WINDHOEK – Namibia Plastics (NP) has become the first plastic manufacturer in the country recognised as a leading industrialist on the global front. NP was last week accredited with a global British Retail Consortium (BRC) certificate, specifically for its Packaging Standard in the High Hygiene Risk audit category.
With its manufacturing plant barely one year old, NP is already building a strong brand, especially across borders, all thanks to its recently acquired Reifenhauser Evolution 3-Layer Blown Film Line machine that specialises in stretch hoods – a rare service in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
“Due to this demand, coupled with our technological capabilities, Namibia Plastics is fast becoming the number one supplier of stretch hoods in Africa. Reifenhauser is well-known as a leading provider in the world and relies on the know-how gained over more than 100 years of the company’s history,” said NP Chief Executive Officer Johan Struwig.
The BRC first introduced its Global Standard for Food Safety – a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmark standard – in 1998. Today, the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety has almost 16 000 certified sites in over 100 countries around the world. BRC certification is an international recognition for food quality, safety and responsibility. It is a globally recognised UK trade organisation.
“As anyone in the food safety community can attest, BRC accreditation is a vigorous demanding exercise and for a company that is still an ‘infant’ in the packaging manufacturing industry, this has been a major achievement for the NP group. BRC Certification means your facility is operating on global standards and we are competing with the major players in the packaging industry worldwide. This certification serves as guarantee to our clients that we are delivering packaging that was manufactured based on global Product Safety, Legality and Quality Management System principles, ensuring international compliance for food safety that meets expected quality levels,” said NP Quality Assurance (QA) Manager José-Luis Pretorius.
NP recently added The Anderson Lid Company (ALC) in Cape Town, an international key player (BRC, ISO 9001 and the FDA accredited) in helping customers move their goods safely and effectively, to their list of clientele. ALC “As part of our mission we highlight the critical necessity for international quality standards. Our Supplier Development Programme requires that we will only work with suppliers who are BRC approved. This gives us the framework to jointly monitor and develop improvements based on worldwide standards of safety, hygiene and system standards. ALC saw good alignment with the Vision, Mission and Values of NP. It is pleasing to highlight that NP achieved a BRC A – Grade certification, and this is evidenced also by the quality of the manufacturing facility. The team is enthusiastic, motivated, customer focused and shows commitment to meet the challenge of the ALC high standards. We are pleased to be able to partner with NP as part of our Supply Chain Development programme,” said Polymer Manager Ingrid Kerssen.
Another NP client is MAPEI South Africa, which is an international player in the building industry, with presence in more than 35 countries. Senior Production Manager: Powder and Liquid Plant at MAPEI South Africa, Itanje Seymore, said: “We certainly foresee building a relationship with Namibia Plastics, the good quality at reasonable prices, together with great customer service and technical support will simply add significant value to MAPEI South Africa.”
NPs’ first export this year was to Oranje Soutwerke, member of the Blaauw’s Group in South Africa. Oranje Soutwerke is an ISO22000 certified salt processing plant with operations in Walvis Bay and South Africa (Upington) and produces the highest quality Atlantic sea salt (for the past 20 years). cAmos Boonzaaier – General Manager: Blaauws Group Namibia, said: “Due to the wide product range provided by Namibia Plastics – with the supply of a high quality print FFS sheeting, we are excited to build a great relationship with NP. And the fact that it is manufactured in Namibia, makes ordering and logistics more hassle free. Other services from NP will include Blue tint bag liners; Clear baler bags; Slip sheets as well as Top sheets.”
Senior Sales Manager for Reifenhauser Africa Sascha Skora (based in Germany) recently paid a visit to the NP manufacturing plant. “Namibia Plastics is the first company in Namibia operating an evolution blown film line, which will enable it to offer consistent high-quality flexible packaging films to the industry. This means that their customers will have converting benefits such as higher converting speeds and simply a nicer packaging to the end user.”
NP’s current local large volume manufacturing clientele include Namibia Breweries Limited, Namib Poultry Industries, Tongaat Hulett, Gendev Fishing, Etosha Fishing, Seawork Fish Processors, and Tunacor Fisheries, amongst others.