- Actively engaged in the manufacturing sector since 1984, Mohini Kelkar is a strong advocate of boosting the participation of women employees on the shop floors
- Mohini believes that modern India will be shouldered by the organizations who empower their women employees working in the manufacturing units
- Many men use the term ‘risky’ as an excuse to keep women from being a part of the manufacturing sector
Women entrepreneur and Business Development Director at Grind Master Machines Pvt. Ltd., Mohini Kelkar’s journey traces back to a humble beginning. The formidable Mohini Kelkar began her journey as the first lady Production Engineer of her class, slowly foraging her way into the manufacturing sector. In partnership with her husband, she had set up an operational unit of her business in a garage to eventually lead Grind Master Machines Private Limited, not just in India but across the globe. In 2009 they started Grindmaster China, and in 2017 they acquired SPMS Supramatic, France taking a major leap in European Market. She has been relentlessly devoting time to advocate and empower women in the manufacturing sector.
Mohini started her career in manufacturing way back in 1984. Initially, she managed her business from a garage in active collaboration with her husband, Milind Kelkar. Starting small, Mohini had single-handedly supervised all the works without any tint of regret. “I did the physical drilling, tapping, etc. I used to go on a scooter to buy nuts and bolts in the dingy streets of Mumbai and never felt bad about it.”
Need to increase women work-force on factory shop floors
Mohini strongly believes that women should be encouraged to work on the shop floors with machines, and she vehemently discards the sexist notion that shop floors could be selectively
hazardous towards women. Mohini says that most of the machines are automated nowadays to eliminate any workplace hazards at all.
Mohini fondly remembers the grit and determination of women workers contributing to India’s booming manufacturing industry, “In 1990 there was a girl who was working at our shop floor and things were pretty conservative back then. It was getting late and I asked her to leave suggesting that will be on the shop floor. However, she refused to leave and said that she will complete her work first.”The belief that women could excel and be at par with male peers motivate Mohini to accommodate and train more women workers on the floors.
Educate and inspire at the rural level
A massive transformation has been brought by Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing sector. Mohini is a staunch believer in disseminating this awareness to rural areas from where the industry receives its chunk of the skilled workforce. reach out to people residing in rural areas and make them aware of the innovations and functioning of the sector.
“I have seen myself that in remote villages if something new is told to girls, their faces beam up. They are hungry and thirsty for information,” says Mohini. Besides rural India, Mohini believes that consciousness should also be ingrained at the grass-roots level like in schools. “Formative years of children are important so values and aspirations are needed to be instilled in a girl child from a young age. Girls should be made ambitious by informing, creating awareness around them and starting a fire in their belly.”
Societal change is key to include women in manufacturing
Mohini seeks to abolish the anachronistic belief that women inherently weak as this significantly dwindle the respect they deserve for building the nation’s economy. Mohini’s perseverance is evidence of the urgency with which society’s views need to change, a change which can also be brought about by the corporate edifices. The concept of women working in the manufacturing sector should be normalized and dispersed across the entire spectrum of society. The organizations will have to enforce the changes, if necessary.
Specific attempts have to be taken by the top management to facilitate through the various departments a perspective that is liberal and gender-inclusive, almost a pre-requisite for modern India. Mohini herself is exemplary of such paradigm-shifting transformations taking place in Grind Master Machines, “When it comes to me, I talk to women employees one on one and take the opportunity to get them together and share their thoughts and views.”It is instrumental for the management to engage in discussions and make the women workers feel important and valued.
Initiatives should be expedited by Industry
Mohini expresses immense hope speaking about the manufacturing sector which has now been sculpted into a new shape-making space for several progressive, women-centric schemes initiated by the Government of India. According to Mohini, Skill India and manufacturing India campaigns are is definitely going in the right direction, and “we have to be patient and keep working on making it better.” You can reach out to Grindmaster at www.grindmaster.co.in
Machine Maker celebrating Woman in Indian Manufacturing is coming out with incredible stories of #Womanufactuirng. If you would like to recommend anyone among you to be featured write to us at info@themachinemaker.com
