The challenge
KEI’s new plant needed experienced operators for specialised cable processes: armouring, CCV (continuous catenary vulcanisation), DT laying-up, extrusion and insulation extrusion, rewinding, strip winding, intermediate rod breakdown, bunching, tandem lines and certified E-beam operation. It also needed machine helpers, loading and unloading staff and stores workers.
These operators rarely look for work on job portals, and each process needs its own experience: an extrusion operator cannot simply run an armouring line. TNSL was also new to cable manufacturing, while KEI’s other vendors already had cable-industry experience, including at KEI’s existing plants.
What TNSL did
Learned the industry first. The team studied cable production processes, the equipment involved and how skilled operator roles differ from general plant roles, so it knew exactly which backgrounds fitted each requirement.
Went where cable workers are. Rather than relying on job advertisements, recruiters surveyed five industrial towns with existing cable manufacturing (Bhiwadi, Faridabad, Alwar, Vadodara and Surat) and visited the areas around cable plants in person.
Engaged workers directly. The team met workmen near those plants, handed out TNSL contact cards and pamphlets about jobs at KEI’s new plant, and built referral chains through workers who knew others with the right experience.
Matched operators by process. Skilled candidates were matched to the specific process and machine they had worked on, and E-beam roles were checked for the required certification. General roles were filled for availability and readiness for industrial work.
Results
- About 200 workmen mobilised in three months.
- Second-largest of six staffing vendors at the plant, despite starting without cable-industry experience.
- Second-highest number of skilled workmen among the six vendors, not just general labour.
- A new sourcing network for specialist cable talent across five industrial towns in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat.
Why it matters
When the skills a plant needs are not on job portals, sourcing has to go to where those workers are. Field mapping and direct engagement took TNSL past most of the established vendors within a single quarter.