JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
Authors
Nadir Ali Shah is the Head, Academics of
PIQC Institute of Quality, Karachi, Pakistan.
His specialization is in Quality Management
and Supply Chain Management. He earlier
served as the Principal PIA Training Centre
and General Manager (Production) at
Precision Engineering Complex. He also
served in Pakistan Airforce as Wing
Commander. He has extensive experience
in the field of quality and has involved in
industries and academics.
Imranulla Shariff is Executive Director and
Principal Consultant of PIQC Institute of
Quality, Pakistan. He has an MSc Physics
with specialization in Quality Management
from AOTS, Japan. He is a Lead Auditor
and Lead Tutor of ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and
OHSAS 18000. He is a certified Six Sigma
Black Belt. He has consultancy experience
in more than 100 firms in Pakistan and other
countries. He is a co-author of the book,
‘Practical Guide to ISO 9000’. He is a proctor
in Karachi of American Society for Quality.
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Background
Pakistan came into being on 14th August
1947, as a result of a long struggle for
independence by its founding father; Quaid-
e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was a
bruised country, recovering from the harsh
and brutal treatment it received during the
process of independence. It didn’t get any
industry worthy of economic sense caused
by this geographic division. The country got
a few ginning mills located in the cotton
producing belt, very rudimentary sugar mills,
only two cement factories, and several
tanneries. No government-owned enterprises
existed to prompt industrial engagement.
Most of the people were involved in
agriculture and Pakistan was self-supportive
in food for its people. The overall education
level was below the minimum literacy level
except in the big cities. People didn’t know
much about their privileges as consumers
because businessmen were controlling
distribution and retail channels. There was
however, a feeling of uneasiness with the
economic system governing the daily lives
of urban population. Late forties, fifties, and
sixties were smooth for the stomach but
uncomfortable for the destiny. Some kind of
thinking on quality and standardization was
taking shape in prudent minds.
Introduction
This article provides the history of Quality
Movement in Pakistan and how it expanded
and grew over the last six decades. It explains
the key features and challenges faced at the
government, industrial, business and
academic levels. The country has developed
a reasonable forward looking infrastructure
and human resources for modern quality
development at the industrial level. However,
it is facing significant challenges at the
government level. A lot of indigenous work
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.
 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan

has been observed in industry. Rapid History and Culture of Industrial

development is also observed in the fields of
education and training of quality assurance
and management. However, a complete
national infrastructure is still not complete.
This article covers: (1) Standardization Urge,
(2) Quality Promotion and Training, (3)
Quality in the Industry, (4) Status and
Effectiveness of ISO 9000, (5) Consumer
Rights and Preferences, (6) Six Sigma
Message, (7) Future Challenges, and
Conclusion.
Four Eras of Quality Management in
Pakistan
Moosa (2007) defined the journey of Quality
Management in Pakistan into four eras: (1)
Before 80s (2) 1980s to 1990 (3) 1990-2000
and (4) 2000 to the present. These stages
and their key attributes are shown in the
following diagram:
Standards
As the government started organizing to
bring discipline and smoothness in public life,
organized improvements took place in the
agricultural sector; some of the mega
ventures were; Mangla Dam, Trabela Dam,
Warsak Dam, and Barrages up-graduation
stayed in focus of prevailing governments.
The bureaucracy believed that better
agricultural land would halt the inflow into
big cities of rural masses, easing the pressure
on city dwellings and the industry-in-making.
That was a wise, but not truly a
standardization approach in the context of
quality of life.
It was in the early seventies after the ravages
of 1971 War that the rebuilding of the
industrial economy popped out every where.
A number of Power Houses, Pakistan

Table 1: The four Eras of Quality Management in Pakistan (Moosa, 2007)

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 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
Machine Tool Factory, Steel Mills, Textile
Mills, Sugar Mills Fertilizers, and Food
industries emerged, spear-headed under the
auspices of Pakistan Industrial Development
Corporation (PIDC). The real awakening on
the quality–for–every–one took place when
Defence Production Division established
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, its first
factory. It was the opening of F6 Aircraft
Rebuild Factory in 1972 with the help of
Peoples Republic of China. A flood of quality
control activities was let loose; moving away
from the age old practices of merely product
quality towards process quality. Soon after,
another project of Mirage Rebuild Factory
was launched. All French quality procedures
linked with the concept of interdependence
of the departments dealing with the
overhauling of Mirage Aircraft, became the
library of QA knowledge. At the same time,
another aircraft factory for Mush-shak
aircraft was set up, producing local aircraft
with the help of Sweden. The latest entry is
the JF Thunder, a Chinese aircraft, totally
developed by Pakistanis, an equivalent of the
American F-16. These leading edge
technologies have influenced the Quality and
Standardization of defense production as well
as commercial industries in the country.
In late 1980s, a number of Japanese
automobiles manufacturers entered the
country with local production facilities. As a
result, today there are five Japanese OEMs
and one locally produced car. This industry
has also produced around 800 direct vendors.
Thus, industrial standards were highly
promoted, mainly influenced by these
automobile, aircraft and other heavy
industries. The culture of standardization
eventually evolved into a great liking for
quality performance. Pakistan needed the
work force to operate plants and the
machinery. To get these factories and plants
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meet domestic needs and cross the borders
as export-earner, unification of quality
cultures under mutually agreed
standardization technique was urgently
needed. These efforts brought into being the
Pakistan National Standards. This led to the
development of around 4000 locally
developed standards so far and the use of
about 18000 international standards. These
standards are being enforced through
government bodies like Pakistan Standards
and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA),
Pakistan National Accreditation Council
(PNAC), etc. However, the society is still
struggling for strict enforcement of quality
standards and this is still a challenge at the
country level.
Quality Promotion and Training
Quality-at-workplace is greatly
acknowledged by educationists,
governmental bodies and the industry. The
challenges that Pakistani industries were
working for the economic strength of the
country were multi-dimensional. These were
lack of quality awareness, low education of
the workforce, poor or rudimentary training,
weak human resource function within
industries and improper business
management. The professionals of the early
eighties realized that conventional ways of
managing businesses can no longer produce
the desired results. In collaboration with
Defence Establishment, they started
developing the ability to comprehend the need
for quality management. Widespread training
initiatives have been taken up by a number
of government and private sector training
institutions. The most prominent of them has
been the PIQC Institute of Quality (formerly
Pakistan Institute of Quality Control), who
have exclusively focused on awareness and
advance level courses throughout the
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.
 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
country. Over the last 18 years, it has
provided training to over 35,000 persons in
the country. This training includes seminars
and courses of all levels and areas, including
Quality Managers’ certification courses,
postgraduate and masters degree programs
specializing in Quality Management. Some
of the other universities have also started
such programs and now the level of
professional competence and education
levels of quality professionals, managers,
auditors and consultants is raised
considerably compared to a decade ago.
These educated quality professionals are
now playing significant role not in the local
industry and organizations, They are also
working in many nations in the Middle East
and other developed countries. The trend of
education and specialization in the field is
currently being expanded in many
institutions.
Quality in Industries
Pakistan is emerging as an industrial country.
There are around 2300 leather manufacturing
plants, 47 automobile (car and motorcycle)
manufacturing plants, 3 aircraft rebuild and
one manufacturing plant, 80 sugar plants, 11
fertilizers plants, 25 cement plants, 87 oil
mills, 1100 chemical plants, 750 software
houses, 370 construction firms and 130 ISPs
(Ref: Pakistan Engineering Board). By late
70s and early 80s, there was a flood of
Japanese goods. Auto industry took a fresh
meaning in the world of reliability. Quality
got a new shape. Basic quality management
tools were introduced by Japanese OEMs in
their factories, as well, as in some of their
vendors; especially, Quality Circles, Kaizen,
Just-in-Time, etc. Exports also expanded
during this era. Exports oriented organizations
had direct pressure from their consumers
demanding quality products. Vendor
Page 4 Volume 1 Issue 3
development program was initiated and very
effectively launched. The industries started
feeling comfortable with the output from
suppliers who benefited under the vendor
development program directly supervised by
Japanese Auto industry experts. Yet, the need
for certified Quality Management System
was felt across the board. The 1980s crawled
with rejections, corrections, repairs,
improvements in a repeated cyclic manner,
until the formal arrival of ISO-9000 QMS
standards.
Promotion and Adoption of ISO 9000
QMS Standards
With Pakistan’s exports getting stabilized due
to closeness with quality in several of its
industrial and military installations, the
confidence started mounting. Coupled with
a high-degree of conformance shown in the
Auto Industry, the people started feeling the
need for a universal code of quality
compliance in the late eighties. Luckily, this
was the time when ISO-9000 Quality
Management System standard was picking
up worldwide recognition and acceptance.
With the active involvement of entrepreneurs
who had by early nineties occupied a portion
of quality landscape in the manufacturing
sector of Pakistan, ISO-9000 QMS landed
with full bloom. The Ministry of Science &
Technology started giving subsidies to the
SMEs. Thus, it got the sponsorship of the
government. A number of certification
agencies entered the country in the late 90s.
Observing the power of performance
enshrined in ISO-9000, Export Promotion
Bureau and Ministry of Science &
Technology joined hands with PIQC to
promote the growth of this international
standard, as well as the message of defect
free products. Around 10,000 firms are now
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.
 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
certified. However, a lot of technical debate
on its effectiveness became evident. The
effectiveness of ISO 9000 was questioned
by many. It also became the topic of research
in many universities at the Masters and PhD
levels. The strengths and weakness of its
implementation are today a hot topic.
Since 2000 and onward, sector specific
Quality Management Standards like; TS-
16949, ISO – 22000, AS9100B, etc. started
getting popular and were introduced in many
firms. Many organization have accordingly,
upgraded their systems.
Consumer Rights and Preferences
As quality performance started showing
results through enormous reduction in
warranty claims, rejects, and gaining more
repeat orders; the thirst for doing better with
fewer resources heightened. Consumers
were now not falling for the products in the
first attempt. They would visit supermarkets;
browse through the shelves, read labels,
check prices, look for quality logos and decide
to buy later, where they could get value for
their money! They were critical in making
choices and seeking compliance to the
attributes they would want their products to
demonstrate! A society for the protection of
consumer rights started in function in the late
nineties. An act was also passed by a
provincial government of Punjab in 2000 and
is now being implemented. This has led to
the start of the promotion of consumer rights
and their protection. However, the area is
still challenged by consumers and they seek
a lot of consolidated efforts.
Six Sigma and other TQM Advance
Tools
As the maturity grid of quality performance
for most Pakistani product and service
Page 5 Volume 1 Issue 3
industries sharpened, the benchmark went
up. The urge to look beyond standardization
spurred. There was the wind of new quality
tools blowing from many developed countries
who entered a new world of zero-defect
products attained through Six Sigma!
The levels of training and competency in Six
Sigma programs are classified into various
levels; Black Belt, Green Belt, and
Champions. Companies implementing Six
Sigma take five to eight years of coordinated
efforts to realize 3.4 defects per million
opportunities; the equivalent of Six Sigma.
The promotion of Six Sigma and its installation
in Pakistani industries started in late 2000 and
is still in infancy stage. A number of leading
firms have already adopted or are adopting
these methodologies for process
improvement. Its training and professional
certification programs are also regularly
conducted in the country, mainly by the
PIQC. However, seeing the level of
enthusiasm, it is highly likely that the decade
starting with 2010, shall be the precursor of
world-class quality performance for some
product and service sectors. Already, many
colleges and universities are readjusting
curricula to encompass ISO-9000, Sector
Specific Standards, TQM tools and Six Sigma
to fulfill the increasing demand of industry.
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) also
got popular in the recent years. However,
these initiatives are not yet organized in most
organizations in the country.
Quality and Productivity Society of
Pakistan (QPSP)
A national body representing the quality
professionals of Pakistan was formed in 2004
and mobilized in 2006. It presently plays the
role of a catalyst for the spread and
enhancement of quality in the country.
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.
 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
Presently, it has around 300 members with
an annual election process. It regularly
publishes a magazine in English called ‘Quest
for Excellence’ and an Urdu magazine called
‘Quality Digest’. It holds certification exams
twice a year called ‘Certified Quality
Improvement Manager – CQIM’. One of
its committees has developed and presented
a ‘National Quality Improvement Plan’ to the
Planning Commission of Pakistan. It holds
regular forum meetings of ‘Quality Forum’
and ‘Six Sigma Forum’. Presently, it has three
chapters: Education Quality Chapter,
Healthcare Quality Chapter and Engineering
Quality Chapter. The society, though still at
its infancy, is playing the role of national
quality leadership. The society and its
membership is steadily increasing in the
country.
Future Challenges
In the present age of globalization of trade,
market entry requires compliance to
international standards and evidence of such
compliance through an internationally
Page 6 Volume 1 Issue 3
recognized accreditation system of
conformity assessment bodies. It means the
strengthening and wherever needed the
establishment of an internationally accepted
infrastructure of accreditation, certification,
testing, as well as education and training. The
widespread use and application of sub-
standard products and services in the local
market is a serious threat to the health and
safety of consumers in the country. There is
an urgent need to protect the rights of the
consumer and establish a strong regulatory
framework. This is a truly daunting task for
all stakeholders. Mechanism using accredited
laboratories, certification bodies and
inspection agencies to control the use of
substandard products and services in the
market is a real challenge in the country.
Recognizing these developments, the
Government of Pakistan has committed to
strengthen and upgrade the national
regulatory, accreditation and certification
infrastructure to facilitate trade, enhance
export, accelerate economic development,
and protect environment, health and safety
of consumers. However, the pace of
development of quality in the government
itself is presently not very strong.
For this purpose, a national accreditation body
“Pakistan National Accreditation Council”
(PNAC) was formed to be responsible for
qualifying and approving the certification
bodies, consultants and trainers. PNAC is
Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA)
signatory with International Laboratory
Accreditation Cooperation (ILCA) and Asia
Pacific Laboratory Accreditation
Cooperation. Pakistan National Accreditation
Council (PNAC) initiated the work on
National Quality policy (NAQP) in October
2000. In 2003, this policy was sent to the
cabinet for approval. As a result, the following
measures are still to be taken:
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.
 JOURNEY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Nadir Ali Shah and Imranulla Shariff
PIQC Institute of Quality, Pakistan
a) National Quality Council was
established but is still not functional to
develop strategies and promote overall
quality programs and campaigns. This
Council comprises representatives
from private and public sectors.
b) Promotion of Quality culture through
quality awareness campaigns.
In the year 2006, Pakistan National Quality
Award (PNQA) was launched. The PNQA
is the highest accolade given to organizations
for business excellence. The award is
conferred on the “Best of the Best
Organizations” in recognition of their
attainment of world-class standards of
business excellence. The business excellence
model underpinning the PNQA is based on
universally accepted standards that are found
in the US Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award, the European Quality Award,
Singapore Quality Award and the Malaysian
Quality Award (Prime Minister’s Quality
Award). However, this award is still in a
dormant stage and has still not operationlized
as compared to many other regional
countries.
Regional efforts in the field of quality
competence of Pakistani products are gaining
momentum. Already the Defence Production
Division has created a market for its
products. The biennial Expo conducted at
Karachi, Expo-Center, brings several
internationally renounced manufacturers.
Pakistan earns valuable foreign exchange
through this activity.
Export Promotion Bureau regularly presents
Pakistan products in globally organized
exhibitions – all based on quality performance
indicators! Yet, accreditation motivation and
adherence is far from being world-class.
Page 7 Volume 1 Issue 3
There are loose-ends that need regular
engagements at government, industry and
academia levels. The inspiring thing visible
to every Pakistani is that they are seeing the
race and its possible outcome! They
recognize that in the race for prosperity
through productivity, only quality wins. High
accreditation engagement is critical to the
place Pakistan must reach in the comity of
regional quality performers.
Conclusion
The paper highlights the quality journey that
Pakistan product and service industries have
joined since its inception in 1947. Various eras
of quality enhancement are seen in the
country. Integration with certification bodies,
participation on international quality
symposiums, conducting quality
improvements in curriculum, developing the
National Accreditation Council, and instituting
National Quality Awards are the activities
that are in place. Many institutions are already
there and many are being formed to spread
the promotion of quality in the country toward
world class quality.
Web source:
http://www.meqa.org/mag/q4q/
vol1_issue3/pdfs/
journeyof_qualitymanagement.pdf
© 2010 Q for Q. All Rights Reserved.