The Furniture Sector in Pakistan: Export performance and ... - TRTA i

6.6.5 If we had US$100,000:
A technical training centre
(Courses and translated material, but not including machinery teaching material, building costs
etc.)
Objective
The idea is to provide training for new production concepts in furniture. Induce change among
the Pakistani furniture companies to better meet the future challenges from shortening supplies
of lower-quality timber, as well as higher demands set by foreign buyers on product
standardisation.
Rationale
• Focus of technical training centre: With the dwindling wood resources worldwide,
new technologies have been developed to increase the processing yield, either through
increased precision during machining or better use of off-cuts or rejects. Technologies
have also been developed to handle smaller diameter or lower quality logs, through
finger-jointing, edge-gluing, or overlaying. The advent of CNC machinery has reduced
shop-floor downtime and allows faster tool change to minimize idle time. Further, CNC
machines are flexible work stations capable of accommodating a wide range of productmix.
Sanding and finishing technologies have also improved to minimize human error,
resulting in an overall improvement in final quality. Obviously, the craft-based furniture
manufacturing industry is slowly being converted into a highly mechanized
manufacturing industry in many countries. Pakistan should not be an exception.
• Curricula and teaching materials: Whenever the relevant national or regional
authorities have the opportunity, they should standardise the training curricula and
materials used, so as to ensure that end-of-training certificates guarantee the same level
of competence and are universally accepted. One problem that arises is that
woodworking may be perceived as an unglamorous sector, with poor working
conditions, low promotion prospects, etc. For this reason, the trainees in this sector tend
to be less knowledgeable, have lower basic education, and even reading skills. All these
set high demands for the teaching materials and methods.
• Beneficiaries: Training is focusing on machine operators for factories that produce in
long series. Machine wood-workers are the top-notch blue-collar workers in a modern
furniture factory. This requires courses with much more emphasis on diagnosing
machining faults, safety in machining, machine setting, selection of tools, machine
maintenance, design and use of jigs, etc. The students produce items in short series, and
are thus trained in working on a repetitive basis. The emphasis is on training machine
operators for the industry, who realize the importance of machine-setting to produce
interchangeable components that do not need hand-finishing.
Another slowing factor of “industrialisation” of the furniture making can be tackled: the severe
shortage of qualified middle management and technical specialists (supervisors, quality control
specialists, time and motion specialists, etc.). A technical training centre could also run
managerial courses to upgrade skills on white-collar level.
International Trade Centre 105