2009

Marble & Granite

Govt. College of Management Sciences, Abbottabad
12/23/2009

Industry

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To the people who have worked
tediously through the ages to uphold
the principles of determination,
commitment and devotion for the
sake of humanity.

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Group Members:
Saad Asghar (Group Leader)…………………………………………. MBA-S-09-010-009
Muhammad Asif……………………………………………………… MBA-S-09-003-009

Kiran Asif…………………………………………………………….. MBA-S-09-016-009

Muhammad Atif……………………………………………………… MBA-S-09-018-009

Majed Ali Jadoon…………………………………………………….. MBA-S-09-019-009

Jawad Munir………………………………………………………….. MBA-S-09-025-009

Sheema Baber………………………………………………………… MBA-S-09-033-009

Jabran shokat………………………………………………………… MBA-S-09-038-009

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Chapter No 1

PRODUCT HISTORY
1.1 Marble or calcareous stone
Marble is a crystalline, compact variety of metamorphosed limestone, consisting primarily of
calicle (CaCO3), dolomite (CaMg (CO3)6) or a combination of both minerals. Dimensional
stones such a marble has been highly popular since time immemorial, being used on facades and
interiors of houses and buildings.

Restricted choice of marble for external application is due to its porosity. They hardly sustain
color & shine due to rainfall & environmental pollution. Marble is preferred over granite for
special works that include sculpture, decorative items, fireplaces etc due to their comparative
softness.

Pure white marble is a metamorphic rock of very pure limestone. Marble is found extensively in
various countries like Belgium, France, Great Britain, Greece, India, Spain and Italy. From
classical times, pure white marble was considered as the best of its kind. In the beginning, only
white marble was considered worthy and colored marble was considered impure. However, this
belief was just short-lived because very soon, ancient civilizations appreciated colored marbles
too and used colored marbles in various monuments and sculptures even though pure white
marble is always regarded high. Freshly quarried marble is easy to sculpture and the stone
hardens as it ages.
The surface of marble is durable in a dry atmosphere and when protected from rain. Marble can
be successfully used for all low traffic in-house application like vanities and fireplaces or walls.
It is favorable stone for it’s beauty and design but it is softer than granite and less challenging for
breaking, acids and liquid absorption. Stone sealer/impregnators should be used to protect it's
surface.
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 1.2 Granite or siliceous stone
Because of its uniform texture & hardness, granite is preferred for external usage. It is more
durable as compared to marble & is economical in maintenance. Granite does not need re-
polishing once it is polished & fixed at desired place, while marble needs polishing every year or
at least once in two years.

The granular formation & compactness of granite make it non-porous & non absorbent hence is
more hygienic for the use of laboratories, kitchen, washrooms, and other water exposed areas.

Majority of cities located closer to sea, provide greater markets for granite as it can with stand
the weather effects better than marble.

Usage of granite in special work, mainly involved in making & fabrication of sculpture,
decoration items is lower as compare to marble. This is because granite is harder material to
work on due to its compaction & silica contents.
Granite is a widely occurring igneous rock. The texture of granite is generally medium to coarse
grains. Porphyritic texture is very common in granite rocks. Various colors of granite stones are
widely available and most of the times, granite is available as a massive rock. The beauty of
granite is attributed to the deposits like quartz, feldspar, and mica. Consistent granite has same
pattern throughout the stone. Variegated granite has various veins forming different patterns that
are not easy to match.
Minerals within granite typically appear as small flecks throughout the stone, once creating a
"salt and pepper" look. Other types have veining similar to marble. It is an extremely hard,
dense-grained, stone and comes in a wide variety of colors, and can be either rough, polished or
finished in a variety of different ways.
Not as porous as other cladding stones, granite is extremely durable, and highly resistant to
stains, weathering, and corrosion. It is not strongly affected by freezing , thawing, UV rays or
acids and is suitable for in-house and outdoor purposes. Because granite is formed by extreme
heat and pressure beneath the earths crust it is not affected by heat from a cook top or frying
pan. Even a lit flame placed under the granite will not have a melting effect and will not leave
any burned or scarred marks.

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Chapter No 2

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS STORIES

& BENCH MARKS
2.1 International Success Stories
2.1.1 Italy
Italy remained a leading country in dimensional stone business for centuries. It has a strong base
of model mines with highest average for quarry production & state of the art processing industry.

Its contribution in research & development & human resource development for mining &
processing is noteworthy. Simultaneously industry has enjoyed strong infrastructure support
couple with presence of highly developed markets within & around Italy. It is estimated that
Italian industry, which comprises many large mining & processing units, is very well diversified.

The number of frame saws in Italy in 1997 was 1530, which is 26.2 of the world total.
Throughout 1990s, Italy stone production remained stable wit an average compound growth of 3
% from 1994 to 1997. Italy has maintained its position of world leader in 1997 with its world
share in quarry production of 17.2% or 8.5 million tons. In the world exchange Italy has share of
31% with total quantitative exports/imports of 5.7 million tons in the same year.

Key Success Factors:

• Greater contribution in the research & development actively both in stone as well as in
machinery manufacturing

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 • High degree of involvement in the HRD activities with in the country & abroad.
• Highly developed information on markets & vigilant eye over international trends in the
stone business.
• Promotion of Italian stone products & machinery in the international markets.
• Sufficient efforts in institutional development in the dimensional stone sector.

2.1.2Greece
The modern history of Greece stone industry dates back to the 1960’s when the public & private
building industry in the original markets boosted the exploitation of mineral reserve. Marble
deposits & marble processing units are located throughout the country. Today there are over
4,000 different sizes of marble companies including some mega projects, which employ 50 to 60
thousand workers in all. The country processing capacity is around 2.5 million tons with over
300 frame saws.

During 1995, production of marble was 2.55 million tons. Total exports of raw & processed
marble exceeded 318,000 tons, showing an increase of more than 12% over 1994. Among the
major stone importing countries from Greece were Saudi Arabia & other Middle East countries
contributing to 50% of Greece exports. Domestic consumption in 1995 was around 657,000 tons.

Key Success Factors

• Modern mining technology.
• Greater degree of skills among the people employed in this sector.
• Better processing strength.
• High degree of promotion in the international markets of for Greek stones & better
marketing practices.
2.1.3 India
India has appeared in the world as one of the most dynamic countries in dimensional stone
production & trade. The country in the world is mainly as one of the most important producer &
exporter of high quality granite & other siliceous stones. In 1997 India had gang saw strength of
210 units having 3.6% of the world share. Dimensional stone in India currently employ about
300,000 workers mostly in the small enterprise.
India’s production in 1995 totaled to 3.5 million tons, 18% increase in the production from1994.
In the period between 1989 & 1995 India registered a growth of 60 %. Exports in 1995 recorded
an increase of 8% over 1994 from 1.21 million tons to 1.31 million tons. In 1995 raw granite
exports reached record level with over one million tons an approximate increase of 9.8% over
1994, taking India to the second leading exporter in the world.

Key Success Factors

• Regulatory framework & infrastructure facilities including warehouse.
• Technology development.
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 • Sector development through institution building, marketing, financial % technological
support.
• Market identification.
• Export rebates.
• Participation in international fairs & exhibition & aggressive promotion of the Indian
products.
• Technology orientation at mines.

2.1.2Brazil
With the greatest reserves of granite in the world & substantial deposits of marble & other
dimension stones, Brazil is one of the main producer of dimensional stones, featuring third on
the list of raw granite exporting countries behind China & India.
In 1995, Brazil’s production of marble & granite was 1.95 million tons or 5% of the world’s
production. This is 6% more than the production in 1994. Brazil produces all types of stone
material, granite & other siliceous material have share of more than 7o% of the total.

Compared to 1994, Brazil’s international trade of dimension stone in 1995 rose by 16% for
granite & other siliceous material. Growth I the production of marble & other calcareous
material was 42%, from 12,000 tons to 17,000 tons in 1995 over the last year Brazilian black &
pearl blue granite is favorite in the world market. In 1995, granite exports accounted for 88% of
the total exports of the country. In 1997 Brazil produced 2 million tons of dimensional stone &
exported 0.85 million tons, that include 0.77 million tons of raw granite.

Key Success Factors

• Huge deposits of world’s favorite color of dimensional stone
• Appropriate technology at mines
• Participation in the international events for promotion on stone products.
• Sizable processing clusters supporting specialization of jobs & marketing cartels.
2.2 international Benchmarks
International Benchmarks (Data 1997)

Countries Production Quarry Processing Granite Saw load Exports Local

(000 tons) wastage wastage (000tons) (000 tons) consumption
(%) (%) (000 tons)

Italy 8500 50 41 1530 9726 3563 3093

China 7750 50 41 250 7058 3130 2613

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India 4000 50 41 210 2305 2070 1027

Pakistan 1386 73 55 5 368 9 384

Mining technologies comparison within Benchmark Countries

Countries Technology Infrastructure Mining Machinery used

(B.Mark) Levels Techniques
Mining Handling
Italy A • Developed link & • Geo studies • Hydraulic • Gantry
feeder Roads • Lab studies Stich crane
• Communication • Survey drilling • Loaders
System • Reserve • Wire • Shovels
• Water Studies cutting • Customize
availability • Quarry • Chain saws d trailers
• Electric provision Designing • Belt saws
• Raw material • Benching • Water jet
yards • Flame jet

China A As above As above As above As above

India B • Developed link & • Geo studies • Manual • Derrick

semi developed • Lab studies stitch cranes
feeder Roads • Survey drilling • Tractors
• Communication • Reserve • Wire with front
System Studies cutting buckets
• Water • Quarry • Flame jet • Loaders
availability Designing • Shovels
• Electric provision • Benching

Pakistan C • Semi Developed • Quarry • Drilling • Tripod

link & non opening • Uncontroll cranes
developed feeder • Blast mining ed blasting
Roads
• No
Communication
• Non availability

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 of
Water/Electricity

Chapter No 3

MARBLE & GRANITE IN PAKISTAN

3.1 Current Status
Marble & Granite is the sixth largest mineral extracted among coal, rock salt, lime stone, china
clay, dolomite, fire clay, gypsum, silica sand etc. since 1990 mining & quarry has consistently
contributed 0.5% to the GDP. In order to understand the profile of local marble & granite
industry following process flow is presented.

According to the industry estimates 1.37 million tons of marble & granite were produced in
1997. Out of which 6.176 tons were exported in the raw form, 3976 tons in the intermediary
product & 3335 tons in the finished form. Total worth of these exports In the monetary terms in
US $ 4.9 million. Domestic consumption remained at 1.37 millions tons or 97% of the total
volume. Current production has decreased by 5% compared to 1995-96 & 6.2% as compared to
1994-95. Among the major factors attributing to this decline are;

• Slow down in construction industry

• Lack of quality production
• Lack of proper machinery
• Lack of awareness & facilitation in selecting appropriate tools for different stones
• Untrained workers

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 • Non existence of quality control process
• Poor raw material supply
• Lack of distribution channels including raw material & finish goods warehousing
• Incapability in supplying consistent product
3.2 Marble & Granite Leases & Reserves in the country
Little efforts were made in the past to identify & estimate Marble & Granite reserves in the
country. According to an estimate there are 160.2 million tons of Marble reserves in the country.
Share of NWFP in the above figure is 98.5% while that of Baluchistan is 1%. Proper survey in
the above figure can reveal more reserves. Granite reserves only at one place in Northern Areas
show a total of 414 million tons while other reserves of granite are spread all over the NWFP,
Baluchistan & Sind.

Reserves & Leases of Marble & Granite in the country

No of Leases Leased Area Reserves in million tons
PL ML Total ML PL Total Marble Granite
NWFP 124 156 280 80789 3443 115227 157.9 -
Baluchistan - - 203 - 8 104139 2.2 -
Sind - - - - - - - -
Punjab - - - - - - - -
Northern Areas - - - - - - - 4140
FATA 4 4 8 5620 - 9596 0.1 -
3976
Total 128 160 491 86409 3841 228962 160.02 4140
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3.3 Production
While the official statistics reflects much less production of dimensional stone in the country
actual production estimates of the industry show a total production of 1,386,000 tons for 1997-
98. The production has shown a decrease of 5% over the production of the last year. In the
nineties the sector showed an average growth of 18% up to the mid of the decade where after in
1996 & 1997 the production started decreasing. Moreover, the heartening news is that now
Pakistan has a place on world mining map as an Australian based company sold shares, by initial
public offering, through Stock Exchange to raise nearly 15 million Australian dollars.
The response from the investors was enthusiastic and the number of shares changed hands
crossed 9 million or about 8 percent of the issued capital, some $3.6 million in value. The share

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offer was heavily over subscribed. The 4000 subscribers, who acquired the scrip, included some
of the largest institutional investors in Australian, Europe and Canada.
The objective of the company was to explore, develop and mining of the copper and gold
resources at the Reko Diq Project in Pakistan. This is the first internationally listed mining
Exploration Company entirely focused on the vast and untapped natural resource potential of
Pakistan.
During the last 5 years production of marble was as follows:
Year Production (000MT)
1996-97 459.2
1997-98 344.8
1998-99 411.6
1999-00 578.7
2000-01 589.6
Technical advancement in the last seventy years had increased the world production and
consumption of dimensional stones to 49.5 million tons. Due to increase in world consumption
the granite and marble trade reached US$ 3.5 billion mark in 2002. Italy is the major player in
the global market and exported 38 percent of the dimensional stone's export, while its imports
were 18 percent of the international imports. Other major exporters include Spain, Turkey and
Portugal. Other major importers were USA, China, Germany and Hong Kong.
During the 9 months of 2002-03 export of marble and granite from Pakistan increased by 18.07
percent. However, in 2002 granite accounted for US$ 85 thousand in foreign exchange earnings,
which was approximately 0.01 percent of global granite exports. While the share was 0.03
percent in 1998, exports were US$ 208 thousand.
In Pakistan marble is processed in more than 1,600 units in the country including 685 small and
medium size units. These units have been defined in three categories according to their sizes,
small, medium and comparatively large, but not up to the international level.
Unfortunately the processing strength for granite in the country remains unsatisfactory. There
are only nine units, of which four are operational. All of these units have an average investment
of over Rs.20 million with gang saws, block cutters and polishing heads. Due to hardness of
granite, production capacity of granite processing units is low as compared to marble. Average
production of these units is 6,000 to 8,000 sq/ft per month per unit.
The primitive mining techniques existing in Pakistan do not allow extraction of standard blocks,
a major factors for the decline in Pakistan's marble industry are slowdown in the construction
industry, lack of quality production and an inconsistent and irregular supply of raw material. The
extraction in Pakistan comprised boring of holes in the bedrock, which were filled with
explosives to blast the block, which results not only in a high wastage (up to 73 percent), but
also in smaller stone size, which substantially reduces the price, which is directly proportional to
size. The extraction of marble in Pakistan was yet to be developed and value-addition to all
marble products can be done with the help of modern machinery from Italy. It is considered that

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Pakistan is the right place for foreign investment, in mining as well as the training of manpower
involved in the marble sector and Italian businessmen can avail this opportunity.

3.4 Marble & Granite Production/Deposits by Color

3.4.1 Marble Colors

Majority of the colors traded in the international market are available in the counter. Among all
these colors white color is universal demand. Following exhibit indicates the color of marble &
onyx in different parts of the country.

Major color category Names of areas Color shades Area-wise production

White Muhmand Pure white, white-pink, 15000+9000+115000
Agency,Chitral,Bunir,Swat, brown-green shades, +24000+108000+12000
Parachinar, Gilgit, Hunza. white-light grey, creamy =418000 tons
white.
Black Bunir, Bajur, Mardan,Bela. DeepBlack, Black-white 12116+46000+84000+84000
patches, Black-golden =22616 tons
streaks
Green Swat, Swabi, Bunir, AJK& Dark green, Green with 23000+12000+12000+
Lasbela streaks & patches of 4000=51000 tons
white, gray-black,
greenish gray.
Pink Nowshera, Chitral, Lasbela Pink with streaks & 9000+3000+4000+
patches of white, gray 56000=153000 tons
brown, red & fossils.
Gray Bunir, Bajur, Mardan, Gray with white bands, 207000+16734+143462
Swat, Lasbela & Khuzdar. gray with pink brown & 36000+14000=317196
green patches tons
Brown Bunir, Swat, Kohat, Dark brown with white 23000+4000+24000
Waziristan,Lasbela & lines, Brown-yellow +14000=65000 tons
khzdar. patches, Light brown
with fossils.
Yellow Bunir, Kohat,Lasbela, Yellow-golden patches, 46000+48000+42000
Khuzdar. Yellow golden with =136000 tons
fossils
Onyx
Green Dark Green with layers 14000+6000=20000 tons

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 of light green, Green ith
Streaks of White &
yellow
White-Brown banded White with layers of light 6000 tons
gray
Total production 1386312 tons

3.4.2 Granite colors

Pakistan fortunately has exceptionally good shades & colors of granite widely available in
different parts of the countery. In the following exhibit colors of granite & their availability in
different parts of the country is mentioned.

Granite colors & shades available in the country.

Major color categories Names of Areas Color Shades

Black Dir, Swat.Swabi, Gilgit, Jet Black

Kohistan
Pink Dir, swat, Nagar Parkar Pink

Grey Gilgit, Dir, Mansehra Silver lining grey, Greenish

grey
Green Chaghi, Dir Swat,Kashmir Green-Golden bends

White Gilgit, Baltistan, MKD, Dir White

3.5 Institutional Efforts

There is an association of miners in the country with provincial chapters. The association is
poorly organized with ambiguous mission. Election of the office bearer is not done regularly.
Collection of membership fee for meeting expenditure is not in practice.

3.6 SWOT Analysis

3.6.1 STRENGTHS
• One of the oldest clusters for marble processing in Pakistan (history & experience)
• Located in and around capital city of Pakistan
• Islamabad had lots of planned construction area so local market is available.

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• Literacy rate is better than other marble clusters leaving Karachi.
• Had 2 chambers of commerce in the vicinity.
• The head office of APMIA was located in the cluster that gives national leadership

3.6.2 WEAKNESSES
• In spite of being the largest cluster of Rawalpindi/Islamabad region industry lacks
stimulus towards value addition, and investment in high-end machinery and
Human Resource is minimal.
• Comparatively disadvantaged in case of raw material availability and
transportation costs if compared with units working in NWFP, Balochistan and
Karachi.
• Comparatively disadvantaged in case of export and local consumption if
compared with Karachi.
• Comparatively disadvantaged in case of investment portfolio and costing
structure if want to import squared block from abroad.
• There was a 100% demand-supply gap of skilled labor in the industry as far as
export quality processing is concerned.
• Due to lack of export culture, industry was dependent on local machinery and
quality of product is not given proper weightage. It is a fact that only one unit had
the facility of modern squaring and auto polishing for export purposes. This unit
was providing limited services for squaring to local units in the area.
• There was no waste management policy or strategy for this cluster. Small pieces
of stone were only used for marble powder and chips while there was no
dumping place or feasible utilization of marble slurry.
• Very low membership in chambers and association activities.

3.6.4 OPPORTUNITIES
• On average 38% of the marble excavated form the mines in any country is
exported in the same year which shows high potential for export. This figure is at
3% for Pakistan.
• Industry had been defined as zero-rated industry therefore had no import tariffs
and custom duty on import of machinery, specialized trucks and other tools.
• Pakistan had large reserves of several varieties of Marble.
• Raw material availability for handicraft manufacturing.
• Almost 10 model quarry projects were planned which will ensure square block
supplies to the cluster.
• Mines from Mianwali may start operating which is near to this cluster.
• Policy climate in NWFP and FATA is getting better which will also ensure better
supply of raw material.

3.6.3 THREATS
• Entrepreneurs may not be willing to invest in labor presently working with them
because of fear of job change and meager opportunity of improvement because
of fewer processes.

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• Even if any importer was ready for a business transaction, cluster fails to finalize
the contract because of time delays due to irregular shape and irregular supply of
the marble stone.
• Investment on high quality machinery in final processes was not feasible due to
low quality mining and quarrying.
• China had already destroyed the granite processing opportunity with its low cost
bulk selling.
• Minimizing the trade barriers and tariffs, India may come as a big supplier of
finished and unfinished marble products.
• More investment in processing units near mining areas may create more
shortage of raw material.
• New regulations (load per axel) if implemented by road authorities may hinder
the supply of stone from the mines.
• Invasion of cheap ceramic tiles in the market

Chapter No 4

ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS
OPERATIONS
4.1 BUSINESS STATUS:
Almost all of enterprises were working as sole proprietorship however there were very
few examples in which units had advanced after starting of operations as sole to
partnerships.

4.2 FINANCE:
All of the businesses were being financed by equity. As far as operations were
concerned credit-cash ratio is 50% as far as sale is concerned. However for
procurement of raw material 90% was on the terms of cash when raw material was
received.
The entrepreneurs who were mostly matriculate or maximum bachelors in different
subjects normally maintain accounts. Although exporters were maintaining proper
accounts while few had also hired munshees.
As far as marinating business accounts in banks is concerned, transaction during

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exports and/or procurement and sale to Karachi were done through banks.

4.3 HUMAN RESOURCE:

99% of the entrepreneurs were working as general manager of their business handling
all operations i.e. factory operations, administration, marketing and client handling. 2000
manpower associated to it was mostly working as factory labor and there were very few
units (5-10, who were exporter as well) had employees like manager, accountant,
phone operators etc.
Average labour per single cutter is 2 per machine, for vertical/horizontal cutter and
gangsaw the average increases to 4-5 per machine. Large units also had helpers, crane
operators etc. There was absence of formal training for marble processing all over the
country, therefore all labor presently working in the industry had received on-job
training. As far as literacy is concerned most of the labor is primary and very few had
done matriculation.

4.4 RAW MATERIAL PROCUREMENT:

As far stone type is concerned industry was processing sunny grey, white, zebra
lasbella green, carara etc. and these stones were sourced from Lasbella, Loralai and
mines from NWFP.
Daily procurement of this cluster could be averaged out at 200-300 tons per day, 70% of
which comes in semi-finished form. Raw material was procured mostly through payment
on delivery. Usually it’s just a phone call, which starts the process, and mine
processors (raw stone) and/or processor (semi-finished slabs/tiles) send the raw
material by using their own delivery systems. The truck drivers bring the collection bill
with them and take the signature from the buyer with the payment.
It is necessary to mention that almost 20% of the trucks were hijacked in between the
route by other stone processors if the raw stone is in good shape. Truck drivers when
scrutinize, tells that the truck is punctured or engine failed, because of which he had to
sell the material to the nearest processor.
The reason for the whole scenario is that during shortage of material, processors give
tips to truck drivers for getting raw material. Drivers also try to hold back from the cantt
region where police takes bribe for entrance into the city in daytime area.
Truck drivers were also penalized by road authorities due to over weight. This cost was
then transferred to the purchaser of the raw material. The reason for overloading was
that because of being in irregular shape the actual output was less and therefore per ton
transport fee was set at lower levels.

4.5 FINAL PRODUCTS:

At present 90% of the capacities were utilized for the production of tiles while 10% goes
for slabs and other handicrafts.
Average annual production of the cluster was around 150,000-200,000 square feet per
day 80% of which can be attributed to tiles, the rest sells in the shape of slabs and
handicrafts. Major final products were tile (12 inch * 12 inch * 0.5 inch), counter tops,
stairs, window sil, qabr, patti, and handicrafts like phool, glasses, miniatures, paper

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weight etc.

4.6 PRODUCT SALE:

70% of the industries located in this region were selling their final products directly to
the consumers. This figure had increased over the period as small industry that is
procuring slabs from within the cluster had started direct procurement from the units
installed near the mines.
80% of the products were being consumed within the city. Similar trend had been
observed for this figure also. This region was sourcing the semi finished and finished
products all over Punjab. Now small clusters had developed in other areas of Punjab,
which were directly procuring finished, and/or semi-finished products directly form the
units installed near the mines of NWFP. However presence of Rawalpindi cluster
products can be observed in Kashmir, Jehlum, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Faisalabad,
Sargodha and Lahore.
As far as export is concerned, an average amount of US$ 1.5 million could be linked to
this region per annum. Most of the exports were order based and/or were through
commercial exporters. Entrepreneur from this cluster had managed to enter USA, UAE
and EU market i.e. UK, France, and Germany till now.

4.7 WASTE MANAGEMENT

There were two types of byproducts of marble processing. During marble processing
30% of the stone (incase of unprocessed stone) goes to scrap because of being in
smaller size and/or irregular shape. This is then sold to chip manufacturers. Incase of
semi processed slab the scarp level reduces to 2-5%.
The other waste material is slurry. It is basically the water containing marble powder.
The water is reused till it gets thick enough (70% water – 30% marble powder) to be
insoluble for marble powder.
It can be safely estimated that 1 ton of marble stone processed in Gang-Saw or a
vertical/horizontal cutter produces almost 1 ton of slurry (70% water). Single cutters
though had lesser slurry waste.
This waste is initially stored at the slumps/storage tanks and then is thrown out with the
help of trolley tractors. There is no designated place for this waste and can become an
environmental issue for the industry.

4.8 PROCESS FLOW:

Processes Machinery Process Description
90% of the units were just operating on process number 3 while 30% had the polishing
facility. Polishing is mostly done at the construction premises after installation through
mobile polishers. These mobile polishers were working as separate entities and receive
orders from the thekedar/construction companies directly.

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References
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority
Government of Pakistan
www.smeda.org.pk
United Nation Industrial Development Organization
www.unido.org.pk
Global Star Granite & Marble Industry,
Industrial State, Abbottabad.

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