ISLAMABAD:National Productivity Organization (NPO) – having the mandate of enhancing competitiveness for sustainable socio-economic development – has submitted a proposal to APO-Japan to become a Certification Body (CB) under its umbrella which would eventually help improve the development of Pakistan over the years.
The organization would contribute to the development of productivity experts for a sustainable productivity drive in the country in a more systematic way while NPO Pakistan will become an APO Certification Body to offer Certification Schemes for Certified Productivity Specialists.
The process for accreditation of the NPO Certification Body by APO is underway and expected to be completed by end of this year.
In this context, an international conference on productivity accreditation and certification has also been arranged in Pakistan while APO is conducting its 60th Anniversary celebrations in eight founding member countries including Pakistan.
As per details provided by NPO, the organization made some key activities and achievements following its mandate of strengthening the national capacity in productivity and enhancing competitiveness through various initiatives such as human capital development, system development, energy efficiency, benchmarking, etc.
The first initiative was National Productivity Master Plan as Pakistan runs low on productivity and has to perform well in all the components of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) in order to improve its competitive position.
Pakistan needs to examine its productivity indicators across the value chains of its key industrial sectors to make these competitive to achieve sustainable productivity and economic growth.
Therefore, at the request of the National Productivity Organization (NPO) Pakistan, the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) acquired services of the Korean Development Institute (KDI) to develop the first-ever comprehensive National Productivity Master Plan (NPMP) for Pakistan, aimed at providing strategic framework required to enhance productivity.
According to NPO, KDI has shared a draft NPMP document suggesting a vision & strategy for doubling up the National Productivity of Pakistan, and to achieve this vision they have proposed three strategies i.e. Vibrant Industrial Innovation, Up-gradation of Infrastructure, and Better Public Governance.
In this regard, the NPO also arranged an Interim Review Workshop to solicit feedback on a wider scale. The KDI experts will consolidate feedback to update the NPMP document and are expected to present the final version of the Master Plan tentatively in November this year.
Similarly, Pakistan also runs low on productivity and its export is minimal due to higher production cost. If Pakistan is to improve competitiveness in a sustainable manner, it is imperative to launch Productivity Movement in a structured manner as was done by Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, etc. Realizing the situation, it was proposed to launch the productivity movement through a PSDP-funded project. NPO is developing awareness in the country through seminars, conferences, etc.
Moreover, the APO provides Technical Expert Services (TES) to NPOs and related organizations to strengthen their institutional capacities and upgrade their technical competencies in line with individual APO members’ needs for productivity improvement. In this regard, programs have been implemented in Pakistan over the last three years.
Under the Development of Demo Companies, APO in collaboration with NPO has developed model organizations that showcased good practices of productivity improvement with support of technical experts and the commitment of target organizations. The recent Demo Projects being implemented by NPO Pakistan included ISO 14000 and Chemical Management by Canadian Expert and Micro Hydro Power Turbine Manufacturing by a Japanese Expert.
The NPO through a competitive bidding process has got the Project of Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC). The organization will work for productivity improvement in four selected clusters i.e. auto parts, readymade garments, leather footwear, and surgical cluster. The project will focus on Labour Productivity and the implementation of a Lean manufacturing system to reduce wastage.
Moreover, the other initiatives included a Special Account for Business Recovery & Resilience in wake of Covid-19 under which APO allocated a special budget for each country.
The NPO has also developed a project on the Establishment of a Center of Excellence on Digital Learning for Enhancing Productivity in Higher Education and some individual study mission have been implemented including Best Practices of Vietnam in Master Plan Development and implementation and Smart and Sustainable cities by Korean Expert.
Another initiative was the PSDP project on Promoting and Developing the Cottage Industry of Gilgit-Baltistan under which the Planning Commission had developed a five-year plan in collaboration with the government of GB. The major sectors in the program included infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, health, education, higher education, energy, gems, and precious stones. NPO has developed PC-I on directions of the Planning Commission which was approved. Implementation will start after the release of funds.