Scope of Work Summary:

USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA) requires the services of Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA)/consultant to design and impart technical trainings for Light Engineering (Lean Manufacturing) sector to help and facilitate SMEs to improve their business practices, procedures and overall work environment through new management practices.

Position Title and Department:

Competitiveness Enhancement Component: 

• Light Engineering – Lean Manufacturing Consultant 

General Summary: 

Chemonics International is implementing USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), which is an economic growth project aimed at improvement of financial and operating performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Pakistan in selected high-performing industrial, manufacturing and services sectors. SMEA’s development hypothesis is that MSME-led economic growth will result in poverty reduction, job creation, and entrepreneurship development contributing to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The project has to date supported more than 2000 MSMEs across the country through provision of Business Development Services, grants and technical capacity building trainings. The trainings have been imparted through technical consultants who design and deliver the trainings through physical or online training (two day) events. SMEA is now looking to launch technical training for the Light Engineering Sector. The consultant will design curriculum and impart consultancy trainings to 15 SMEs in light-engineering sector. 

The contribution of the Light Engineering (LE) sector in Pakistan’s economy is very low. Despite the relatively low contribution of the sector to the economy, the sector consists of a large number of SMEs and therefore contributes extensively in terms of employment. The sector comprises approximately 8,000 SMEs, of which over 3,600 are auto parts manufacturers (PAAPAM, 2017). The majority of these SMEs are clustered in Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Karachi and Lahore. The localized concentration and high number of SMEs in each sub-sector provide SMEA with economies of geographic scale and subsector level synergies.

A strong focus on the domestic market means that value addition, productivity enhancement, and increases in quality in the sectors related production sub-sectors also promise to contribute to an incremental effect on downstream sectors as well as the prime production levels. There are significant opportunities to work with large buyers (OEM, exporters or others) to identify key improvements needed in their light engineering supplier base. Interventions which are carried out in response to the market (buyer) demands help not only increase responsiveness but also result in potentially increased revenue as overall quality improves.

SMEA intends to address the problem by administering specialized skill development Workshops/ Sessions on Lean Manufacturing. SMEA’s focus on productivity, sales, and exports make it important to consider the upstream functions in the value chain that provide inputs to the sector as SMEs rely heavily on raw material suppliers. For instance, the fan industry is reliant on the suppliers of aluminum, winding wires and steel sheets that constitute more than 50 percent of the products raw materials. These suppliers might be importers, forges, or blade and rod manufacturers. This high dependency on local suppliers not only increases supplier’s negotiation power but also correlates the quality of the finished product directly with the quality of inputs.

For this purpose, SMEA requires the services of consultant to deliver workshop on Lean Manufacturing particularly to the LE sector SMEs. The trainer should have requisite technical skills and practical experience in Light Engineering Sector. They should also understand the Production/Sales related issues faced by the LE sector in Pakistan and experience of conducting trainings.

For this training, SMEA is looking to engage technical consultant to design and deliver the said training to SMEA’s partner SMEs through relevant sector associations and in major production clusters of the country.

Objective of the Consultancy:

USAID SMEA wants the support of STTA to design and deliver training for Lean Manufacturing (Light Engineering) to have the following impact:

LE sector team, in assistance with the sector stake holders, industry engagement and consulting with the EOI SME applicant pool have identified the training objectives list. The objective of this consultancy is to enhance competitiveness of the light engineering sector with special focus on the productivity improvement measures in the selected Industrial units and by this, to ensure the successful implementation of the various productivity tools ensuring increase in profitability, job creation opportunities, making industry more competitive to enter into export or be able to mitigate against competition from imported products. The acquired skillset will enable the companies for better lead origination, lean manufacturing and productivity improved measures.

Summary of consultancy objectives are undermentioned:

• Phase 1: (Baseline Assessment of Selected Units)

The consultant will be responsible for conducting a Baseline Assessment and would focus on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with problem detection in the selected units (Listed at Annex – 1). The consultant will be responsible to carry out data collection and analysis of productivity/competitiveness KPIs (Listed at Annex 1) for the baseline assessment in selected industrial units.  Give presentations to senior and middle management levels to share baseline results in the area of competitiveness KPIs. The consultant will be responsible for developing a comprehensive report of baseline assessment and submit to the Sector team of SMEA project.

• Phase 2: (Implementation roadmap of Selected model Units)

The consultant shall be responsible for developing comprehensive implementation road map with the mandate to optimize relevant processes of the selected model units whereby the purpose would be to make the industry more competitive and profitable so that they can enhance their sales, create more job opportunities and also ensure consistency as well as sustainability in their respective businesses. Following would be the key deliverables in order to implement best practices in the selected model units.

• Value Added Trainings at site

In-order to ensure sustainability of the best practices introduced the consultant will be responsible for conducting Value Added Trainings (VAT) on-site. Assist in organizing VAT on-site for each model units, engaging relevant staff & workers. 

Duties and responsibilities:

The STTA will be required to work closely with the Sector Lead, the Component Lead and the M&E department to plan, design and deliver the training. The STTA will also be responsible for outreach in the relevant sector stakeholders and clusters to generate interest in the training and identify potential SMEs.  All the activities performed by the STTA must be in line with the awarded contract and scope of work. The consultant will perform the activity by keeping in view the business protocols/scope and quality parameters defined in the contract as per Chemonics policies. The STTA will also be responsible to produce and submit all deliverables with supporting documents mentioned in deliverable schedule. 

Specific Tasks of the STTA: 

The consultant will be required to perform the following tasks for the assignment:

• Building outreach with new and existing partners to engage 15 new SMEs in LE sector.   
• Design one day or two day online/physical training sessions in including PowerPoint presentation and handouts (where necessary). This should include designing any practical activities that are included in the training.
• Deliver one and two day online/physical training sessions with the support of CE team members
• Review and provide input for post training evaluation form in consultation with M&E
• Reviewing and finalizing relevant participant lists
• Any other tasks that may come up for the successful execution of the session
• Post training, the consultants will also analyze and shortlist SMEs that can potentially be selected for BDS. This will include initial discussions with them and collection of their EOI documents
• The consultants will also be required to engage and work with the Training Content Digitization contractor to help digitize their training content. 

Duty Station:

The STTA should be available to work with the USAID SMEA team out of SMEA’s Islamabad/Lahore/Karachi/other offices as and when required. In the case of travel and lodging, the cost will be paid according to the standard Chemonics’ policy. The duty Station of the said consultant will be Islamabad. 

Reporting:

The STTA will report to the sector Specialist under the CE Component Lead or any other designated staff and will work closely with other members of the CE team. 

Duration of the Assignment:

This assignment is planned to take place as per start date of on or around January 2021 and end date of on or around July 2021, for up to a total of 60 days Level of Effort (LOE). 

Deliverables:

Following are the key deliverables and their associated deadlines, and these will be discussed and agreed with the technical team and the STTA: 

No.	Activities / Deliverables	LOE Required
1	Meeting to discuss expectations, training delivery plan, points of contact, and reporting requirements	2 Days
2	Training Content Development, Design and Approvals	6 Days
3	Discussion of content with sector associations and sector outreach	2 Days
4	Light engineering: 15 Training Sessions Delivered from December 2020 to May 2021 (3 days per Training for planning, delivery and reporting)	45 Days
5	Analysis and shortlisting of MSMEs trained that can potentially be selected for BDS.	3 Days
6	Final Post Training Report with findings and potential new areas of trainings to be implemented	2 Days
Total		60

 

Training Schedule:

Considering the innovative service with little skilled resource availability, we anticipate a reasonable uptake for the training in multiple geographies focusing on the less represented areas as well.

Subject to sector interest the training/ consultancy would be announced to the LE sector in different sessions. The trainings/ Sessions will be conducted during the 2nd and 3rd quarter as per following table:

 

District/City	Target Dates
Daska	January 2021
Wazirabad	January 2021
Lahore	February 2021
Faisalabad	February 2021
Gujrat	March 2021
Karachi/ Hyderabad	March / April 2021
Note: The training dates / proposed training locations may be revised depending on demand from specific cities

 

Job Qualifications:

Advisor	Person Specifications	Level of Effort
Consultant (Light Engineering)	Bachelor’s degree in business administration/IT or related field. Master’s preferred Lean Manufacturing certifications preferred 3-5 years of experience in Lean Manufacturing engagement Experience in conducting trainings for SMEs especially the LE sector SMEs in past 12-24 months Previous experience of working with USAID projects or other donors in economic growth will be preferred Experience of working with donor projects in the SME space will be preferred Excellent written and verbal communication skills Excellent presentation skills	60 days