On International Women’s Day, March 8, the date will have a different meaning in the lives of 25 residents of Ouro Branco (MG) and region who will participate in the first class of the professional qualification course in electromechanical maintenance aimed at exclusively for women. The training, offered by the Gerdau Pertencer program, in partnership with Senai, opens the way for gender equality, creating job opportunities for women who wish to qualify and enter the steel industry.
The qualification course is aimed at Gerdau’s operating areas in Ouro Branco and will last for four months, including face-to-face and online classes, from 8 am to 5 pm, depending on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the municipality.
A team of Senai instructors will train both with technical knowledge, which includes topics in mechanical and electrical fundamentals, applied calculus, metrology, assembly and maintenance, communication and technical writing, and with notions of health and safety at work and work organization. and citizenship.
The training will also address specific modules to reduce waste and costs, increasing productivity with lean manufacturing and agile tools.
Opening of 100 new jobs
The forecast is that, throughout 2021, another three classes of the women’s training course will be opened, totaling the creation of 100 new jobs for them, who will be able to put into practice all theoretical knowledge through admission as a trainee operator.
In addition, the Pertencer program will launch four other technical training classes for people with disabilities also at the Ouro Branco mill. According to the company, the dates of the selections for the new classes will be released soon.
The selection process of the first group of women at the Ouro Branco mill included participants, without age restrictions, who had passed through Gerdau’s Young Apprentice program.
According to Graziella Maso, manager of the people area at Gerdau, the invitation for these women symbolizes more than a gateway to the steel industry, but also resignifies the environment of inclusion within Gerdau. “Gerdau’s Pertencer program proposes a change in mentality within the company, betting on diversity to accelerate the inclusion curve, in a sector predominantly composed of men”.
Graziella adds that this theme has been implemented at Gerdau for about three years, also including the LGBTI + themes, race, people with disabilities and women.
Women’s empowerment in the steel industry
The professional qualification course in electromechanical maintenance, aimed exclusively at women, is not only a gateway into the steelmaking operation area, but also a stepping stone to ascend into management positions within the company. Trajectory confirmed by Driele Poliana Barbosa, 33, who has been on her 18 career at the Ouro Branco mill, adding lessons and overcoming challenges.
Acting today as coordinator of carbohydrate products, Driele was, along with another colleague, the first woman to participate in the qualification course in industrial mechanical maintenance by Senai.
After learning for two years as a minor apprentice, she worked for almost four years as a maintenance mechanic. “After that, there was a restructuring and our team went to work in the blast furnace and I started to act as support in the management area to other maintenance teams”.
Driven by challenges and new learnings, she went through several areas within the unit and today is proud of her current position.
“In 2013, I took on my first management role at the age of 25, being a team coordinator in the Tooling area, working for the company as a whole and being responsible for around 30 people,” says Driele, who has many other coordination functions. in areas such as heavy transport, contract, infrastructure maintenance and scaffolding programming and assembly.
Driele says that she always valued dedication and the facts were happening naturally “Things were happening. As I took a step, dedicated myself and got involved with work, the next step appeared. After so much learning, I discovered that my vocation is to work with people because I am dynamic ”, he is proud.
To learn more about Gerdau: https://www2.gerdau.com.br/
From the Estado de Minas. Posted on 08/03/2021
