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

high-quality hardwoods like walnut and oak are available, fully legal and environmentally
sustainable (certified wood).
Wood seasoning
Kiln-drying should be made the industry standard for wood seasoning. The smallest operated
local kilns are 5-10 m 3 chambers built on site with local materials, and equipped with
ventilation, control and fan equipment from a local manufacturer or from abroad.
A kiln-drying operation could become a popular business of its own, charging fees on the basis
of actual drying time and volume plus direct energy costs. Probably this type of concept would
have to be located inside existing furniture clusters in order to ensure sufficient client base.
It should also be studied whether Australian-made solar kilns or combination kilns (solar plus
mechanised ventilation) could be made available at a reasonable cost. These have been
installed in small-scale wooden crafts communities across South-East Asia.
Tool maintenance
Dedicated workers for tool-maintenance with a small separate workshop or room would be
needed to upgrade this activity to a more professional level. High-precision tool doctoring
equipment should take over from traditional self-made maintenance appliances. The need for
mechanical trimmers of sawing and planer equipment becomes more crucial when capacities of
such equipment are being enhanced.
Training of workforce
A mandatory contribution from all employers towards a “Human Resource Development
Fund” would be a commendable means of providing training and upgrading for the workforce
in the industry. It would enable the use of foreign experts, and complement in-house training
programmes.
The use of contract workers from abroad should be limited, because such workforce is highly
mobile and retard labour productivity growth. Further, employers will be reluctant to provide
training as these workers will leave when their tenure expires.
Stable workforce is crucial for greater value addition in the furniture industry. Hence, without
such workforce, the research and development (R and D) activities, especially those related to
design and development is hindered.
Design
Access to foreign designs (if this is desirable) can be improved with distribution of home
decoration magazines, mail order catalogues, and similar media that display a wider range of
products. Internet can be a potentially rich resource of design trends and ideas, but it is not
effectively used without some basic training.
The fastest way to improve design awareness is to assign one computer-savvy design student
or young designer to facilitate access to Internet-based designs in the furniture exporters
association. This could also happen as the first step of an exchange programme with some
foreign design school. It may be more difficult to attract business-like design trainers, because
of the small size of the Pakistani industry.
84 International Trade Centre