POF Shows Rapid Growth in Sales in During 2017

The total volume of export business of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) for the financial year 2016-17 was Rs 67.73 million and that of current year has reached around Rs 60 million till date which is expected to go up to Rs 100 million by the end of the current financial year.

This was revealed in the Senate Standing Committee on Defence Production which met under the chairmanship of Senator Gen (R) Abdul Qayyum on Friday and was attended among others by Senators Brig (R) John Kenneth Williams, Gianchand, Nuzhat Sadiq, Hafiz Hamdullah, Seher Kamran, Mian Ateeq Sheikh, Secretary Defence Production Gen. (R) Ijaz Chaudhry, Chairman POF Gen Durrani, and heads of different departments of POF including ED HR, Director Exports, Director Admin and Director Security.

Director Exports POF, while briefing the committee, told that POF has domestic sales amounting to Rs 11,833 million out of which Rs 3,230 million were received from sales to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and Rs 8,603 million from sales to other subsidiaries.

These subsidiaries include WL, Wah Nobel, Hi-Tech Plastic and WBM. POF has seen a growth in commercial sales to LEAs in the last four years, more targets have been achieved while remaining within the budget estimates.

Chairman Committee observed that our Defence Production Industry is our pride which is not only fulfilling the requirements of Armed Forces but is also commercially viable and enhancing the export sector.

On the question of whether more markets have been explored, the Chairman replied that the Factory has already entered into agreements with Laos, Peru, Germany, Bosnia, Luxemburg and Kenya among other countries.

The Committee was also told that new recruitment policies are being adopted, targeted at having expertise in different fields to make the organization workforce more effective.

Chairman POF told the meeting that most of the hired people were from engineering backgrounds because they were meant to do production work but now we are hiring people with professional experience as well. He also said that new training regimes and new specializations are also being introduced with an aim to rationalize Human Resource.

While talking about present status of plants and machines and projected modernization plan, the committee was told that 58% of the machinery POF’s use is around 30 years old and it definitely affects the cost and time of production.

The committee strongly recommended expediting work on the moving and approval of a summary of 250 million US Dollars, required over a span of five years, for the upgradation of the machinery

The committee was also briefed about progress on labour colonies, details of welfare trust projects and security arrangements including safe city project in Wah. It was told that trackers are now being installed on vehicles that carry the ammunitions to destinations.

The Committee appreciated the subsidies being provided to POF employees in different sectors and also recommended early reinitiation for the proposal of housing arrangements for employees.