Prospects of high-tech manufacturing in Bangladesh - II

TSS is currently a body under the supervision of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (MOPT). It is situated at Tongi and stands in a wide spacious area of 7.67 Acres (23 bighas). Excluding the external grounds, which definitely has the potential to be utilised should more working space be needed, it has a total effective work space of about 10,000 sft. TSS is allocated an annual budget of some 100 crore taka. Interestingly, 8% of its shares is owned by Siemens. The TSS basically works as a subsidiary of the BTTB.

Presently the TSS employs about 800 employees. There are engineers, technicians, IT professionals and a combination of workers of various skill levels. The relative skill level of these employees comprise of being able to handle automated and semi automated machineries. Current machineries include an assortment of semi automated assembly line equipments, circuit embedding devices and other paraphernalia.

The job of TSS until recently was to manufacture the local telephone sets that BTTB issues to the each subscriber. The TSS supplies the government with a fixed number of telephone sets per year. On demand it may also be required to supply more sets. On top of that it also supplies specific, requisite telecommunication essentials like the above mentioned PABX, telephone exchanges etc.

The raw materials were primarily imported from China and some like plastic, nuts and bolts etc were locally produced. But recently, on performing some cost analysis, it was found that if TSS imported the telephone sets directly from China as opposed to manufacturing them here with local and imported raw materials, the cost per set reduced. So their current policy is based on importing these sets that they once used to manufacture here. Apart from this TSS imports other telecommunication equipments like Card phones, PABX, telephone switches and exchanges etc. Majority of these equipments comes form Japan and some from China.

So, in the current scenario, considering all the resources at hand, the TSS is not being utilized to even a fraction of the huge potential it has. Thus, if government manufactures mobile phone sets at the TSS then it has the following advantages:

A large labor force with the basic skill of handling machineries associated with producing telephone sets and an existing infrastructure with a basic administrative, business and technological frame work.

Initially, the government can go for a join venture with any of the big names in the telecomm industry. A feasibility study is performed together with an initial market study regarding customer requirements and preferences.

An initial government loan is required by the TSS to purchase necessary machineries and for other expenditures in the process of restructuring itself. A short training to the work force is also provided.

The next step is to import the various parts of the mobile telephone sets. An extensive cost analysis is also performed in the meantime to see how the local assembling favours the price market of the mobile sets.

The sets are then assembled with strict adherence to quality and specifications. Initially, quality check will be performed by foreign experts but as TSS gains competence, Quality control will also be done by locals.

Once the products are finished, they would be in for final assembling and testing by the foreign counterparts or by the TSS depending on what expertise has been gained.

Once the product reaches the market, a market survey team constantly monitors the customer requirements, demands and measures how the new product competes with the existing ones in the market.

If we continue to improve our skills gradually to the point of performing Final Assembling and Testing (FAT) locally and then eventually to Circuit Pack Assembling as well, then the price of the sets for local consumption will come down significantly.

It can be readily perceived that in the long run, when all the 'tricks of the trade', as is said, has been mastered the TSS will be self sufficient in producing mobile telephone sets without any aid from the foreign counterparts. This is the basic idea behind technology transfer- first learn all and then be self sufficient.

However, some very important changes should be brought about to the TSS before all these high- tech manufacturing business is undertaken. Some of these include trimming the organizational structure to be leaner and flatter, arranging frequent and effective training programs, keeping an active link between customer feedbacks and manufacturing, strict quality control, and most importantly, improving and increasing personal ethics, drive and motivation of employees.