During the end of last month, a Pakistani delegation under the vigilance of PAAPAM’s senior vice Chairman Mashood Ali Khan visited the PAAPAM–DICE exhibition held in United States, Michigan, Sheraton Novi hotel. DICE Foundation is the oldest innovation platform in USA and is being fully supported by major stakeholders since 2007.
The four day event had a Pakistani delegation to meet Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) on the first day, followed by a visit to Ford Company, an exhibition in which Pakistani auto parts were displayed on the third day and lastly B2B meetings being held with the community and other stake holders and a formal dinner on the 25th May. Informative and healthy B2B meetings were held with the community and visitors.
The successful event had more than 100 visitors in the exhibition and a major reason behind this was that there are many American based Pakistanis working in automotive sector in USA which felt proud and at the same had a welcoming attitude.
The companies participated in the very successful DICE exhibition held under the surveillance of Coordinator of DICE Foundation USA Dr. Khurshid. There were almost 14 Pakistani companies with 24 representative are participated in this delegation, namely: Mehran Commercial, Sherani Engineering, Faraz Industries, Auvitronics, Thal Ltd., Agri Auto Industries, Razi Sons, Automotive Spare Parts and Accessories, Noor Engineering, Yusuf Auto industries (Pvt) Ltd, Sigma Industries, Rubatech, Load Limited, Skyhigh Industries (Pvt) Ltd and General Engineering Industries.
The senior vice Chairman of PAAPAM, Mashood Ali Khan, were talk with editorial team of Automark Magazine conveyed a lot of positive information about the whole event.
The PAAPAM delegation’s in discussion with Senior Manager FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) Brett Schauber, while visiting the company’s plant, revealed that the company is willing to work with Pakistan in the after sales market. This willingness of FCA is a big opportunity for the Pakistani industry to flourish and make their name in the global market. PAAPAM delegation also met the head of tool purchaser at FCA and gave a very positive and warm response to the opportunities displayed by the delegation.
During the visit, there were many employees of FCA from different departments such as forging, casting, aluminum and interior parts. Presentations were conducted by PAAPAM about the Pakistani auto parts and how Pakistani manufacturers specialize in low volume parts. It revealed that FCA is willing to work with PAAPAM for low volume products in the start. PAAPAM also briefed the company about the parts made in Pakistan and how efficiently and effectively they can be used. On this delegations member confirmed FCA that the Pakistani industry is able and capable of providing the goods in an excellent quality.
The visit was not just restricted to FCA and the delegation met senior management of Ford Company, who also gave a positive response on the invite put to them for visiting the Pakistan Auto Parts Exhibition going to take place in Karachi in the upcoming year. The company also met Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers and received promising orders from the company.
A very strong gesture was undertaken by PAAPAM by inviting the FCA delegation to visit the Pakistan Auto Parts Show which is going to be held in Karachi in 2017. Mr. Brett agreed to the invite and is willing is to visit the auto parts show, not only this but Mr. Brett is going to visit the plant of different companies to further give him better understanding. Both the companies Ford and FCA exchanged contacts with the PAAPAM authorities and agreed to stay in contact and have business in the upcoming years.
Such delegations should be made for every international exhibition so that Pakistani companies can have a wider view of the industry and meet the demand of not just of local industry but international as well.