Empowered by women

By Niranjan Mudholkar,

Added 12 November 2014

Dr. RV Raj Kuumar, the Plant Head of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd’s Coimbatore facility has led a team of 100 percent female associates to achieve record breaking feats.

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Rising above the ordinary

It is interesting to note that Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL) is the only engineering company in India which operates with 100 percent female associates at one of its manufacturing plants, ably led by Dr. RV Raj Kuumar - the Plant Head. Established in 2011, the plant manufactures different models of domestic pumps and has 70 women between the age group of 19 to 30 employed on the shop floor and who are mostly school drop-outs.

In the recent past, this KBL Plant located in Coimbatore bagged the ASSOCHAM ‘Gold Award' for novelty in Science & Technology Category. Two innovative factors that led to this award are having 100 percent female employees in the manufacturing process and the project Mahila Mission 20. Dr Raj Kuumar explains: "Under the project Mahila Mission 20, we reduced the cycle time from 60 seconds per pump to 20 second per pump. This has tripled the plant production to 34,000 pumps per line per shift per month. The plant has set another benchmark and bagged a prestigious award by the Limca Book of Records for the project ‘Mahila Mission 20'. It achieved a milestone of assembling a pump in an amazing time of 17.25 seconds, making it a National record.

So, how did the Plant achieve this feat? The achievement was made possible with the help of TEI (Total employee involvement). The Mahila Mission 20 project was initiated by the Plant Head himself. Total employee involvement was made possible by giving them guidance and motivation as well as by monitoring and reviewing the entire mechanism.

The Pros and Cons
•             Ability to network with colleagues.
•             Ability to perceive and understand situations.
•             Strong sense of dedication, loyalty and commitment to their organisation.
•             Ability to multitask.
•             Collaborative work style — solicit input from others, with respect for ideas.
•             Crisis management skills.
•             Willingness to share information (interactive leadership style).
•             Sensitivity in relationships (e.g., compassionate, empathetic, understanding).
•             Behaving in a gender-neutral manner.

Of course, there are certain disadvantages too as mentioned by the Plant Head: "Retention is the real challenge for us after marriage and migration. Another major challenge is absenteeism."

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