Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited was formed as a joint venture between The Dawood Group and Hercules Inc of USA in 1968. It was the first private sector venture in Pakistan to receive loan from the World Bank. Dawood Hercules produces Urea fertiliser under the brand name "Bubber Sher". Bubber Sher(r) Urea has consistently delivered quality and value for more than 37 years and today it has become a household name for the farmers.
The Dawood Hercules Plant is strategically located at 28 Km from Lahore near the historic city of Sheikhupura to service the Central Punjab market. The complex was constructed by M/s Fluor Corporation, USA and was commissioned on 13th November 1971. The manufacturing facilities have been frequently upgraded as per the need and demand of time.
DHCL is considered World Class in its operations and for the last three years has managed consistent capacity utilisation of 100% and above. It has the privilege of receiving the KSE top 25 Companies Award 10 times in the last 13 years and being the first fertiliser manufacturing company to obtain ISO-9000:2000 certification. It also has to its credit attainment of 7 million Safe Man Hours milestone in 2008 and ISO-14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 Certifications for Environment and Safety Performance, respectively.
Our remarkable operational achievements have been the outcome of the commitment and collective efforts of the employees of all cadres. The management of our Company is fully conscious of this fact and consistently endeavours to create and maintain an environment where everybody can fully realise his/her potential. The management is revamping the Performance Management System to establish and maintain a productivity and performance driven culture in the Company.
DHCL prides itself in its commitment to operational excellence achieved through training and development. Its Graduate Engineers Training Programme, now in its 25th intake, features the induction of 3 Female Engineers and is an affirmation of its values concerning equal opportunity and diversity. As a policy, it is expanding and encouraging greater participation of females in non traditional career options.
The Company continues to invest in the professional development of its employees and develops a detailed training plan through proper training needs analysis (TNA). Flexible office timings have been introduced for employees working at the Head Office of the Company to enhance their productivity and facilitate them in maintaining a desirable work-life balance.
DHCL uses a structured approach in identifying, assessing and controlling risks to support better decision making for the effective and efficient use of resources. It maintains HSE as a core value which is upheld by our commitment to create an incident-free environment, conduct business with minimal adverse environmental impact, integrate HSE into all of our business activities, define HSE value, and demonstrate industry leadership in HSE performance.
These HSE standards not only create value for the Company and its people, but also for other stakeholders and the country on the whole. The main objective of Dawood Hercules is to ensure that all its operations and processes follow procedures that protect people, property and the environment. These include our interaction with our employees, clients, contractors, suppliers, partners, customers and the surrounding communities. It is imperative that our employees conduct their duties and responsibilities in compliance with the applicable law and industry standards relating to health and safety at the workplace.
DHCL is striving to become a leading enterprise with a strong sense of social contribution. For us, Corporate Social Responsibility means "the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to the economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large."
The weekly free eye camp started in November 2006 at the DHCL Plant continues to be a huge success and the under-privileged people of the adjoining communities have greatly benefited from this project initiated by the company. To-date, 103 camps have been held recording over 22,500 visits and 1,056 cataract operations. All expenses related to surgery including medicines, examinations and procedures are borne by the Company. A weekly Women Health Camp has also been set up to cater for the medical problems of the underprivileged women living in the localities surrounding the Plant. It provides quality medical services, free medicines as well as free ultrasound facility to the patients. By the end of 2008, 3,573 patients visits were recorded in 28 camps.
TCF School - Dawood Hercules Campus School set up in collaboration with The Citizen Foundation (TCF) in the village of Noorpur Virkan opposite the Companys plant in Sheikhupura is in the second year of its operation. More than 250 needy children from the local community are getting quality education in this institution. The maintenance of 37,000 trees planted in the land surrounding the DH plant is carried out on regular basis during the year. Four water purification plants have been installed to provide clean drinking water to the community and four more will be installed within a year.
Due to the law and order situation in the Swat Valley a majority of its 1.5 million inhabitants have abandoned their homes and taken refuge elsewhere. Dawood Hercules has dispatched 400 bags containing food items (flour, rice, tea and sugar) besides blankets, and toys for homeless children and adults. The powerful earthquake that jolted Ziarat district and northern & central parts of Balochistan on 29th October 2008 left thousands of people homeless, who were in dire need of food and protection against the rapid onset of a chilling winter. DHCL CSR Committee arranged 300 quilts and 150 cotton blankets which were dispatched within 48 hours after the tragedy struck, to Quetta, on 31st October 2008.
2008 has been a record year in every aspect of operational and financial performance for the company with higher ever production and sales, both in value and volume terms. The Company plans to invest resources in its systems and processes to make them exceedingly efficient to meet the current and future challenges.