Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Fuad Hashim Rabbani on Wednesday said that Japan’s technical support has helped local auto parts manufacturers to get prepared for export market by improving quality and productivity of their products as per world’s requirements. 

He expressed these view while addressing a ceremony held in Karachi to commemorate completion of the first term of SMEDA-JICA joint project being run for technical support of the Auto Parts Manufacturing Industry in Pakistan. 

Hashim congratulated Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) and SMEDA team to complete first term of the four year project with tangible improvement in productivity and quality of the auto parts production in Pakistan. 

He informed that, “Auto Sector is one the rapid growing sectors in Pakistan. Its contribution towards the national economy in the form of technology transfer, employment and revenue generation is visible.” 

He appreciated that, “Local vendors have accepted the challenge of producing auto parts and sub-assemblies complying with the benchmark set by the respective Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).” He admitted that, “The local auto parts manufacturing industry is still lacking competitiveness in terms of quality, cost and flexibility of manufacturing systems, which have now been addressed with the support of JICA.” 

He expressed satisfaction over completion of the first term of SMEDA-JICA four years project, which had drastically reduced the inefficiencies of production and quality in the local Auto Parts Manufacturing industry. 

He appreciated the efforts of participating PAAPAM members towards implementing various measures suggested by the Japanese Experts that have resulted in considerable reduction of wastages. He was confident that, “Under this project sizeable number of Auto Parts manufacturers would emerge as Role Model Companies in the field of Productivity and Quality.”

Yoshihisa Onoe, Senior Representative of JICA, in his address, assured to continue the technical support for Pakistan’s industry to compete the world market in respect to technical know-how and the modern manufacturing techniques. 

He informed that, “To implement SMEDA-JICA project for technical support of the Auto Parts Manufacturing industry of Pakistan, a team of five Japanese experts having more than 40 years’ experience in Auto industry has been brought to Pakistan for a long period up to 4 years.” 

He acknowledged that, “JICA’s collaboration with SMEDA and PAAPAM had proved to be very useful for the local Auto parts’ manufacturing industry.” He was glad to note that, “Productivity of the sector had increased to an optimal level, whereas, the rejection rates to be witnessed in the manufacturing processes had reduced to the lowest possible level.” 

He said, “The SMEs, engaged in auto parts manufacturing, had a great potential to compete the world market and assured to extend the fullest technical support of JICA to impart the best practices being exercised in auto sector of the developed world.”

Mashood Ali Khan, Chairman PAAPAM appreciated SMEDA initiatives to get JICA’s technical cooperation for Auto Parts Industry. He said, “PAAPAM members had greatly availed of the assistance to increase their productivity and reduce rejection rates in their manufacturing processes.” He urged SMEDA and JICA to continue the program even after completion of the set period.

Ashfaq Ahmad, Deputy General Manager and Incharge Industry Support Program of SMEDA, informed that, “During first term of the project, technical support through five JICA experts had been extended to 22 factories, out which ten were from Lahore and twelve from Karachi.” 

“The 22 factories were selected out of 39 units nominated both by PAAPAM and various OEMs, he said adding that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had been set in each factory, for effective factory performance monitoring by applying Japanese Techniques like 5S, 5T, 4M-change point and FUNDOSHI etc,” he said.

Eina Ueno Project Formulation Advisor JICA Pakistan Office, Hiroshi Kaneki Chief of JICA Technical Team and Mukesh Kumar Provincial Chief SMEDA-Sindh were also present on the occasion.