State plantation company to get ISO 9002
State plantation company to get ISO 9002
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan
Nusantara (PTPN) III will be awarded an ISO 9002 certificate for
quality management tomorrow for its downstream rubber products, a
company executive says.
PTPN III Marketing Director Megananda told reporters yesterday
that the certificate would be presented by Underwriter
Laboratories Inc. (UL), a United States-based certification
agency which has audited, assessed and run a two-year training
program at the company's headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra.
Megananda said the certificate would automatically give PTPN
III access to quality certificates issued by Raad Voor
Accreditatie of the Netherlands and the Council of Canada
Accredited Registrar of Canada, both are affiliated with UL.
Last November, PTPN III was awarded an ISO 9002 certificate by
the domestic certification agency, Sucofindo Registrar for
Quality Assurance.
UL plans to award the ISO 9002 certificate to PTPN III for its
rubber glove and rubber thread products. Sucofindo had awarded
the company an ISO 9002 certificate for these two products and
rubber article products.
Megananda said the ISO certificate would help the company to
sell shares publicly in 1998.
"This is part of our preparation in that direction... But it's
still too early to talk in detail about the public offering," he
said.
PTPN III's exports of downstream rubber products go mainly to
Europe and the United States. According to Megananda, the
company's rubber gloves are all exported, while 50 percent of its
rubber thread products are exported.
Megananda said the company was planning to expand its rubber
glove production capacity from five million gloves a month to 10
million gloves next year.
The company manages 52,000 hectares of rubber plantations and
produces about 50,000 tons of dry rubber a year. The estates are
supported by 18 crumb-rubber, sheet and latex-processing
factories which have a total capacity of 15 to 30 tons of dry
rubber a day.
The firm manages 85,000 hectares of oil palm plantations which
feed 10 processing plants, with a capacity of between 30 and 60
tons of fresh fruit clusters a day. PTPN III also manages 9,000
hectares of cacao plantations. (pwn)