Meet the Bravehearted Woman From The Manufacturing Sector - Lakshmi Umapathy

Although the times are changing now, there was a time when the women in the manufacturing sector faced numerous challenges. Pro MFG Media team would like to introduce one such fierce woman who made her mark in the manufacturing sector. Ms. Lakshmi Umapathy, Factory Manager, Caterpillar India Private Limited shared with us her journey in the manufacturing sector.

Womenfolk in manufacturing are definitely witnessing positive changes in the industry’s attitude towards recruiting, retaining, advancing women, and yet there is an immense scope of improvement. Although a lot of industries are now focusing on gender diversity, Ms. Lakshmi Umapathy believes that the industries need to attract young engineers to the shop floor. Being a woman, she faced numerous challenges on the shop floor such as:

⮚ Resistance towards women leadership
⮚ Poor Perception of women
⮚ lack of opportunities
⮚ Acceptance by operators

Ms. Lakshmi Umapathy desired to pursue a career on the shop floor as it provides practical knowledge and a platform to interact with people. She credits her achievements to:

⮚ Sheer dedication and passion for learning.
⮚ Precise planning for flawless execution of the tasks
⮚ Support from Management & Team
⮚ Family support
⮚ Problem-solving attitude

Citing reference from her previous role at Kirloskar Brothers, she mentioned that the concept of all-women factory in Coimbatore provided a comfortable work environment. She experienced a different set of dynamics at Kirloskar, as they hired dropped-out school girls, thus creating an unbiased opportunity for everyone. The girls were rigorously trained at the dedicated training center for the manual processes. The team leaders ensured they are well-trained for the shop floor. Before deploying them to the shop floor, the girls went through a stringent assessment program, which maintained efficient governance & productivity. An excellent skillset is one the most important factors to work on the shop floor. Since they have to work on manual workstations, the girls are also assessed for speed and synchronization. Being the operations head, it was essential to keep the girls motivated for better performances. The production unit could manufacture 60,000 pumps per year, and she bravely took upon the goal of producing 1 Lakh pumps per year. Although it is a market-driven supply, Ms. Umapathy undertook the challenge of gearing up the supply chain, ramping up the production, and convincing the staff to work in the second shift. She developed trust within all the female staff and provided them with amenities such as a safe pick & drop service for the night shift employees and an internal caretaker. She created a comfortable safe environment for female workers in the organization. Secondly, she also achieved the goal of manufacturing 88,000 pumps in 2019. Apart from that, she spent late hours coordinating with the suppliers for the desired castings. She takes immense pride in training her female staff and with the help of problem-solving tools developed by herself. She imbibed immense confidence in them to compete on the global platform. During her tenure, the Kirloskar girls won the gold medal in an international competition held in Japan.

Ms. Umapathy advises young women to accept the challenges and attempt to resolve them. Every problem will need a unique solution, and women must work towards deriving a customized solution. It is essential to understand the problem and learn from the experiments to derive a solution. She stresses seeking advice from peers and mentors to resolve issues. One should be persistent in their hard work and never be disappointed by others' opinions. She insists that the young female engineers must undertake a manufacturing role rather than choosing a corporate role as it will give exposure to them to immense practical knowledge.

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