The labor crisis is structural. And it's getting worse.
We've interviewed factory owners across India — electronics assembly, textiles, pharma components, plastic fabrication. Two problems come up every time, with no working solution in sight.
Finding workers is hard. Keeping them is harder.
Skilled manufacturing workers in India are in structural short supply. The gig economy — Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, Amazon delivery — is pulling the labor pool away from factory floors. Manufacturing is seen as hard, dirty, and less glamorous than delivery work.
And when you do find skilled workers, legacy salary expectations from workers with 20–30 years of tenure create entrenched cost structures that are nearly impossible to restructure.
"Every month I'm short 2–3 workers. I've been trying to hire for six months. Even when I find someone, they leave after 3 months."
— Electronics assembly owner, PuneSeasonal spikes hit like a wall. Every year.
Ganpati. Dussehra. Diwali. Elections. Every year, demand multiplies 4–5x almost overnight. Indian SME factories need 4–5 additional workers for just 6–10 weeks. Then demand drops back.
Sourcing temporary workers for this window is nearly impossible. And even when found, training them for even basic tasks takes 2–4 weeks — burning through half the peak season before they're productive.
"During Ganpati we need 8 workers but we have 4. By the time we find and train new people, the orders have already been delayed."
— Plastic component manufacturer, MumbaiThe problem crosses every sector
We've run discovery interviews across multiple manufacturing verticals. The labor challenge is universal.
High precision, seasonal spikes from festival electronics demand. Skilled soldering operators scarce.
GMP compliance requires trained workers. High turnover creates quality and compliance risks.
Wedding season demand is brutal. Training skilled sewers takes months. Seasonal workers unusable.
Repetitive assembly work — ideal for automation, but no affordable option exists for SMEs.
Skilled carpenters and finishers are aging. No new generation entering the trade.
Welding, grinding, finishing — physically demanding. Youth reluctant to take factory floor jobs.
The problem is clear. We've built the solution.
A general-purpose robot built specifically for the Indian SME factory floor.