Pakistan’s per capita productivity has been estimated by the WB at only 37% of the benchmark established by China. Compared to this the Indian per capita productivity is also better at 46%..Pakistan’s garments industry is suffering from acute problems of low productivity, poor quality, weak management and marketing skills� and hence facing serious threat of losing its share in the international markets..Keeping this in mind, the government is said to have decided to make exporters competitive in garment business so that they can be the catalysts to enhance the productivity of the garment industry by making it cost effective and thereby sustaining and improving its market share in the global market..The main objective is to provide comprehensive consultancy services and technical guidance on all aspects of garment manufacturing and productivity enhancement methods in order to meet the challenges of global market..The government is considering a proposal to hire foreign consultants from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, UK, Turkey and Sri Lanka to help improve existing technology used in the garment industry..Also, their relevant experience of working in their own countries in the garment industry with proven strength and highest level of production efficiencies will be the real advantage for learning by garment manufacturers..The government will also ensure transfer of knowledge and expertise from foreign experts to local staff of the industry and to improve their capacity building by the professionals engaged for which a Project Implementation Cell will be establishedIt has been proposed that in each factory, maximum three to four foreign experts of relevant areas such as dyeing, finishing, knitting, sewing, laundering, industrial engineering, printing, mechanical maintenance, designing and branding will be placed. It has been proposed that the cumulative basic salaries bill for any recipient for its entire approved expatriate staff will not exceed $25,000 per month. Garment manufacturing factories (preferably vertically integrated) from all over Pakistan will be part of the new programme. However, initially 10-12 factories will be selected from different garment clusters of the country. The basic selection criteria for any garment factory will be its export sales volume (in dollars). The export sales details of the last two consecutive financial years will be evaluated. All major garment export factories will be ranked according to their year-wise sales volumes.Before the start of the programme implementation and engaging of foreign experts, National Productivity Organization (NPO) will establish certain benchmarks for all relevant technical fields to be covered. The government will initially provide Rs300 million to carry out the job by the ministry of industries, production and special initiatives for technical upgrading of garment industry of Pakistan.The benefits that the textile garment industry will get by the new initiative include improvement in the existing production practices according to the international standards resulting in the betterment of product quality, enhancement in productivity by learning best practices of foreign industry, update knowledge on latest technology, improvement in capacity and skills level, learning industrial engineering techniques for performing manufacturing operation efficiency in garment value chain, adoption of cost effective techniques to minimize wastage, development of on-job-training culture, optimal capacity utilization of the garments units and introduce the concept of continuous improvement.Textile is the most important sector of the Pakistan economy and it has made investment of $4 billion in modernization and infrastructure development of the industry during the last 4 years.It imparts 46% share in total manufacturing. It contributes about 66% of total exports and 38% of total employment. The textile industry�s share in GDP is about 30% in value added production by the manufacturing sector .Source: yarnsandfibers.com
Date:4/11/2006
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