OECS Private Sector Companies discuss their potential as World Class manufacturers
May 21st, 2007
Castries, St. Lucia, 21st May 2007:-OECS Member Countries are exploring approaches to enhance world class manufacturing standards.
World class manufacturers in the OECS possess cutting edge standards that make them significantly competitive particularly in the context of the Caricom Single Market and Economy. To this end the OECS Secretariat’s Export Development Unit OECSEDU, after surveying the status of world class manufacturing in the OECS has begun a sensitization project to further increase the percentage of world class manufacturers in the region.
A regional workshop on world class modifications attracting executive and senior management of OECS private sector companies was convened in Castries on Wednesday May 16th.
Occupational health and safety, quality systems, total productive maintenance and benchmarking are the topics being covered at the OECSEDU World Class Manufacturing Seminar: Director of OECSEDU Collin Bully says his organization is reintroducing the companies to all the practices deemed necessary to facilitate a sustainable world class manufacturing experience: “We are talking about how effectively their management systems operate, what productive systems they are pursuing, how do they address things like quality assurance and what sought of standards they are using. All of these lead in to getting companies export ready.
We have been
delivering certain programmes to them already and we have reached a stage now where we have come to the conclusion that all these different programmes we have done in management enhgancement, accounting systems, in good manufacturing practices are in fact components of world class manufacturing in terms of the standards set for the leading companies in the world. Already we are seeing that world class manufacturing (WCM) is one of the major benchmarks being used in the region. In countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago manufacturers are fairly well advanced and are using these sought of standards.”
There may be some twenty manufacturing businesses in the OECS who can be considered world class contenders.
These twenty world class Manufacturing houses include distilleries, breweries as well as producers of food and beautification goods. Most of these businesses are in the larger islands of the OECS. Bully emphasizes even if one may not be price competitive in the marketplace OECS manufactures can be made competitive by their efficiencies in operations such as providing good quality products, consistent delivery of high quality items and exceptional levels of customer service: “We pride ourselves in terms of the skills mix that we have developed within EDU and also in our ability to work with companies directly. We interface with them to identify technical interventions they should be following and then with providing the support in effecting the required actions."
The OECS Export Development Unit also provides mentoring to help ensure that the objectives of its stakeholders are met. The OECS Export Development Unit is primarily a technical assistance agency geared at developing in-house core competencies. The 9th European Development Fund and the Caribbean Trade and Private Sector Development programme are funding the World Class Manufacturing workshop.
