Our Story for International Women's Day: Female Machine Operators

At Borusan Cat, we focus on climate, people, and innovation, and under the auspices of our corporate mission “We Create Solutions for a Better World”, we work to implement sustainable, useful, and awareness-raising projects and solutions. With the “Borusan for Equality” principle that guides us in transforming our way of doing business, manner of speaking, and points of view into a more equal structure, we strive to achieve equality of opportunity without looking at any situation from a gender perspective. Our "Training for Female Operators of Work Machines" project, the details of which we are sharing today, is concrete proof of the importance of the above values. We bring to your attention the history of this project, which supports the employment of women under the auspices of inclusiveness and social equality.

We implemented this gender equality project in 2022 together with Kaltun Maden, one of the Kaltun Group companies. At Borusan Cat, we strive to ensure that candidates become highly skilled work equipment operators through the comprehensive training we offer. During training sessions held in June, July, and August, female work equipment operator candidates received comprehensive classroom and on-the-job training with the curriculum covering topics from occupational health and safety to wheel loader equipment use. Candidates who successfully completed all processes continue to work at the Kaltun mine. Our next goal is to expand this project to other countries where we operate and inspire other clients.

Start of the Project and Stages

The first seeds of our project were sown at a business meeting. When the values shared by Borusan Cat and Kaltun Madencilik crossed paths, the "Training for Female Work Machine Operators" project generated a lot of hype, and the process was launched.

The advertisement was posted immediately. Interested candidates were informed, and those who would take part in the training were finally determined.

The four-month training process began with one-day-long classroom training. The classroom sessions were followed by field training. At this stage, Borusan Cat's emphasis on learning has made our job much easier. Since it has always been an essential part of our individual development values, it was natural for us to share our experiences with candidates.

In the one-on-one training at the machine tool, we provided our candidates with all the information they needed through our instructor operator. In this way, we learned from our mistakes and helped each other.

After completing the training and passing the examinations organized by both Borusan Cat and the government, our candidates were eligible to receive certificates and licenses confirming that they were competent to use work equipment. The certificates were presented to them by Senior Managers of Caterpillar, Borusan Cat, and Kaltun Maden at the Kaltun mine, where the training took place.

The work machine can be much larger and more intimidating than it appears in the photographs. However, our candidates, who had sufficient qualifications and knowledge, have already started their daily work as professionals, leaving their fears behind on the first day!

Women's Business. Men's Business. Human Business.

All project participants are proud of the completion of this extremely enjoyable and productive training process. We are particularly pleased with the thought that the saying “this is not women's work”, which is often heard on such projects, has gone into oblivion due to the success of our candidates.

With delight, we noticed that, during each lesson, our candidates learned something new. When people believe in and support each other, anything is possible. Because, after all, there is no purely female or purely male work, there is only equality of opportunity, and with it all areas of many industries can be improved.

In addition to the dedication and interest shown by our candidates, our project was based on great efforts and cooperation. Following our corporate mission "We Create Solutions for a Better World", we continue to implement projects that go beyond the standards and put the value of human resources at the forefront.

Today, as we celebrate International Women's Day, we hope that this project, which proves the value of equality of opportunity and cooperation, will inspire new ideas. As in all areas of life, we believe that equality of opportunity should also be present in the field of operating work machines. We know that projects developed in this way contribute to our culture, and we continue to work to carry our values into the future.

Thanks to all Borusan Cat employees who supported this project, especially Ufuk Şeker and Murat Güneş, for their support and dedication!

See you in new projects, aimed at spreading awareness, support, and efficiency!

Happy March 8, International Women's Day!

Çiğdem Bildircin

I have been in Borusan long enough it to be traced in my DNA.

So far, I've worked in many different positions and received different titles, but the title I am most proud to had, was the one I got in Ostim: "Çiğdem Usta". (Usta is a Turkish word that we call people who have enough technical experience in field.)

If I was given a chance to make an addition to Orhan Hançerlioğlu's sentence "Learning is my happiness", it would be "Sharing what I have learned and being in contact with people".
I am a mother and a continuous student…