families. When you work in manufacturing, you can see the outcome of your work in a tangible way and get the very satisfying pleasure of saying ‘I made that!’

Maria Alejandra has been a valued Procter & Gamble employee for 15 years in Latin America, working in various manufacturing fields in different countries. Among her major accomplishments is leading a multifunctional team to deliver a 40 percent increase in diaper production capacity in record time, delivering a 75 percent schedule reduction. This boosted the company’s profits significantly while meeting or exceeding all safety, quality assurance and cost goals. Maria Alejandra is also the company’s regional expert in the implementation of new initiatives and project start-up systems, where she has reduced construction execution by 15 percent and improved startup execution by 20 percent.

As someone who has achieved a successful work-life balance in the manufacturing field, Maria Alejandra is a role model to female managers at her Tepeji plant in Mexico. Currently 54 percent of managers there are female, and Maria Alejandra is the most senior. Because of that, she has taken it upon herself to understand what the less experienced female managers need to be successful. She is involved in the Women Managers Work team, which is tasked with enabling the development of females in the company. Maria Alejandra has been active in the team sessions and has translated their learnings into actionable steps for both male and female managers.

Maria Alejandra’s community activities include implementing sustainable projects at the factory, actively participating in P&G-sponsored citizenship activities and participating in community activities at her children’s school. She led the implementation of equipment to enable recycling that helped the Tepeji plant be certified as a zero-waste-to-landfill site. She has also led several projects to reduce the plant’s water usage footprint. And as a mother of two, she is very active in her sons’ school community efforts, especially Families Helping Families, which supports a nearby low-income school financially and with facility improvement projects.