NAMILCO honing plans for flour sales in Brazil

…as it marks 40th anniversary, ISO certification

As it observes its 40th anniversary, the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) is celebrating attainment of ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification and is working on penetrating the Brazil market by building a warehouse in Lethem and doing labels in Portuguese.

At a reception held at the Pegasus Hotel on Thursday evening, the company’s Managing Director Bert Sukhai said NAMILCO has come a long way since its establishment in 1969. Sukhai told the gathering, which included Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Commerce Minister Manniram Prashad and US Ambassador John Jones, that in the olden days of grocery shopping grandmothers and their loved ones, often bought flour from the neighbourhood shops in plastic or paper bags. He said, with a chuckle, that the shopkeepers would give the used 100 pounds cotton-made flour bags to customers who would then make shirts and other clothing.

In 1998 NAMILCO, a subsidiary of the Seaboard Corporation of the United States, decided to package flour products in small packets.  He said NAMILCO to date produces 18 different products in nine package sizes including its Maid Marian Range of products. Another product is expected to be launched in July this year, Sukhai related.

He said the company over the years invested in improving the production capacity of its Agricola, East Bank Demerara mill which has since increased by 20%. Some of the improvement measures included the retooling of the mill during the 90s followed by the installation of small packaging equipment in 2002. In 2007, a new 3000-metric tonne storage facility was established and the same year the company decided to go the route of ISO certification, Sukhai said. This initiative was in response to the 2005 Great Flood during which two shipments of PL 480 flour and wheat flour had to be stored at the Sanata Complex to avoid the effects of the flood.

Sukhai said employees played an integral role in the ISO certification process which saw NAMILCO passing an audit leading to the standardization mark. On May 1, the company achieved the ISO certification and Sukhai thanked his staff as well as consultants from neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago who assisted during the process. He also expressed appreciation to loyal customers who stayed with the company throughout the years. And he reasoned that in order to stay in business, a company has to be dynamic and seek out the needs of its customers. In this light, he said, NAMILCO has been able to show the Goliaths of the milling industry that the company can survive. Sukhai insisted that the company’s international achievement is not the end of the journey as efforts will be made to strive to maintain its ISO branding.

Dave Dannov, Vice President of the Seaboard Corporation, said his company’s strategic objective is to have loyal partners. He said Seaboard has other partners locally in addition to NAMILCO, including John Fernandes Ltd and just recently, Seaboard was able to acquire a 50% share in Fairfield Rice Mills located on the East Coast Demerara. He said Seaboard Corporation has been investing in rice production as the company has been able to source markets in Guatemala and Poland. Dannov said the company has stayed on course in Guyana and he took opportunity to express appreciation to employees of NAMILCO as well as the Government of Guyana and expressed hope that NAMILCO will be in business for another 40 years.

Minister Prashad told the gathering that NAMILCO has progressed over the years even with the effects of the global economic crisis facing the flour market. He said when the company decided to raise the price per bag of flour in May last year, the administration understood the situation at the time and intervened by subsidizing the company so that consumers could have purchased flour and flour products at a reasonable price. Prashad said the company has been cooperating with the administration as he noted that when the price of flour on the world market dropped in October last year, NAMILCO decided to simultaneously lower its price for flour. He said the Consumer Affairs Division of his ministry has been monitoring the price of flour on the local and international market to ensure consumers benefit from reasonable flour prices.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in brief remarks, said the time has come for Guyanese to work towards realizing their potential as he applauded NAMILCO on its achievement. He said Guyana is on the road to good and great things and there is “need for more NAMILCOs” as he challenged other manufacturing entities to work towards achieving similar standards.

Meanwhile, with the imminent opening of the Takutu Bridge, NAMILCO has its sights set on cross-border trade between Guyana and Brazil as the company intends to construct a warehouse facility in the coming months at Lethem. The company has already started its preparations for the official opening of the bridge by adding Portuguese to the labels of its packaged products.

NAMILCO is this country’s only flour mill and it imports wheat from the United States and Canada, and produces up to 37,000 tonnes of flour per year. The company was officially opened on May 17, 1969 by then Prime Minister LFS Burnham. As the first company to operate on a 24-hour basis, NAMILCO continued to progress. However, in the 1982 the company resorted to operating on a skeleton staff after flour was banned by Burnham. After the ban was lifted in 1986 the company renovated its plant at Agricola and continued to produce milled flour under the PL-480 programme which was negotiated between the Government of Guyana and the United States Department of Agriculture. NAMILCO has since provided employment to many Guyanese.