Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will inaugurate on July 29 the first Tools, Dies and Moulds (TDM) Centre, set up in Karachi to enhance indigenous production of these products to save annual import bill of about $11 million.
Sources in the Ministry of Industries and Production told Business Recorder that the TDM Centre has been established at a cost of Rs 450 million and it would become fully operational by the end of 2006. The state-owned industries, including engineering, automobile, and vendor industries, will benefit from parts made and technical skills the TDM Centre would offer, they added.
The Centre will have facilities of designing, development and manufacturing of production tools, dies, moulds, jigs, fixtures, cutting and rapid prototyping aimed at promoting domestic production of dies and moulds.
The automobile industry, a major user of quality TDM products, has been a main contributor to this growth.
Sources said that the TDM business in Pakistan has been unable to respond to the demand, as it has neither the capacity nor the capability to produce quality tools, and the government hopes that the country's first TDM Centre would be helpful in increasing the capability.
The Centre has been set up to provide the local industry with state-of-the-art design, training, consultancy and manufacturing facilities and the small and medium businesses, which could not make large investment to set up such facilities, would be the major beneficiaries. The Centre has been designed to raise skill level of over 550 workers annually as part of its training activities and will subsequently generate employment opportunities.
In 2003, import of tools cost $11 million, and a break-up shows that tools imported with plastic moulds were 61 percent, followed by 18 percent for die casting moulds. Press die contributed 5 percent to the total import, jigs and fixture 7 percent and other 9 percent.
The per capita plastic consumption in Pakistan has lately risen to 2.7 kg, but is still very low as compared to international consumption (20 kg per person).
During 2004-05, Pakistan imported 1300 moulds from China and other countries at a cost of $10 million. Besides, a sizeable number of moulds were produced locally.
The TDM Centre will help the industry in meeting the rising demand for plastic materials in Pakistan. The domestic industry has been experiencing an annual growth of 12 percent in terms of volume and 14 percent in terms of value for the past four years.
The facility would not only substitute the import of dies and moulds with local production but would also increase Pakistan's engineering sector exports.
The Technology Upgradation and Skills Development Company will set up a similar centre in Gujranwala, sources added.