Women-led manufacturing team at Siemens Energy India breaks gender barriers

Among the many challenges in leading an all-female engineering team in manufacturing, one last-minute hitch caught energy professional Samruddhi Yelikar off guard.

“It was safety gloves,” she said. “Women have smaller hands. But we couldn’t find them in women’s sizes – the only models we had were made to fit men. We had to scurry around trying to find some small enough for my team.”

Six years after qualifying as a mechanical engineer, Yelikar is one and a half years into managing projects for Siemens Energy India Limited (SEIL) in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra. She leads a 22-strong all-female team, a rarity in the engineering sector, which has a persistently low ratio of women engineers and technicians.

Last fiscal year, more than half of SEIL’s graduate recruits were women. The gas insulated switchgear (GIS) factory where Yelikar works has created an all-women manufacturing line as part of a wider strategy to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce, with women in every function at the factory.

“It’s a very ambitious and bold example of inclusion that Siemens Energy India is setting,” Yelikar said. “Siemens Energy has a [worldwide] target of a workforce made up of at least 30% women [in leadership roles by 2030], and they’re focusing on production, which is a very male dominated field.”

Recruiting women in core engineering fields has required immense time and effort, Yelikar said, proving the need for such initiatives. “One of the greatest challenges has been to find skilled candidates and get them on board … an all-female team has changed the environment in a very positive way.”

Women on Yelikar’s team tend to work collaboratively, she said. “Whenever there is a problem, we jump in and solve it together.” When the all-female team was introduced, all employees took part in gender sensitization training, which helped educate company recruiters on unconscious bias.

Yelikar is driven by a desire to help more women step outside traditional roles. “I want more women to enter this workforce and get involved.”

As a young girl, Yelikar aspired to work in aeronautical engineering but is grateful her mother persuaded her that mechanical engineering offered more opportunities and flexibility. Her career has borne that out, with previous work in automotive and tooling sectors. “In these areas the focus was on operational excellence and accuracy.” Those principles also apply in the energy sector, but she has found a heightened focus on safety, security and long-term impact. “We’re building the national infrastructure after all.”

Like many nations, India aims to transition to cleaner energy, targeting 50% decarbonized electricity and 500 GW of fossil-fuel-free generating capacity, including hydro and nuclear power, by 2030. By 2070, India aims to achieve net zero emissions, and SEIL supports these targets by expanding manufacturing and modernizing the grid. The factory where Yelikar works has become an innovation hub for reliable and sustainable grid technologies.

“It’s a great challenge,” she said. “Currently we all are highly dependent on fossil fuel.” Yelikar became interested in the energy sector after her family installed solar panels at home through a subsidized scheme. “I was curious and researched the sector and discovered the extent and scope of government projects. I found it so inspiring.”

Although her background is in mechanical engineering, she found the switch to electrical production relatively straightforward. With an MBA in operations, Yelikar has complemented her knowledge with in-house training delivered by SEIL.

Yelikar’s team contributes to manufacturing cutting-edge systems that control high-voltage power and are more suitable for confined spaces like cities or industrial plants than traditional systems. On site, she is helping introduce more innovative manufacturing processes.

Her day begins with an informal safety meeting with her team before staff head to their stations, with Yelikar serving as chief problem solver. She is also devoted to introducing stronger automation and digitalization. “At the moment we’re introducing these smarter, more sustainable processes within smaller projects. My goal eventually is to not only shape individual processes but the systems at a national level – I want to help make them better.”

Having made the transition to the energy sector, Yelikar has been supported by managers who act as informal mentors. “Whenever there’s a challenge I can just go to them – they teach me a lot and encourage me.” She is keen to pass her enthusiasm to the next generation of young women choosing careers.

“The energy sector is growing at a vast pace in India. There will be so many opportunities in the near future. By 2047 we aim to be a developed nation and there will certainly be higher demand for clean energy. Globally, this sector is a good choice right now, particularly for women – because companies such as Siemens Energy are really investing in them.”