| Type | Heavy engineering and arms manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 1971 |
| Headquarters | Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Key people | Lt Gen Ayyaz Salim Rana (Chairman) |
| Employees | 4,500 civilian 1,950 military (as of 2004) |
Heavy Industries Taxila (abbreviated HIT) is the backbone of Pakistan's engineering industry for the Pakistan Armed Forces, being a combination of multiple industries that has grown into a large military complex since 1980. It consists of six major production units and their support facilities, staffed by over 6500 workers. About 30% of the 6500 employees are uniformed military personnel.[1]
HIT has facilities for overhaul, rebuild and progressive manufacturing of main battle tanks (MBT), armoured recovery vehicles (ARV), armoured personnel carriers (APC) and other armoured vehicles of both eastern and western armoured vehicles. HIT has developed and currently manufactures the Al-Khalid MBT.
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With the growing fleet of T-59 tanks manufactured by China, the Pakistan Army decided that a facility to maintain and rebuild the tanks was needed. As a result the Heavy Rebuild Foundry Project (P-711) was conceived, with Chinese assistance and technology. In the late 1970s the Heavy Rebuild Factory (HRF) was established in Taxila to undertake rebuild and modernization of tanks.
The capabilities of HRF significantly increased with the growing experience acquired in enhancing firepower, mobility and protection of various armoured vehicles. As a result the facility gradually became a multi-factory environment and in September 1992 was renamed Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT).
Today the main activities include manufacture of armoured fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers and tank guns and in-house manufacture of a wide range of components required. An infrastructure has been established to enhance interaction with the indigenous industries of Pakistan, for the development of materials and components.
Heavy Industries Taxila comprises various defence factories and facilities:
To rebuild and modernize tanks/armoured recovery vehicles of Chinese and Eastern European origin.
Heavy Rebuild Factory (M-Series) carryies out rebuild of tracked vehicles of US origin. The factory specializes in M113 Series vehicles.
The M113 Family of vehicles are manufactured in this factory using CNC machines CAD/CAM system and manufacturing technology on MIG and TIG aluminum welding, radiographic inspection, chemical cleaning, coating and painting according to military specifications.
The Gun factory has the capability of machining barrels ranging from 105 mm to 203 mm caliber. It manufactures 105mm gun barrels for upgraded T-59 & T-69 tanks. Each barrel is auto-frettaged and subjected to high precision work on state of the art machines.
Tank Factory is equipped with modern manufacturing facilities, including 7-axis CNC machines, for flexible heavy-duty machining operations and a complete infrastructure for hull and turret manufacture.
This production facility has been established to provide engineering support to all the factories of HIT. Equipped with CNC machines, it undertakes manufacture of components, assemblies, tools, dies, gauges and arranges development of spare parts through the vendor industry. It also provides repair and maintenance support to machinery and equipment installed in HIT.
This is a supporting organization which undertakes Quality Assurance of finished products with quality assurance laboratories which test physical and chemical properties of production materials, calibration facilities are available to ensure accuracy of tools and gauges used in rebuild and manufacturing processes.
This complex manufactures sugar plants, cement plants, boilers, cranes, road construction machinery, brick-making machinery and other equipment to cater for the needs of Pakistan Railways and other civilian organisations.
HIT has undertaken R&D projects on required basis wherein it has carried out successful R&D in the following areas:
HITEC University has been conceived as a part of HIT Education City (HITEC). The city has already established instructional programmes at school and college levels. The main objective of educational programmes has been the preparation of youth who could catalyze a well knit society with accumulation of positive social capital. As a part of the same vision HIT has undertaken the task of establishing a high quality higher education institution in the name of HITEC University. This has become imperative in view of the expanding frontiers of knowledge which have caused intense global competition in economic development. Since HIT itself is involved in high level production of machinery and equipment, it is all the more necessary that it receives research support from a knowledge generating institution for improvement, innovation and development. The proposed University is likely to fulfill this role.