On the 30th of July, 2022, with the theme of ‘Miletstones Ahead, Working Beyond Boundaries’, the whole Indian manufacturing industry came together to celebrate women's power and gender equality in the workplace. Priya Rawat, COO of Invest India was the Chief Guest, and Vijay Kalra, Director of Mahindra Institute of Quality was the Key Note Speaker, where industry leaders spoke about the importance of equal opportunity in the manufacturing sector, which is for ages dominated by men.
Machine Maker proudly organized an event first time ever on #womanufacturing, celebrating the power of women in manufacturing and also recognising and felicitating manufacturing SMEs that are proud to employ women's power and climb the ladder of growth. The event was held in Taj Vivanta, Hinjewadi on the 30th of July, 2022. The Indian manufacturing community witnessed an event like never before by highlighting the burning issue of gender equality in engineering manufacturing on the table, with its flagship event Womanufacturing and the theme of 2022 – 'Milestones ahead, Working beyond Boundaries'.
The event spectated a community footfall of more than 200 delegates from OEMs, Vendors as well as SMEs and MSMEs who already made an impact by imbibing gender inclusiveness in the workforce. The opening ceremony was graced by Priya Rawat the COO of Invest India, Vijay Kalra, Director of Mahindra Institute of Quality, Beena Kothadia the Plant Director of Gestamp, Kavita Kaushik the Director of Quality at Cummins India, Sujata Tilak the Managing Director of Ascent Intellimation, and many more esteemed special personalities.
Priya Rawat during the opening ceremony while celebrating and acknowledging the women who work in manufacturing said, “This event has come at an opportune time when the nation has witnessed a landmark moment of Smt. Draupadi Murmu became the 2nd President of India and the first-ever tribal president of independent India. I thus long for the nation for its journey to bring women to leadership positions and bring them to the highest offices in the country. It is when leadership is seen from a holistic perspective, women leaders come to perspective. And I believe women don't just lead, they empower.”
The Managing Editor of Machine Maker, Hari Shanker in his welcome note while emphasizing his experience said, “Whatever we are doing today for womanufacturing, is an excellent concept and everyone is going to enjoy, get inspired by it. But this empowerment doesn't end here. We need to take it back home, and start this change at home because – The change should start at home!”
Vijay Kalra, one of the keynote speakers at the event while thanking Machine Maker for the initiative said that these events are wonderful and so are the concepts, but sustaining them is what will make a difference. He also said we should as a society work towards thinking of what can be done differently to achieve the goal of gender inclusiveness. Beena Kothadia talking about the importance of equal opportunities in the workplace said, “The way Machine Maker is working to identify the stories is really wonderful! It is these stories that tell the world about the wonders the women workforce engages themselves in. These women bring to the industry a set of talents, and that helps not only the field but also to inspire the youngsters.” She further relayed a message to every woman– “If you are capable and skilled, you should do that job.”
The statistics of women manufacturers in the industry are upsetting with only 17% of leadership roles in the corporate world being held by women, and even fewer women on the shop floor. These numbers are what ignite into the minds of everyone the drive to celebrate the manufacturers who then inspire millions of young women to take upon themselves the responsibility of changing this scene bravely. Kavita Kaushik while sharing her career life to illustrate equal opportunity on the shopfloor said that women will do a great job, only if they are given the opportunity to do so.
Sujata Tilak who is a thought leader shared instances of hardships that she faced as a women entrepreneur. During the event, she also commented, “You have to let your work speak. Once people see whatever work you are doing, that too with confidence, the perceptions will change.
The event was an initiative that was started over a decade ago to promote inspiring women who work in the manufacturing sector. The event brought to the world the tales of various organizations that at core support gender inclusiveness, with thousands of inspirations, and millions of aspirations. The beauty of the event was to testimony the industry felicitating manufacturing SMEs who are milestones ahead with their progressive approach towards giving equal opportunities without any gender bias.
Based on the theme of ‘Milestones Ahead: Working Beyond Boundaries’ the manufacturing SMEs who were recognised and felicitated were Vishwakarma Founders, ATQ Metro, Laser Technologies, C-Tech Engineers, Magsol-Elixir Soltek, and Indfrag Biosciences. During the event Machine Maker also launched its 75 Innovations project and Quality Champs of Indian Manufacturing-Season 1.
Indfrag’s felicitation was awarded to Gayathri Rajasekar who works as an Assistant Manager in the company. She is one of the youngest women to achieve this accomplishment in the nation. The audience was left in awe and found her words inspiring when she said, “I always face opposition when I work, given the fact that I am the youngest person to work in a senior position and on top of that, a woman. But I think the biggest strength one can possess, it’s my power. Opposition is the only way one can improve oneself because it pushes you to do beyond your limits. You are the most powerful person when you face opposition. I believe women can do any job and that’s the empowerment we need!”
Amit Salunkhe from ZOLLER India & South East Asia team represented the organizing committee along with industry colleagues like Samina Khalid the Head of Corporate Communications at Thermax Limited, Mangesh Awate, Deputy General Manager of ZECHA India, Nikhil Modi of Philips India, Prashant Nair, Managing Director of Meedas Protek, and Sachin Gambhire, Marketing Director of Trumpf India, who were felicitated by Nandkumar Salunkhe, Managing Director of Sanco Dies and Moulds, and Vaishali Nandedkar, Director of Shivamtech Engineering for their contributions at the event.
The event was then ended with a vote of thanks by Hiya Chakrabarti, the Associate Editor at Machine Maker with heartfelt gratitude to the special guests, awardees, company representatives, the logistics team, the organizing committee, and the team of Machine Maker.
Post this, the event was converted into a networking event where all the attendees conversed about providing equal opportunities without any gender bias. It was a blessing to witness the presence of dignities and everyone who was present from throughout the industry. The manufacturers were the sheroes of the night and will be for the rest of our lives. The visibility of more such female role models will change the perspective and image of manufacturing!
