Wednesday 29 August 2018

“Mahila Sakthi - மகளிர் சக்தி” – The Power of Women at Integral Coach Factory ( ICF), Chennai, Tamil Nadu – A MADRAS DAY HERITAGE VISIT.

25th August 2018.
From dawn to dusk we use many travel services like car, Train, Airplane etc. for our commutation. Each service has its own story and many peoples labour, efforts are behind that. It will be a mixture of happiness and sorrow, to earn something to survive. The  integral Coach Factory in short called as ICF manufactures coaches  for the Indian Railways, in which we used to travel, for work, to enjoy holiday, to go to distant places etc,.


About ICF…..
The ICF, spread over 473 acres was established in 1952 and production was inaugurated on 2nd October 1955, Gandhi Jayanthi day by Jawaharlal Nehru and latter furnishing division was inaugurated on 2nd October 1962. So far ICF had manufactured 54131 coaches, since inception in approximately 500 designs. ICF also manufactures Stainless Steel (SS407) coaches and so far it had produced 1162 SS coaches with a life span of 40 years. It’s latest  designs are 160 km/ hour “Train 18” and “Train 20”. Apart from internal needs of Coaches for Indian Railways & Metro Railways, exports to 13 foreign countries including Sri Lanka. ICF Completes it’s 60 years of service and celebrated diamond Jubilee in 2015. Total 10485 employees are on roll, of which 1218 are female employees.

ICF has two divisions namely Shell and Furnishing. In shell division, only shells are manufactured and in the furnishing division accessories like berths, electrical  fittings, toilet are added. Factory is maintained with good ventilation, lighting and neat. Mural paintings are done on the factory walls which changes the factory atmosphere. Some of the mural paintings are done by the employees and their Children. Foot paths are painted with green. The new divisions are inaugurated by one of the employees and top performer of the month is rewarded and photo is displayed in the Administrative block. ICF takes care of it’s employees with colony to live, hospital, park, play ground, swimming pool and recreation facilities.

About our visit…on ”Mahila Sakthi”
After Mr Sudhanshu Mani took over as General manager, there was a sea of positive changes in the working as well as in the employer and employee relationship in ICF. One of such change was the  introduction of “Mahila Sakthi”, team. As on date 137 female employees are working in Mahila Sakthi team. They were given with in house training to do similar jobs what the men are doing in two shifts. At present the Mahila Sakthi team is engaged in Manufacturing of berths, Electrical wiring of ac and non-ac coaches ( using 1.5 sq mm to 150 sq mm copper wires with a colour code of Red,Yellow,Blue, brown, black, green.), Repairing and rewinding of fan motors, rectification of Welding machines, Welding of Stainless Steel ( SS407 and the sheet thickness ranges from 2 mm to 8 mm ) Shell side walls ( in two lengths ie 10 meters and 11 meters ), which includes preparation, Hardware Stores – in automated storage and retrieval system - ( receipt, inspection, store and issue  with code numbers) and Testing of meters. The Mahila Sakthi team works with a target of 12 coaches per month, the same target given to the men workers.

Even though, the 25th Saturday was not a working day for the Mahila Sakthi team, they were asked to work during our Visit and explained their job. ICF had arranged a bus to pick us from Museum, Transport inside the factory and dropped us at the starting point. To the top of all Mr Sudhanshu Mani, General Manager of ICF and Finance Head met us in the conference room and interacted with us was an unforgettable experience. I extend my sincere thanks to Mr Sudhanshu Mani GM, Finance Head Mam, Hema Ramesh APO and Mrs Nivedita Louis for her one month hard effort to get permission and arranging this Heritage Visit. Thanks..ma.

LOCATION:CLICK HERE

Welding
Manufacturing of berths
Bunching of electrical wires for the coaches 
At Store 
Grinding /Finishing and Welding
Welding

The mahila team in winding shop
The best performer of the month is displayed 
The photos of employees are displayed at the Administrative block   
The ICF Family tree

Conference room
General Manager Sudhanshu Mani interacts with us
Resurgence Road leading to furnishing division created in remembrance of the Vardha cyclone, which up rooted many trees in the ICF premises and damaged many structures  
 Rail Museum
A sculpture  using the scrap material made by the employees
A sculpture  using the scrap material made by the employees - yazhini and on the back the retired  first class rail coach of  blue mountain railway
 A sculpture  using the scap material made by the employees
The retired from 1965. meter gauge coach which ran between beach to Chengalpattu
---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---

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