Passi Mechanical Works gets ISO 9001 certification

It was year 1962, when a small workshop owner Sher Singh Passi, a resident of village Phullanwal, planned a fruits orchard in his 3 acre plot on Pakhowal Road on the outskirts of Ludhiana.

For the upkeep and maintenance of the orchard, he required garden tools and other implements. But they were not available in the Indian market and were imported from Europe.

It was then that Sher Singh Passi decided to manufacture his own tools with resources amounting to just Rs 5,000 and set up the first such garden tools and implements manufacturing plant of north India. Now, his three sons and their families are taking their fathers business forward.

Passi Mechanical Works, catering to the needs of horticulturists and farmers since the year 1962, will soon be an ISO 9001 company.

"No matter what, we have never compromised on quality. When my father started manufacturing garden tools and implements, we showed them to the government. At the time, implements from Europe were very expensive and were available in very few cities. Our implements were of high quality, which were immediately approved by the Indian authorities. Following this, the government stopped importing garden tools and implements from Europe and our company was given most of the orders,''Sarbag Singh Passi, the eldest of three sons of Sher Singh Passi said.

In the early 1960's the Punjab Agricultural University was set up. "I still remember when my father and I used to visit the department of horticulture and department of floriculture and landscaping at Punjab Agricultural University and meet the scientists and engineers there," he said

They tested our implements and approved them. Such initial successes helped us believe in ourselves and that is why we still manufacture the best quality tools in the country,'' Passi said.

When the Rose Garden of Chandigarh was being set up, Passi Mechanical Works supplied all the tools.

"The government also displayed our implements and garden tools at Cologne in West Germany, at the National Agriculture Fair in New Delhi and other places. Presently, we are exporting them to Oman, Australia, Italy and UK,'' said Sarmukh Singh Passi, one of the three brothers.

Passi Mechanical Works, manufacturing more than 30 types of garden tools and implements, was also conferred the Bharat Udyog Rattan Award by Government of India, Rashtriya Ekta Award by Late Giani Zail Singh and personalities like Manohar Singh Gill, former Chief Election Commissioner, Justice R S Sarkaria from Supreme Court of India, S S Boparai, Vice Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala and many more are regular visitors of Passi Mechanical Works. "They often visit and share their valuable ideas with us,'' Sarbag added.