Yamaha Motors is second largest motorcycle manufacture in the world. But in India, they don’t even feature in the top 3. They are now working on launching new motorcycles and scooters. They will also increase dealership network. And apart from these, they will also be improving their brand image in a unique way.
As Yamaha Motors aim to start production at a new site in Chennai later this year, it has been revealed that they will be hiring 40% woman workers. This step is being taken so that Yamaha can push up brand image of their range of scooters among women in the country.
At this new plant, Yamaha will be adding various female friendly initiatives, which includes a day care center and commuter bus service. A total of 2600 female workers are scheduled to be hired by 2018 once this plant reaches peak capacity of 1.8 million units per annum.
According to Hiroyuki Suzuki, MD, Yamaha India, they not only want to make scooters for women, but also want to increase their participation in the development, especially when the industry average is at 77%-23% for men-women labour workforce in India.
Demand for two wheelers is expected to cross 25 million by 2018, compared to last year’s 14 million. This will also see rise in number of female two wheeler buyers. Aiming to have women making up about 40% of workforce at their new plant, Yamaha Motors hopes that this move will boost company’s brand image and continues with Yamaha’s focus on women workers.
Yamaha’s initiative started in September 2012 when the company kicked off a special program to offer job training for women in association with Government of Uttar Pradesh. This training is for a period of three years after which women are given a degree from a technical college and can opt to stay on as full time employees of the company. Even so, as on date a total of 200 women workers between ages of 18 and 22 are employed in various motorcycle assembly operations at company plant in Surajpur.
