It’s been over 18 months since Manasi Kirloskar took charge as vice chairperson at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), having been thrust into the position almost abruptly after untimely death of her father Vikram Kirloskar in November 2022. Since then, Manasi – who is married into Tata family (her husband Neville is the son of Noel Tata, half-brother of Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata) – has taken charge of many of the family’s businesses and joint ventures, even as she manages two young children.Kirloskar says her focus remains on getting women onto the shop floor, while driving greater sustainability in operations and vehicles. While technology and automation are important in factories, their deployment has to be “balanced” as India also needs jobs, she tells TOI in an interview. Excerpts:
How does it feel to step into your father’s shoes and manage Toyota Kirloskar (TKM) JV with Toyota?
Passing away of my father was unexpected for me, rather for everybody… I had, though, initially worked at TKM for a while as a trainee where I had gone through the shop floor training that our workers go through. This included the famous Toyota training where you fix the nuts and bolts without even looking at them. This makes it time efficient on the assembly line. I’ve been exposed to that, the Toyota way, the TKM way…So, I had that level of awareness, and also conversations with my father. All this while I pursued my passion through non-profit ‘Caring with Colour’ that works in education space.
Your elevation takes you to a leadership position in the car industry, which generally is seen as a man’s world. Do you see yourself as a role model for young girls aspiring to make it big in manufacturing world?
I think I have a unique opportunity, which I am actively pursuing at TKM, on how to diversify the gender balance. I think a lot of companies, not just TKM, are doing that. We also have the Toyota Technical Training Institute at Bangalore where we are now inducting a lot of women and training them for the shop floor. We’ve started recruiting more women on the shop floor and I’ve met some of them. I’ve spoken to them and it seems to be going successfully. There are various infrastructural changes that have to be made, like introduction of specific toilets and maintaining hygiene. We’re doing all of that – listening to the voices of the women and what their needs are, because I think the most important thing is to get that perspective.
India today is living in a highly-connected era, where factories are getting modernised and manufacturing is laden with technology. The automation is happening at a time when we require a lot of jobs. How do you look at balancing modernisation and automation of shop floors with jobs?
You’ve hit the nail on the head because this balance is so important for a country like ours where we have a growing population. If we don’t keep up with technology, we become less competitive and less efficient. But, we also need to find a balance in terms of much to automate… we need to have some sort of conscience because there are so many people who need jobs and those jobs are important. It contributes to growth of their families, education of their children and prosperity of the country. So, we have to make this conscious effort, that we are doing at TKM, which is balancing technology and automation with manpower. It has to go hand in hand and has to be done in a way where the company is still competitive and efficient but also is conscious of the fact that we need to generate more and more jobs.
India has dubious distinction of having some of the most polluted cities in the world. There is often conversation that auto industry needs to do more when it comes to sustainability. What are your views on this?
If I talk about TKM, our factory is carbon net zero as we use 100% renewable sources of energy for electricity and our water is also recycled. We have huge water harvesting. When it comes to our products, Toyota offers a variety of eco-friendly and sustainable technologies for mobility. We are aligned with India’s mission of a greener tomorrow and a more sustainable tomorrow. The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint and carbon emissions.