As a first of its kind initiative in India, Yamaha India hired 200 women to run its assembly line for scooters. This is also the first time in India that a company has developed scooters for women assembled by women. The recently-launched Yamaha Ray is also the first scooter to be launched by Yamaha in India. Ammar Alvi has more.
This assembly line is run by women to make scooters for women. Through this initiative, Yamaha is not just creating employment for these young recruits but is also providing them classroom as well as on-the-job training.
These girls will undergo a state government-approved apprenticeship programme which will last for three years wherein they will receive industrial training by being on the job. They will also be appearing for an examination by the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) by the end of each year and after completion of their term, these girls will be receiving an ITI certification approved by the Uttar Pradesh government.
According to Roy Kurian, National Business Head of the company, “This is the first time in Yamaha’s history, not only in India but also worldwide, that the company has started an assembly line which is run exclusively by women. Being the pioneers in this movement, Yamaha certainly hopes to see this initiative being replicated across the industry.”
The company has also developed a Yamaha Female Riding Training Program to be implemented across India very soon. This move is very much in line with the company’s plans to target young urban women with its recently launched scooter Ray. The company has also expanded its dealer network and specially improved customer care quality for female customers by appointing more female staffs at customer contact points and introducing female customer care programmes.
Yamaha’s decision to enter the scooter segment in India was arrived at by seeing the huge demand that this segment is witnessing in the country, with college students and young working women showing increased affinity to purchasing light weight and highly efficient scooters.