Pages - Menu

Monday, 31 October 2016

How a Small Pakistani City Became a World-Class Manufacturing Hub

How a small Pakistani city became a world-class manufacturing hub


PHOTOGRAPHY is fiercely restricted inside Khawaja Masood Akhtar’s factory in Sialkot, a small city in northern Pakistan. His products—top-of-the-range footballs—must be zealously guarded until the time comes for his customers, big international sports brands, to unveil their offerings for the new season. Until then the latest ball designs are subjected to a battery of tests in windowless laboratories. They must endure everything from hard poundings from mechanised boot studs to repeated dusting with fungus spores. The quality of the factory’s output is so high that Adidas chose it as one of only two in the world to manufacture the balls used in the World Cup in 2014.

Pakistan has precious few globally competitive exporters, but a good number of them are clustered in Sialkot, an out-of-the-way city of fewer than 1m people in north-eastern Punjab. It supplies the world with all sorts of sporting gear, from hockey sticks to judo suits, as well as leather goods and surgical instruments. Sialkoti Lederhosen are all the rage in Bavaria. The city’s 8,000-member chamber of commerce says Sialkot exported $2bn-worth of goods last year, or 9% of the country’s total exports of $22bn.

Sialkot’s success is especially surprising as it was cut off from its natural economic hinterland, the Kashmir Valley, when the subcontinent was split between India and Pakistan in 1947. Yet it is doing much better these days than the rest of the country. Its exports have remained reasonably steady for the past two years, even as those of the country as a whole have fallen by 12%. How are firms from such a backwater thriving, ask the exporters of Lahore and Karachi, while they struggle?


Pakistani businesses tend to blame the government for the country’s feeble export performance. Domestic and foreign investors alike are put off by the breakdown of law and order in Karachi, the commercial capital, and the storm of Islamic militancy across the rest of the country (a suicide attack on a police training college on the outskirts of the city of Quetta claimed over 60 lives this week). Manufacturers must endure crippling shortages of electricity in the summer and gas in the winter. Antiquated land administration and customs systems make buying property and exporting goods tiresome. It can take almost three years to settle a commercial dispute. Pakistan ranks a lowly 144th out of the 190 economies assessed in the World Bank’s latest “Doing Business” report.


Mr Akhtar, however, dismisses these “lame excuses”: any half-decent entrepreneurs, he insists, should be able to find their own solutions to such problems. That is what the businessmen of Sialkot have done, at any rate: instead of waiting for politicians to stump up for local infrastructure, they have built it themselves. The Chamber of Commerce set up the country’s first privately financed dry port, where goods can clear customs before being shipped to a conventional port. It later charged members a special fee to raise funds to contribute towards the resurfacing of the city’s once-appalling streets. Local businesses also funded the construction of the city’s airport, the only private one in the country. It boasts both the longest and hardiest runways in the region, and handles 53 flights a week. That helps bring in foreign buyers who do not fancy the wearisome drive from Lahore. Some of the investors in the airport are now on the verge of launching their own airline.


As well as determination, Sialkot’s businessmen have had their fair share of luck. The city happens to specialise in niche products, which are relatively insulated from competition from China. The nearby towns of Wazirabad and Gujrat, once known for their cutlery and electrical goods respectively, have struggled against a tide of cheap Chinese exports. But even Sialkot is not immune to competition. Local manufacturers lost their grip on the world market for badminton rackets when they failed to anticipate the switch from wood to aluminium and graphite. If anything, however, that has only made the Sialkotis more vigilant. The local business community is now trying to set up a technology university in the city.

Thanks You
https://www.economist.com
Copy From :
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21709344-how-small-pakistani-city-became-world-class-manufacturing-hub-if-you-want-it-done-right?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/ifyouwantitdoneright

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Future Looks Pink For Pakistan's Ball-Makers

Future looks pink for Pakistan's ball-makers


SIALKOT: As cricket stages its second day-night Test this week, factory workers in Pakistan will be among the avid television viewers -- they might even have made the innovative pink balls being used by their heroes.Pakistan host West Indies in Dubai in a five-day/night Test featuring the pink ball, starting Thursday. It is a match that will be closely followed in Sialkot, the city that is the country's sports manufacturing hub.
Pakistan's sports goods industry is positioning itself to be the top supplier of the new pink balls aimed at dragging the traditional format -- the five-day game -- into the 21st century.


“We are probably making 15,000 to 20,000 pink balls per year. The numbers of pink balls are growing,” said Khawar Anwar Khawaja, chief executive of Grays of Cambridge, who have been making cricket balls since 1953.

Chief Executive of 'Grays of Cambridge', Khawar Anwar Khawaja inspects a pink cricket ball at the factory in Sialkot. —AFP
Chief Executive of 'Grays of Cambridge', Khawar Anwar Khawaja inspects a pink cricket ball at the factory in Sialkot. —AFP

The high visibility balls made their Test debut last year when Australia played New Zealand in Adelaide, to mixed reviews. But cricket's bosses are committed to increasing the number of day/night Tests as they bid to reverse the trend of falling attendances.
After years of trials, the governing body have plumped for pink to replace traditional red under lights, as it is visible against both dark skies and the traditional Test-match white kits.
Two major factories and dozens of small units in Sialkot are on the case.

A Pakistani worker measures pink cricket balls  at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP
A Pakistani worker measures pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP


Pakistani workers fix leather for pink cricket balls in a frame at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot. —AFP
Pakistani workers fix leather for pink cricket balls in a frame at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot. —AFP

New colour, old format

“Last year we produced about 120,000 cricket balls (all colours), but our demand is growing. We hope to do this year minimum hopefully around 150,000 balls,” Khawaja added, beaming with pride as his workers stitched the balls by hand behind him.

A Pakistani worker stitches a pink cricket ball at the Malik Sports factory in Sialkot. —AFP
A Pakistani worker stitches a pink cricket ball at the Malik Sports factory in Sialkot. —AFP


A Pakistani worker prepares the pink dye for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP
A Pakistani worker prepares the pink dye for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP

Test cricket is the sport's longest format with matches that despite being scheduled for five days of play, can still end in a draw. With breaks for lunch and tea, Tests evoke a bygone era and are losing support to the modern, shortest, form of the game, Twenty20.
Filling stadiums across five days and attracting advertisers has increasingly become a problem.
Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan's celebrated captain who last month took them to number one in the rankings, is a firm believer that the “future belongs to night Tests”.
“Since the game is played for the fans and for the audience, this night cricket is the future and it's definitely good for cricket,” he told reporters last week.
Pakistani workers sprays colour onto leather for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP


Pakistani workers sprays colour onto leather for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP

Pakistani workers prepare leather for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP


Pakistani workers prepare leather for pink cricket balls at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP

Proud history

The history of sports goods manufacturing in Sialkot dates back to the 19th century when locals first began to produce footballs for the British army, then the occupying power.
Today, the city's sports exports are worth $900 million annually, according to official figures, and have supplied balls for international competitions such as 2014 FIFA World Cup.
A Pakistani worker stitches a pink cricket ball at the Malik Sports factory in Sialkot. —AFP


A Pakistani worker stitches a pink cricket ball at the Malik Sports factory in Sialkot. —AFP

Established in 1953, Grays of Cambridge is Pakistan's premier brand and produces red, white, pink and orange balls for the leading markets in Australia and England for top international brands such as Dukes and Gray-Nicolls.
And local manufacturers expect a deluge of orders.
“We have been producing pink for the last seven (or) eight years and exporting them to mainly Australia and to England as well,” said Khawaja.
A Pakistani worker shapes pink cricket balls in a molding machine at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP


A Pakistani worker shapes pink cricket balls in a molding machine at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP

Cricket balls, weighing between 142 to 163 grams depending on the category are sold for between $4 and $25.
They are stitched from four leather pieces which are converted into two round shaped cups after colouring the raw leather -- usually from cattle -- and moulding it on machines, before the final stitching by hand or machine.
The balls are then wrapped in crystal polythene covers and packed in hardboard boxes -- ready to be shipped overseas.

A Pakistani worker packs pink cricket balls into boxes at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP/File
A Pakistani worker packs pink cricket balls into boxes at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot.—AFP/File


A Pakistani worker weighs the components of a pink cricket ball before stitching at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot. —AFP
A Pakistani worker weighs the components of a pink cricket ball before stitching at the Grays of Cambridge factory in Sialkot. —AFP

The use of pink balls has been trialled by some domestic leagues, but has had its share of teething problems. Both the Australian and New Zealand teams complained about the pink ball's ability to swing (move in the air) and that it became too soft too soon, making it harder for batsmen to score runs.
Misbah, however, said players would adapt to the conditions in time.
“Since the game is played for the fans and for the audience, this night cricket is the future and it's definitely good for cricket,” he said.
“The more frequently we play under lights, it will give more exposure and allow players to get used to it. “

Copy From  http://www.dawn.com/news/1289691/