Divya had to stand for herself and make it clear that she needed hands-on exposure. It is her confidence and brilliance that made the difference for Divya Raithatha. Today, the Director of Vinodrai Engineers Pvt Ltd, Divya is a fine example of what confidence can do to women in manufacturing.
Vinodrai Engineers Pvt Ltd which specializes in rotational moulding machines and moulds had already been established before Divya Raithatha was born. It was founded by her father Sunil Raithatha who always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Vinodrai Engineers was born when he finally decided to implement that dream after working as a mechanical engineer for almost 7 years. He had a clear vision and abundant knowledge of the field and Divya grew up in the middle of such a passionate environment and started developing an interest in machines and engineering.
No Compromise in Learning
To pursue engineering, she took B. Tech in Production Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology. Like every other girl, she too was taken for granted when it came to practice doing something in the lab. She is the only girl in her batch, the teacher would take her sample and do it himself as a demo assuming that he's doing her a favour.
Even though she had the facility to practice such things in her factory, she wanted to do it the right way. More than that she couldn't stand being denied an opportunity to learn, because of her gender. During her internship period, Divya understood how much different things were in a real factory than how it is portrayed in the curriculum.
She realized that her father's company would be a perfect learning experience with full access. For her final year project, she had to design and build a small laboratory machine. All the research and experimenting she did for the same with proper guidance from her father and the designers in Vinodrai boosted her interest in joining the firm.
Confidence That Emanated from Trust
After her last exam, the first thing she did was to go to her father and ask him, “Daddy, I'm confident that I'm going to pass my exam. Do you have the confidence to hire me before it's official?” Mr. Sunil Raithatha was amazed and excited by his daughter's question. On her first day at the company, her father asked her to go sit with the concerned person and finish the required paperwork to be the Director of the firm.
Divya was surprised and confused by this. Being the Director of a firm is a very big responsibility and she was just fresh out of college with very little confidence for such a huge task. But Mr. Raithatha had complete faith in his daughter and she took her father’s advice as her driving motto, “You are only going to give your 100% if you are 100% responsible”.
Most of the time when the second generation enters a family business, either they are not completely trusted or they only have a voice after the first generation steps out. But Divya is extremely grateful for how her father entrusted the company with her, valued her decisions, and how treated her as an equal.
“He never overruled my decisions, he always told me that as a director, my decision was final and so were the consequences. He believed that as long as he keeps on interfering in the decision-making process, I wouldn't get a chance to do it on my own,” she adds. This level of trust and faith is exactly what has moulded Divya Raithatha into who she is now.
At the beginning of her journey, she started from marketing. In Vinodrai, they believe in a one-to-one interaction with the customer and director rather than hiring a marketing team. Even though this approach is more personal and beneficial for the clients, being a woman behind the phone was not an easy task for her.
She converses, “As soon as a customer hears a female voice, they'd ask to put a senior in line without even giving a chance to answer questions. I figured out a solution for this by saying that the manager or whomever they were asking for is unavailable, and they could ask me any doubts regarding the product and in case I couldn't answer any question, I could pass the call to her superior.”
Once she was given a chance to answer the questions, and once the client was ready to hear her out, they were too surprised to believe that a lady can have such a clear grasp of the technical side. She says that a person can be a good engineer, but they have to be better at human relations to convince a customer. Other than marketing, Divya also worked hands-on on the shop floor in the fabrication, assembling, and dismantling of machines. She believes that getting hands dirty is crucial if she wants to have a clear understanding of what's going on the shop floor.
Unwavering in Adverse Situation
Divya shares an incident that portrays how much faith her father had in her and how much established she was as a woman in the manufacturing industry. So, Mr. Sunil Raithatha was talking to a potential client in Honduras and at the same time, Divya was also in the USA as a part of a Roto-tour. So, Mr. Raithatha promised the client that his daughter would personally come there to discuss the product and clarify any doubts he had.
At the time Divya nor her father knew that the country has an average of over 20 reported homicides cases per year. Mr. Sunil Raithatha asked Divya to give them the benefit of doubt only if she feels up to it and only if everything looks acceptable at the airport. If not, immediately return. The client was very much moved by this action and by how much faith this father was having in his daughter.
They ensured the complete safety of Divya from picking her up from the airport to dropping her off. True to their word, they were very caring and made sure she was safe and was always around her during the stay as she didn't speak Spanish. Divya discussed the machines and did a market study and found out that the client didn't require the product that he was about to order, he was misguided by previous manufacturers he had consulted.
Divya suggested a custom machine idea and the client was happy and she returned after giving an approximate estimate. The whole process took about 9 months. As per company policy, they would ship the parts and assemble the machine for the customer and also provide training to their staff. But in this case, it wasn't easy to get a visa to Honduras, so without a doubt, Mr. Raithatha once again asked Divya to go and assemble the machines as she had a US visa. She had never performed such an operation. She did her thorough revision and went ahead.
When she reached there, it felt like manufacturing and dismantling and even transporting the machine was way easier than assembling it under a team who were not ready to listen to a woman. They had to lift heavy parts of machinery which weighed many tons and a Hydraulic crane was not even present in the scene, even though she had requested it prior.
The men were using pulleys and forklifts to lift the weight but it was not happening, yet they weren't ready to try out her idea. This continued for almost 8 hours and still, the load hadn't flinched an inch. Finally, they decided to try her method and the weight got lifted in under 3 minutes. This action earned her respect among the team. They understood that she knew what she was doing. Later they cooperated completely and even double-checked things with her. There were also other technical difficulties, but Divya tackled them all and completed her task.
Women Add Value to Manufacturing
This is one example of the many wonders a woman can bring into the manufacturing industry if you are ready to invest faith in her. You have to start believing in yourself, and this is what Divya has to say to the young women out there who would be tomorrow's entrepreneurs, “Instead of proclaiming that women will be befitted by coming into the manufacturing industry, one should remember that it's the industry that is going to have a huge advantage with women on board.”
