When you see a dream as a child, you can turn it into reality. With dedication and hard work, Dr Sandhya Pande, now a senior director and site leader in Philips, a healthcare device manufacturing company, made her dream possible despite rejections and denial. “Success lies in continuous learning, collaboration, and breaking industry stereotypes” she quotes.
Choosing Beyond the Comfort Zone
Sandhya Pande, originally from Aurangabad, has completed mechanical engineering at the Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad, before beginning her career with Grind Masters Machines Private Limited. She later moved to Pune for MBA in Production and Operations Management from Pune University. With a long career of 25 years, she had worked in the UK, Germany and USA, shifting from general engineering to automobile engineering. She held leadership roles such as Head of R&D, Plant Head and Head of Operations in multinational companies and had played a key role in launching five vehicles, including the Chevrolet Spark from General Motors, Pajero Sport from Mitsubishi Motors and Hummer S2/S3, marketed by USA General Motors.
Sandhya also ran her own business for five years, specialising in designing fully automated robotic assembly lines for major automobile brands like General Motors, TATA Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, BMW and Audi. After a successful joint venture with Idiada Automotive, her company was acquired. She then joined Cummins India as the Head of Manufacturing Engineering, looking after 19 plants nationwide.
After having such vast exposure with companies, Sandhya wanted to go beyond her comfort zone, beyond the automotive sector. She transitioned to the healthcare industry and for the past three and half years she has been working with Philips, a Netherland based healthcare device manufacturer, leading the India site for three key business areas, that is hospital patient monitoring and sleep, and respiratory care.
Ambition of Becoming a Mechanical Engineer from an Early Age
Remembering the initial days Sandhya says, “I faced challenges while securing a role in the industry as companies were reluctant to hire female engineers in the 90s”. But she was determined to work in a factory environment. She had realised that teaching was not in her “DNA”, and so she joined the Grind Master, a company led by Milind D. Kelkar and Mohini Kelkar. She was given the full responsibility of the shop floor, from handling production, supplier identification, assembly, welding to onsite installations. “I was mentally prepared for this”, she says. Working for long hours and gaining hands-on experience, she considers this her true mechanical engineering education. “I was a mechanical engineer when I passed out of my college. But I became a mechanical engineer when I came out of Grind Master. Those 5 years with Grind Master have changed my complete perception about how engineering is”, she shares. She believes that the Kelkar truly supported her during her journey in Grind Masters
She admits that her personality did not align with the teaching profession, though she highly respects the profession, her passion for innovation and challenging herself moved her towards a career in manufacturing rather than academics.
The ambition of becoming a mechanical engineer was not something which came suddenly to mind. The interest came early when she used to spend time in TATA Motors garage, where she enjoyed observing trucks which were being repaired. This observation created a dream of opening her own garage which eventually led to mechanical engineering. She shares how initially she was denied admission into workshop technology during her 11th and 12th standards, as there were no female students for admission. However after challenging the system, she was allowed to take it, making an option for other girls as well. Another challenge was during the campus placements when the companies refused to interview the female candidates.
According to her, success needs three factor that is “Maintaining strong skills and competency at or above industry standards, having confidence derived from knowledge and experience and the last is delivering consistent results through performance.”
She never flet workplace bias because she never viewed herself through the lens of gender, rather she saw herself as an engineer or manager, not as ‘woman engineer’ or ‘woman manager’. She advises aspiring women engineers to remove internal mental barriers first, rather than focusing on external obstacles.
Having Confidence in Self is one Key to Success
Achievements of Sandhya throughout her journey is commendable. During her first international assignment, she led a tool room in Pune, managing complex injection mold projects for the automotive and packaging industries. This involved overlooking intricate mold designs, from large automobile bumpers to highly detailed multi cavity toothpaste caps. When her company acquired a unit in London, she played a crucial role in managing operations by implementing structured systems and eliminating inefficiencies. Standardizing financial operations, salary schedules, and vendor payments significantly improved employee satisfaction. She says, “through this experience, I learned the importance of people’s motivation, structured processes, and performance-based decision-making. Within a year, I successfully turned the company around to break even, ensuring profitability for the next four years. In the fifth year, I led the company into a major joint venture, marking a significant milestone in my journey”.
According to Sandhya one needs to have role models in both personal and professional life, as, unless one is having strong values coming from personal life, they will not be able to feel those integrities and values of professional life. So from her personal life, her mother was the one who navigated her through difficult times. And then the Kelkar family. But as she started growing in her professional career, she started looking towards three ladies, first Indira Gandhi, her leadership qualities, second was Kiran Devi, from whom she learned about integrity and doing something for the society, and the third lady is Ingra Nooyi. Jack Welch who is the GE’s CEO is another role model.
Sandhya believes there is a lack of awareness among students about diverse roles in manufacturing and industry needs to engage with students in the early stage of their education to show opportunities, while addressing about how students are opting more towards the IT sector than manufacturing as their career.
She says “My success mantra revolves around the 4 C’s: Confidence, rooted in competency; Collaboration, working together rather than competing; Complimenting, recognizing strengths in others; and No Competition, as growth comes from expanding together, not rivalry. My final message to women in manufacturing is to focus on their roles rather than gender biases”.
