…CEO hails achievement as significant milestone

POWER Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI) on Friday night, at the Guyana Marriott, held a reception and awards ceremony to celebrate its recently achieved: International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9001 certification.

The ISO 9000 family of quality management systems standards is designed to help organisations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders, while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements, related to a product or service.

PPDI gained certification through the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB), which is an International Accreditation Service (IAS) accredited certification body for individuals, management systems and products on a wide range of international standards. As a global provider of audit and certification services, as well as training and examination services, PECB offers its expertise in multiple fields, including quality management systems, information security, business continuity, service management, risk management, health, safety and environment.

Streamline Management is an authorised reseller and partner of PECB and has been operating in Trinidad since 2007, serving companies in various industries. In 2008, the company was launched in Guyana with a local partner, and offers certification and training to local and international organisations.

Giving remarks on behalf of Streamline Management Guyana was Managing Director, Nadia Latchana. She told the gathering at the Guyana Marriott that the certification leads the way for the enhancement of any business performance and it saves cost and time in operating. Latchana related that PPDI took the initiative to have the company certified which is a plus, since there was a desire for excellence and it is worthy of recognition, given the steps taken to become certified on an international level.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of PPDI, Dr Aaron Fraser, in addressing the invitees, said the ISO 9001 certification was a milestone for PPDI, since the organisation had achieved much in a short period of time. He said that the process was “important and critical” for the company.

Dr Fraser added that PPDI, after weighing the pros and cons, decided that getting certified was the way to go and did so through guidance from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) via scrutiny.

Also making brief remarks was Chairman of the Board of Directors of PPDI, Mark Bender, who told the gathering that the company replaced Wartsila a few years ago, and some had serious reservations when the company was established here in Guyana. He noted that, so far, PPDI was a success as a result of its dedicated and committed staff and had been striving for excellence for the past two years, and they had gained such with the ISO 9001 certification.

Bender stated that PPDI would maintain the highest standards and best practices since the organisation was the number one custodian for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), adding that operations will soon be expanded to address the oil and gas sector.

Bender further added that certification was just another step towards the achievement of best practices, since the ISO 9001 was an internationally accepted certification standard and thus, there was indeed a cause for celebration for PPDI. At the event, several employees of PPDI, who are athletes, were awarded for their excellence in sports.

Those awarded were: – in the field of football, Daniel Wilson; in the field of table tennis, Joel Alleyne and in the field of hockey, Marzana Fiedtkou. Several others were presented certificates for the Grade 4 level qualification while, Martin Griffith, who guided employees through the training for ISO 9001 certification, was presented with a plaque for his efforts.

Also making remarks was Deputy CEO of PPDI, Gary Hall, and Director of Streamline Management, David Pope, who were also on hand to hand out certificates to employees of PPDI.