News

MODERNIZATION OF FOUNDRIES IN PAKISTAN

Issued at 2017-03-13



When the term “modernization of Industry” is used, generally the first image that forms in the mind is of “the latest machinery”. Sometimes I feel that in the name of modernization of foundry the sales people are taunting us to be some sort of cave people hence compelling us to buy their machinery or material without turning any serious ears to feasibilities involving castings market conditions, investment paybacks, process essential accessories and other important factors. Investment in expansion or modernization without proper planning may become a major cause of collapse for an industry. However, I am not against modernization if it is really required.

The first point, always strongly claimed by its supporters, is that Pakistani foundry products are not exported successfully only because of this reason. With modernization we will play a healthier role in global market. Well, it can be agreed upon if it is supported with statistical evidences. What about other industrial sectors of Pakistan? Is export index declining or inclining overall? Is the reason behind that is government economical policies, war against terrorism, energy crisis or lack of modern machinery in Pakistan? What portion of pie of problems would you like to distribute among all the contributing factors. If lack of modern machinery occupies the largest part then I may agree on buying new machinery to produce goods for the nations across the borders.

Otherwise once again our status will not be as sellers but only buyers who will buy machinery and throw out foreign exchange in return. Unfortunately Pakistan Foundry sector could not occupy any considerable share even in street castings export. I have visited two industries in Middle East who not only survive entirely on manufacturing manholes but earn a handsome profit. There are certain industries in Europe who export the same product to whole world. But Pakistan Foundry has never been obvious in such products export market. I, sometimes, wonder what sort of modern technology was actually ever required to maintain the material grade or dimensional accuracy for any Pakistani Foundry to export manholes!

On the other hand if the focus is on supplying sophisticated castings to local OEM’s, produced through using the latest technologies then it also needs to be analyzed. Let us consider the local purchaser of the castings that is habitual of purchasing it “per kg”. This term simply denies a foundry to be an engineering concern that may involve design, process consistency, quality control, machinery, tools and dies, product development, human resource development and many other technical issues. Rather it indicates that a foundry produces commodity items. They say that the casting process once developed becomes a sort of photo copy machine, so “per kg” is justified. I do agree. What about automotive assembling?

After development they have to repeat the process of the assembling the same raw material / components again and again. Should the automotive be sold “per kg” afterwards? So the OEM’s would require justifying the engineering investments in foundries through amendments in their procurement approach otherwise the foundries will not be able to recover the investments made to install modern machineries at higher costs and producing some “commodity item” at the end of the day.

The Pakistani foundries could have another option to manufacture value added finished products for local open market. These may include sanitary pipes & fitting, burners, pumps, steel utensils, structural steel or any other suitable product that could be in market demand. This will demand the foundries not to only produce castings but some further processes like rolling, machine or assembling etc to add value in castings at their own facilities. A strong and professional market feasibility study is recommended in this case as well before spending bucks on modernization.

After selection of market and product, investment in modernization may be considered. But again modernization does not mean to buy latest machines only. All the 4 M’s (Machine Material Method Man) are required to be modernized concurrently in a balanced way. For example appointing a tractor driver to drive 20 million rupees imported car would never be recommendable. The people running the latest machinery at grass root level must be trained enough to understand all the required parameters related to input material standards, output quality standards, capacities, regular maintenance, precautions, trouble shooting, safety, environment and all other relevant issues. Overseas training of couple of supervisors may not prove sufficient for long term benefits.

Sometimes we buy some latest machinery whose spare parts are not available easily and even it is observed that within a couple of years the spares are found costlier than the whole machine. At the same time while importing any modern raw material it should considered if is compatible with the other ingredients of the blend of process inputs. Simultaneously, what would be the alternate if the supply from overseas source is disturbed due to any unavoidable circumstances.

In a nut shell, in my opinion, the modernization does not begin with shopping only. Implementation of Lean Manufacturing philosophy, 5 S techniques, and statistical quality control techniques in foundry are much better ways to be modernized without huge investment. And if a sound business feasibility supported with all relevant future securities allows investing foreign exchange then foundries must go for it.


Source: Rub'Nawaz Ansari



Related News