An all-women crew manufactures 50,000th MG Hector in Gujarat

In this first-of-its-kind development, women-only teams were involved in panel-pressing of sheet metal and welding to painting jobs as well as carrying out post-production test runs.

MG Motor India has its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Gujarat’s Halol (Panchmahal district). The British legacy automaker features an industry-leading 33% share of women in its workforce, wherein female professionals work shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts across all business functions.

Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India, said, “MG has always been a progressive brand with diversity, community, innovation, and experiences as our cornerstones. We believe that it is something that has broadened our perspective as a brand and unlocked efficiencies in every aspect of our business operations. 

The rollout of our 50,000th Hector by an all-women crew comes as an honour to their contributions and hard work. It also demonstrates that glass ceilings no longer exist even in an erstwhile male-dominated industry such as automobile manufacturing. We believe that it will inspire more women to join the automotive industry in India and abroad.”

Taking on the mantle further, MG aims to achieve 50% gender diversity in its organization in the future and pave the way for a balanced workforce. Since its inception, as its core focus area, the brand has worked closely with the local panchayats near its Halol manufacturing plant. Doing so has encouraged more young women to work in a safe and secure environment at the MG plant.

Since 2018, MG has hired many female associates in its manufacturing facility via various initiatives. Today, these women are driving core areas of manufacturing at the facility. MG’s state-of-the-art Halol manufacturing facility is further equipped with Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for various workshops. RPA is used by the automaker in Body Shop for Robotic Brazing, Paint Shop for Robotic Primer and Top Coating, and GA Shop for Robotic Glass Glazing.

If trained well, both men and women handle the machinery with equal competency. This forward-looking approach makes MG more gender-inclusive in an otherwise labour-intensive automotive sector.

The MG plant in Halol has an annual production capacity of 80,000 vehicles and employs nearly 2,500 work force. Driven by its vision of CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electric) mobility, the cutting-edge automaker has augmented the across-the-board ‘experiences’ within the automobile segment today.

It has introduced several ‘firsts’ in India including India’s first Internet SUV – MG Hector, India’s first Pure Electric Internet SUV – MG ZS EV, and India’s first Autonomous (Level 1) Premium SUV – MG Gloster.