The newly established Procter and Gamble (P&G) laundry detergent plant will not only fulfil local consumers' demand, but also will create a large export potential for the country, the company's official said. The P&G new plant has commenced production in its state-of-the-art laundry detergent plant located at Port Qasim industrial area.
This plant is P&G's second manufacturing facility in Pakistan and will cater to the local demand of its detergent brand Ariel. "Since groundbreaking of this manufacturing facility in 2008, construction commenced at a steady pace enabling the plant to be established within a short span of two years", Sherif Gomaa, Product Supply A Director of P&G Gulf while briefing journalists during their visit to the plant here on Tuesday.
He said that the dry laundry detergent plant employs the latest cutting edge technology comparable to the best P&G plants across the world to ensure high quality production. This plant will produce P&G's detergent brand Ariel. Ariel is serving consumers in more than 135 countries and it is the trusted ally of Pakistani women by constantly delivering on its promise of tough stain removal and superior overall cleaning.
He said this milestone investment is expected to create hundreds of millions of dollars in local value addition in Pakistan resulting in significant local supplier base development. This plant has realised extensive local skill development with over 70 Pakistanis given more than 4,000 hours of international training in several P&G locations and technical centers. This plant is estimated to create about 3,500 direct and indirect employment opportunities over 10 years. Local suppliers in design, construction and maintenance, developed during the course of this project are now helping other P&G projects in South Africa and Nigeria. In addition, 40 percent of the raw and packing material cost is sourced from within Pakistan and the company plans to double local supplier base next year. Moreover, this plant will create a large export potential for the country.
Gomaa said that the P&G Detergent Plant at PQA combines technological advancement with sustainable practices. In line with the company's recently announced global vision to enhance sustainable business practices, the new plant at PQA employs the highest standards of manufacturing and design principles to ensure earth, energy and water care. It supports the company's long term sustainability vision on reducing consumer and manufacturing waste which go to landfills and designing products while maximising conservation of resources through:
a. Integrated design, equipment and e-systems minimising impact on environment; less energy usage and savings on paper. For example, he said, installation of automatic lights to ensure no wastage of electricity and the use of duct burners in the furnaces as they require less fuel.
b. Zero effluent plant completely recycling waste water for industrial use. Additionally, there have been zero safety incidents since commencement of construction enabling the plant to achieve 2.3 million safe hours. He said various measures have been taken to ensure worker's safety such as setting up eye-wash stations to prevent serious chemicals accidents and automatically opening fast rising doors to prevent injury to employees.
He said P&G demonstrated its commitment to the development of the Port Qasim community well before the commencement of plant operations. The plant has established a pre-school in the Port Qasim community in partnership with NGO Health Education Literacy Programme (HELP) providing quality education to underprivileged children.
In addition, it organised the first ever Pampers Mobile Clinics in the nearby community, providing mothers with advice on health baby development. This milestone investment by P&G in PQA, is a testimony of the company's long term commitment and purpose driven strategy to touch and improve lives of more consumers in more parts of the country, more completely.
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