DCP Gets New Certification

On July 13th, 2021, the management and staff of the Dominica Coconut Product (DCP) Successors Ltd, celebrated the victory of becoming the first company in Dominica to be certified under the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by the Dominica Bureau of Standards (DBOS).

During the brief handing over certification ceremony, Technical Officer for quality at the DBOS Heinrich Anselm explained that five auditors were utilized by the Certification Unit to ensure DCP successors met all the requirements of the standard.

The areas covered were personnel, equipment, raw materials and packaging, production, finished products, the quality control laboratory, the treatment of products that are out of specification, waste management, subcontracting, deviations, complaints and recalls, change controls, internal auditing, as well as documentation.

Director of the DBOS Median LaRocque emphasised that the occasion marks a historic day not only for the companies involved but for the local manufacturing community here in Dominica.

According to LaRocque, it is their vision that this certification for successfully implementing the international standard ISOIC 22716 for GMP in cosmetics will help the company gain access to regional and international markets armed with the trust and confidence of consumers.

Some of the benefits of the certification, he noted, include improved management skills, improved efficiency, and productivity as well as advanced marketing benefits.

"It reduces the frequency and cost of inspection by the importing country. It increases the earnings of the producers. It facilitates trade competitiveness, increased problem findings and improved solution-finding. It reduces nonconformity products, services and processes. It improves the relationship with the supplier and better knowledge of the company by the employees. It also motivates the employees to better understand customer needs. It improves customer satisfaction and overall improvement in communication," the director said

While commenting on the journey, the Director of DCP Successor Ltd Yvor Nassief pointed out that it hasn't been the easiest.

"When we walked into DCP, April, May 2017, there wasn't a shred of paper on the compound...There were no people, there was no documentation, there was no formula, there was no process. So we had to start from scratch formulating everything," he said.

Nassief went on to highlight that DCP's new certification now provides an opportunity for his company to export outside of the region.

"The domestic market is too small for DCP. And we're at a stage now where CARICOM especially with the challenges we've had in certain markets is too small for us. There are times when we have soaps we have no orders because the market is small. So we wanted to break into the Dominican Republic, which is a huge market twice the size of CARICOM. But we have not been able to do so without the GMP certification. We have that now. So we've been working on translating our labels and doing all the other stuff they require," the director said.

Echoing the words of Nassief, General Manager of DCP successor Ltd Damien Sorhaindo highlighted that the process started two years ago and credits the dedication and commitment of the management and staff for the achievement.

For her part, the quality manager at DCP Successor Ltd. Sherma Desire-George stressed that the work of the company does not end here as such a programme needs to be sustained.

Adding his congratulatory remarks, President of the Dominica Manufacturing Association (DMA) John Robin, showered praise on the company for this important milestone and stressed that such an achievement is a win for the entire region.