Few months ago, we featured an interview of a woman plant head who leads an all women plant. As our search for women in manufacturing moved ahead, we came across a clock manufacturing company whose more than 90 per cent workforce comprise of women. Sonam Clock Limited, which is led by Jayesh Shah, Managing Director of the company speaks about the role that these women play in the success of the company.
Please tell us about the women workforce in your company.
Our workforce mainly includes women. In fact, out of our employee strength of around 650 people, more than 90 per cent are women. Qualities such as their sincerity and focus set them apart. Most of the women who work at the plant are not well educated. However what is important is that they are skilled to do the job that they are doing. We do provide them initial on-job training. Moreover, they are also positive towards acquiring new skills. With these qualities, they have been important part of the company's success.
Our plant is located at Morbi, Gujarat, which is a small village. These women daily commute from surrounding villages. To ensure their safety and convenience, we provide them transport facility.
Please tell us about the company's manufacturing facility.
In 1996, we began our journey with manufacturing and assembling 250 pieces a day. In the year 1997, we moved from a rented place to our own premise. By 1998 our operations and production had expanded reaching the capacity of 5,000 pieces of wall clock, and 10,000 pieces of alarm clocks with a strong distribution spread over India. Today, the production capacity is 10,000 wall clocks and 50,000 clock movements a day. We export to more than 25 countries.
Over the years, the company has manufactured various wall clocks as per the tastes and choices of end users and have updated designs, looks time and again.
Please tell us about Sonam Clock's journey since inception & also future plans.
Before establishing Sonam Clock, I used to be a trader in Mumbai. It is 1996, things changed I moved towards manufacturing and assembling. We started in modest way and it has been a satisfactory journey so far.
Today, the market for clocks is faring well. We are expecting the market size to reach Rs. 1500 crores. In these conditions, we are also expanding our wings. We are aiming at doubling our capacity by end of this year.
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