ISO-9000 recipients

ISO-9000 recipients

JAKARTA (JP): Only 70 companies in Indonesia have thus far
received IS0-9000 quality and management certification, far less
than the number in neighboring countries, says a senior surveyor.

P. Djoko Tjiptadi, a director of PT Sucofindo, the state-owned
surveyor company, said yesterday that the number of ISO-9000
certificate recipients in other members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is much higher, reaching 400 in
Malaysia and over 500 in Singapore.

"Most Indonesian companies still pay more attention on
marketing rather than improving the quality of their products,"
he said in Medan.

Speaking at a seminar on the ISO-9000 quality and management
certification, Djoko was quoted yesterday by Antara as saying
that the marketing of products and the improvement of quality
would be of similar importance.

"Adopting the international quality standards is not mandatory
but it is the only answer in facing the free market era," he
said.(hen)