July 11, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 14, 1427

ISLAMABAD, July 10: The government is likely to soon approve a new plan aimed at locally developing different parts of automobiles, motorcycles, washing machines, fans, pumps, refrigerators, air-conditioners, air-coolers, geysers, utensils and all other household electrical equipment currently being manufactured in the country.

Officials told Dawn on Monday that the objective of the proposed plan was to enhance the competitiveness of Pakistan's exports by helping the local industry to produce improved industrial and engineering products. This job will be done through the development of local parts of various products.

The plan envisages import of "first world machinery" to ensure maximum lifetime and optimal use. It will be beneficial in terms of import substitution. This would also help the government save foreign exchange currently spent on the import of different kinds of parts for automobiles, etc.

The ministry of industries and production has sought the permission of the government to establish Rs1.3 billion "integrated moulds and dies technology centres in Pakistan" to manufacture various parts locally.

As a first step a technology centre will be set up in Gujranwala to be followed by other such centres in all the four provinces."Majority of the machines are obsolete and updated technology in terms of both machinery and material is missing," the ministry of industries and production wrote to the planning and development division.

Due to various constraints, businessmen are forced to import tools from abroad. "This causes problems in the form of foreign exchange spending, longer lead times, and time lost in rectifying the imported production tools," the ministry said. Pakistan had imported tools worth $11 million in 2003.

According to the ministry, the current level of technology and skill needed to be replaced with latest ones to develop high quality indigenous parts which will also help increase country's exports by competing with other countries especially those of India and China.

Apart from technology and training requirements, the industry has dire need for moulds and dies making material of appropriate specification and various accessories, such as alignment columns, ejector pins, bushes, etc.

The objective is to provide the country's industry with design and technical assistance, in addition to training on modern technologies. Domestic manufacturing of quality production tools requires capital investment for equipment and training which is not currently available.

"State-of-the-art facilities,

engineering and skilled technicians specialising in design and manufacturing of sheet metal forming dies, plastic injection and compression moulds, casting and foundry dies are required to assist the industry in its design and manufacturing needs," the ministry informed the planning division.

The proposed technology centres will be equipped with modern technologies and manufacturing facilities. This is in line with the government's vision in the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) to support and uplift the industry, especially small and medium enterprises, through provision of common facilities.

The ministry believes that Pakistan has reached a stage in its economic development where production of capital and intermediary goods can be undertaken. “Tools and dies are such intermediary products which keep the industrial plants, especially the engineering companies, running. It is, therefore, imperative that the technical know-how and proposed training strategy of engineering and manufacturing industries be planned, developed and put into action.”

"As product (tool) life cycle becomes shorter, customers demand higher precision, faster delivery and lower prices. Unfortunately, with the inaccurate tool manufacturing processes already prevalent in our industry, desired targets cannot be achieved," the ministry conceded.

The controversial method of manufacturing, it said, was time consuming, and complicated parts cannot be produced accurately. “Metal removal is excessive and process less accurate. A lot of time and energy is consumed. As a result, the product is of inferior quality, with long turnaround time and high cost."

The ministry of industries and production said that in the face of increasing competition on the global scale, quality was becoming more and more important. “Cheap labour alone no longer ensures competitiveness. Manufacturers must now attain a certain technology level for rapid manufacturing processes and cost efficiency. A paradigm shift is required in the production process to achieve this target."

The first centre to be established will raise the skill level of at least 750 workers annually. It also needs to produce 2,940 engineers and skilled technicians in various training courses.

“This will generate employment and increase wage rates and the standard of living subsequently. The manpower generated will be able to fulfil international demand for such workers in the Middle East and South East Asia as well,” the ministry added.