The Foundry Service Centre (FSC), set up by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in collaboration with University of Engineering and Technology (UET) and Pakistan Foundry Association (PFA), is playing vital role in revival of the foundry industry in Pakistan.
SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Alamgir Chaudhry stated this while giving a presentation on establishment of the centre at 5th International Foundry Congress held here on Wednesday. He said that FSC project was designed by SMEDA on demand of Pakistan Foundry Association at the cost of Rs 17940 million. The land for this project was provided by UET whereas funds were obtained by SMEDA from the Ministry of Industries under Public Sector Development Programme, he added.
The FSC is providing full range of the latest techniques and the modern services being practiced in the developed world, which were not available earlier in Pakistan to the SMEs operating in foundry sector, he added. He further said that the services include design pattern shop, prototype development section, testing & inspection laboratories, technical advisory section and the training facilities.
SMEDA chief said that the centre's additional function as a training institute had also proved to be very successful. He said that SMEDA is arranging foreign experts for training. In this regard he specially referred to a recent training programme arranged by SMEDA on energy management by inviting Dr Helmut Koerber, a renowned German International trainer, through GIZ.
The delegates, during the visit, took a round of the entire centre and examined various departments, design sections, laboratories and the production floor. They were highly impressed by the state-of-art equipment and machinery installed there for catering modern needs of the industry. They highly appreciated SMEDA's endeavour to address demand of the foundry cluster of Pakistan by setting up FSC in conjunction with UET and PFA.