Astra management institute receives ISO certification

JAKARTA (JP): PT Astra International's Management Development Institute has received two 9001 ISO certificates for quality management design.

Astra's director Gagianto Kumala said the Association Francaise pour l'Assurance Qualite International had awarded the company its first ISO 9001 certificate, and the European Quality Network had awarded its second.

"The two ISO awards were presented on Feb. 20 this year, which fell right on Astra's 40th anniversary," he said.

Hagianto said the certificates were a good birthday present to encourage the company to face tougher competition.

"The certification also proves that our company leads others in terms of human resource development," he said.

Astra's institute, established in 1989 as the Astra Education and Training Center, was certified for its well designed management training programs.

The institute trains staff from the group's subsidiaries, dealers and suppliers.

There were four training programs of between one and three weeks. The lowest program was for supervisors and the highest for executive managers, he said.

They are trained at an education center in North Jakarta opened by President Soeharto on March 11.

The deputy chief of corporate Human Resources, Paulus Bambang, said the company had spent about Rp 50 billion on the 20,970- square-meter center, which was not yet completed.

Paulus said Astra would spend about Rp 7 billion a year running the center.

The institution had trained 14,429 Astra employees and 3,000 staff of its suppliers and distributors, he said.

The institution would train over 3,000 Astra staff this year and 500 staff of its suppliers and distributors, he said. (das)