IE grad becomes CEO of custom furniture business
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After graduating from UIC with a degree in industrial engineering in 2018, Nandini Gupta landed a customer order management analyst position with Cummins Inc. in Indiana.
However, an entrepreneurial ambition that she has had since she was a child came calling. During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, she developed the idea for Inch Two Inch, a custom furniture manufacturing company based in India.
“I was born in a business-class family in India, and I loved the idea of creating jobs and giving back to society,” Gupta said. “Plus, who wouldn’t like being their own boss —- as a child, I never thought of the commitment and responsibility a boss had.”
Inch Two Inch produces custom, made-to-order modular furniture for kitchens, wardrobes, beds, study tables, shoe racks, dressing tables, and more. With 12 employees, the goal is to produce quality pieces without being mass produced.
“At Inch Two Inch, my vision was to create furniture for homeowners who want to put heart and soul in their homes without burning a hole in their pockets. When we take on a project, the customer decides everything based on our guidance and their budgets and needs,” she said.
A key element to keeping the furniture price affordable is partnering with her father, who runs Kuldeep Plywood Industries in India.
“We buy our raw material from my father directly, giving us an edge about pricing and quality assurance,” she said. “My father is also the one who introduced me to the concepts and business idea of modular furniture. He believes it’s the future of the furniture industry in India.”
While family and ambition played a role in her decision to launch Inch Two Inch, it was her industrial engineering degree that helped her make the leap from an employee at a company to CEO of her own company.
“Running a company definitely will make you use concepts of industrial engineering. Most of my day goes into calculating costs and expenses of the factory. The idea is always to make a profit and reduce lead times. In my factory, I have used plant layout concepts while figuring out places to set up each machine,” Gupta said.
“I have toured her facility and it is a great representation of her applied skills and abilities from Manufacturing Facility Design, Material Handling, Production Operation Analytics and Inventory Control classes, which are supply chain management and logistics courses in the industrial engineering curriculum. Nandini as CEO of Inch Two Inch has proven herself to be an alumnus not only at the top of her graduating class but also at the top of the C-suite of her own family business,” said Quintin Williams, a clinical associate professor in mechanical and industrial engineering at UIC.
At UIC, Gupta gained more confidence as she found a lot of support from the faculty, friends, and resources UIC has available to support students.
“Being at UIC was the best thing that happened to me. The exposure and the versatility of Chicago and the students taught me a number of life lessons,” she said. “The professors were great, and learning centers are great to help you with curriculums. All the events happening at the college and city are amazing opportunities to socialize and learn the market trends. These aspects are what make you advance in business or a job.”