The Industries and Production Ministry has finalised all the modalities to set up another Tools, Dies and Moulds Center in Gujranwala as Technology Upgradation and Skills Development Company (TUSDC) is being provided required funds, sources told Business Recorder on Saturday.
They said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz likely to inaugurate during the current month, as the first TDM Center, set up in Karachi, to enhance indigenous production.
The minister has directed the TUSDC head to finalise the TDM site in Gujranwala, which would be different to the one in Karachi in terms of management. The public-private company will run the one in Karachi while the another to be established in Gujranwala will have the management of TUSDC for at least five years.
Sources said that the TDM Centre, Karachi, was set up with the cost of Rs 450 million, while Gujranwala centre would cost more than double. 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 the main contributor to this growth.
Sources said 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, the 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, they added.
In 2004-05, Pakistan imported 1,300 moulds from China and other countries at a cost of $10 million, besides, a sizeable number of moulds were produced locally. The TDM would not only substitute the import of dies and moulds with local production, but would also increase Pakistan's engineering sector exports.