Frequently Asked Questions
Is the infrastructure in Pakistan ready and suitable for high-tech precision work?
Pakistan’s industrial infrastructure has steadily grown over the past 4 decades. Pakistan had been a predominantly agricultural economy up until the 70s and industry sprouted around agriculture based manufacturing in the beginning. Today, Pakistan is the 4th largest producer of cotton and is one of the top 10 textile producers in the world. The industrial infrastructure initially built for textiles and agri-manufacturing businesses has evolved and has been refined for higher tech industrial base like automotive, electronics, metal working and precision engineering works.
How is the general Quality of Human Resources and Training Systems?
Pakistan has an ample supply of young technicians graduating in thousands on a yearly basis from the local technical institutes. The capacity of technical education has been a keen focus of the government over the past few decades and the number of government and private technical institutes have soared. The analytical capability and math skills of the local graduates are excellent and they are prime candidates for technical skills like machining and designing. We have negligible turnover in our company over the past 10 years of operation. This is due to the meritocratic environment, opportunity for growth and an excellent work environment that we have created in our company.
What makes Pakistan a viable offshore sourcing option compared to the more favorite destinations like India and China?
Pakistan has close similarities to India. People are of similar origin and have sharp analytical skills and are extremely trainable and willing to learn. The hesitance of international companies to enter Pakistan in the past due to the geopolitical stability made worse by an overblown media portrayal, extrapolating isolated troubled areas as widespread national phenomenon. Because of this barrier to entry, our resources, as full of potential as India or China are untapped and are full off advantage for companies taking the initiative to do business in Pakistan.
How does the efficiency of your machine shop compare to a similar machine shop in Europe or the US?
Our shop has machine tools from top notch European, Japanese and Korean makes like, Schaublin, Mazak, Mori Seiki and Doosan. We have access to the same tooling that are available to top shops in Germany or US. So there is no reason why we are not quite comparable to a shop our size and capability in the West. The only difference could be our machining programs and feeds & speeds. To ensure efficiency and competitiveness, we are always exchanging notes on programming, feeds and speeds with our benchmarks in the US and are always striving to continually improve.
How does the incidence of terrorism and violence in the region affect the reliability of the supply chain and on-time delivery?
The incidents of violence and terrorism that are witnessed on TV occur on certain pockets of the country along the north western border areas along Afghanistan and have no implication on production and supply of materials. Pakistan has been a major player in the textiles industry over the past several decades and has been reliably supplying big brands in the western markets for about half a century now.
Over the past 10 years of the Mistequay International operation, we have not had a single day off, or even a single instance of a delay due to incidents pertaining to geopolitical instability. Our people, factories and supply lines are extremely robust in the face of isolated instances of violence in the extremities of our country.
Is it safe to visit Pakistan?
It is quite safe to visit most of the big cities in Pakistan. To go to the northern areas, it is advisable to have a local contact to accompany you as a guide. Some tribal belts in the North West are not safe to visit without security, but these areas are situated in the extremities of the country and there is no industrial or business activity of interest in these locations.
Does Pakistan have frequent international flights?
Pakistan has five international airports and has multiple international flights per day by local and numerous international airlines. The most popular destination airport is Lahore or Karachi.
Power Shortage and its implications on supply chain and quality?
Power shortage is a typical developing country problem. Our government is working aggressively to ramp up local power generation and is also looking at import option from China, India and Iran to meet the ever increasing power demand. Our facility has a diesel powered back power generating system in case of scheduled power outages.
How is the availability of Certified Alloy Steels, aluminum alloys and other Materials for machining in Pakistan?
Pakistan is home to a world class alloy steel mill manufacturing a wide spectrum of alloy steel, stainless steels and tool steels. We also have a mill manufacturing aluminum alloys. For exotic materials we have to rely on imports from Europe and the US.
Is high tech and special tooling available locally?
Specialize Tooling is not being manufactured locally but local agents for a majority of the big tooling companies have their representatives based in Pakistan. Companies like Iscar, Sandvik, Kennametal, Kyocera, Mitsubishi and a whole bunch of similar international companies have local agents carrying stock and offering import services. Tooling could also be imported directly from international companies.
Do you employ any female staff at your facility? Is it a friendly environment for female workers?
In general, the percentage of male personnel in manufacturing in Pakistan is much higher than female staff. Mistequay has a small group of female employees working predominantly in the deburring and finishing departments. Our turnover for female staff is negligible and we provide an excellent work environment and flexible work hours for women.
How does your Work Environment compare with a typical Machine shop in Europe?
A typical machine shop environment in Western Europe is our benchmark as far as ambiance and aesthetics of the machine shop is concerned. We are continually achieving an environment closer to a European shop but we still have some distance to cover as far as the quality of flooring and lighting is concerned. The pictures and videos of our machine shop is displayed in the website for your view and comparison.
What are your company’s views on Quality assurance and process control?
We realize that quality is built upon the foundation of process excellence. Our process engineering team works together with production to device the right processes, programs and tooling selection. The calibration of each machine is ensured for optimal accuracy and repeatability. The shop temperature and other machining condition are carefully controlled and control charts are maintained on all critical dimensions to check the machining variations. QA staff and machine operators work as a team to meticulously carry out first part qualifications, inn process quality checks and a comprehensive final inspection regimen to ensure zero defects. QA data is systematically recorded and archived and made traceable.
Design and software
Our process engineering team work with CAD models and generate machine programs using CAM software. Our staff has operating knowledge of the top software in the industry like Pro-E, Catia, Solidworks and Mastercam.
Do you have heat treat and surface treatment facility?
We have partner facilities for Heat treat and surface treatment and we have been working with them for the past ten years. We get heat treat certification on each part with sampling. We verify the cert a 100% in our QA lab and we have had zero defect as far as heat treat is concerned over the past 10 years.
What is the quality of Maintenance Services as far as Reliability and response time is concerned?
All our machines are serviced locally by representatives of the manufacturers. The response time for service call is within 24 hours most of the time. The only potential delay could be if a part needs to be imported from the OEM which may take a week. We also have an in-house maintenance team that executes a carefully designed preventive maintenance plan and can handle most of the routine maintenance work.
Does your understand Geometric Tolerances and what is your experience with holding tight geometric tolerances?
All our QA and engineering staff has been through a comprehensive Geometric Tolerances and Dimensioning training. We have been machining high RPM machine tool components that call for an extremely tight concentricity, runout and perpendicularity tolerances (5-10 microns range). Our 10 year experience running parts requiring tight geometric tolerances equips our staff and our QA lab with all the right tools to handle critical geometric tolerances.
Do you have forging and casting capability?
We have proven partner facilities for both Forgings and castings that we have 8+ years of regular working relationship.
What is the best time of the year to visit Pakistan?
Although Pakistan could be visited all year around, however, It gets quite hot in the summer time, and we get torrential rains during the monsoon season. So June, July and August may not be the most favorable times for visitors. Winters is a good time to visit climate wise but 15th December to 31st January could be quite foggy at night with a risk of flight cancellations.
How is the logistics infrastructure in Pakistan and what are the different modes of shipping merchandize?
The logistics infrastructure in Pakistan is quite well refined even comparable to developed countries, where almost all the big international players in logistics have presence in Pakistan. Companies like DHL, UPS, FedEx, DB Schenker, CH Robinson, Maersk Line and a plethora of international logistics companies have representation in Pakistan. The rail and highway network is also quite efficient and is widely spread throughout the country.