DCP Successors becomes first GMP-certified factory in Dominica

The Dominica Coconut Product (DCP) Successors Ltd, has become the first company in Dominica to be certified under the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by the Dominica Bureau of Standards (DBOS).

The company was officially awarded their certification on July 13th, 2021 at their factory in Jimmit.

Addressing the handing over ceremony, the Director of the DBOS Median LaRocque, emphasized that the occasion marks a  historic day not only for the companies involved but for the local manufacturing community in Dominica.

“Local manufacturing and agro-processing have slowly but steadily taken a significant role in the economic development of a country. Today, we can boast of a number of prominent local entrepreneurs engaged in the production of quality and competitive goods and products,” he said. “We honour one of those companies by awarding them certification for successfully implementing the international standard ISOIC 22716 for good manufacturing practices or GMP in cosmetics.”

According to LaRocque, it is their vision that this certification 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 Bureau’s director pointed out.

According to Technical Officer for quality at the DBOS, Heinrich Anselm, five auditors were utilized by the certifications 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.

Anselm also made known that the certification unit of the Bureau of Standards is embarking on a drive to promote the use of best practices and standards across all sectors in Dominica, having realized that through the use of best practices, they can improve the various sectors.

“We do hope that the company makes all required resources available to continue the system and also seek for continual improvement of the system so that you can be compliant when we go to the annual audit, to ensure that you can maintain your certification,” he said.

Commenting on the journey, General Manager of DCP successor Ltd, Damien Sorhaindo, said the process started two years ago and credits the dedication and commitment of the management and staff for the achievement.

“So yes, we’re very thankful that we’re here today receiving this certificate. But I just want everyone to be mindful that it’s a continuous journey that we’re all on together. So to ensure that we gain the trust, and continue to get that trust and have that trust from our customer base. It speaks a lot. So this is something that we’re going to have to continue working on,” he told his employees.

Echoing the words of Sorhaindo, Director of DCP successor ltd Yvor Nassief, thanked his team and the DBOS immensely while stressing that the journey to success has not been easy.

“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 highlighted the opportunity that the new certification now provides 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,” he explained. “We have that now. So we’ve been working on translating our labels and doing all the other stuff they require.”

For her part, quality manager at DCP successor ltd, Sherma Desire-George, stressed that the work of the company does not end here as such a program needs to be sustained for the factory.

“We aim to always provide quality products to our customers and consumers,” she vowed while calling on other manufacturing companies to work with the DBOS to enhance their business. “It may require a lot of work and a lot of effort. But once you have established standards for your business, it will be a benchmark to follow.

President of the Dominica Manufacturing Association (DMA) John Robin, praised the company for this important milestone and stressed that such an achievement is a win for the entire region.