| James Kon |
WITH an established history of 35 years in the local construction industry, Readymix is committed to staying in Brunei Darussalam, with the launch of its new Kilanas Mulaut batching plant yesterday.
The estimated price tag of the first wet-mix concrete plant in Brunei Darussalam is BND3 million.
The new batching plant was launched during a ceremony by Chairman Philip Forest; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nicholas Cocks; Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jonathon Cocks; General Manager Yap Chin Tek; Certification Manager of ISO Accreditation and Certification from Bureau Veritas Ram Desai; Head of Industrial Management at DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) Daniel Leong; and Senior Business Development Manager at the Australian Embassy in Brunei Darussalam Josie Abdullah.
In an interview on the sidelines of the launching, Nick Cocks explained, “In concrete manufacturing, we have two types: wet and dry. This is a wet-mix plant, where the concrete is mixed in the plant, before it gets into the truck.
“Up till now, most concrete in Brunei has been made using the dry system, where the materials are mixed in the truck. In this case, the materials are mixed before entering the truck, so the quality control is higher and the consistency of the products much better.”
Regarding the capacity of the new plant, he said, “We can produce 80 cubic metres per hour, which means we can load 10 trucks in one hour.
“Readymix has been in Brunei for 35 years, and we accept that the construction industry has cycles. At the moment, we are in the down cycle, and the industry is slow. However, we are here for the long-term, so we made the investment to set up the new batching plant with the new wet mix technology, as well as recertified using the latest International Organization Standardization (ISO), because our commitment is long-term in Brunei Darussalam.”
Readymix also has four other batching plants which are at Kampong Sungai Akar, Bunut, Telisai and Anduki. The expansion aims to deliver satisfactory services across the four districts of Brunei Darussalam.
On future projects, he said, “This year, we are doing a lot of work in Brunei industrial fertiliser projects, which will continue until next year or early 2020. We also hope to be involved in phase two of Pulau Muara Besar.”
Prior to the launching ceremony, Readymix received its certification for ISO Quality Management System 9001: 2015, which is an upgrade from the 9001:2008 version.
The certification was handed over by Ram Desai to Philip Forrest.
Ram Desai said, “Making existing quality management systems compliant to the revised standard in a time bound manner is one of the important tasks, which Readymix has achieved before the deadline established by the ISO.
“On this occasion, I herewith congratulate the entire team at Readymix who worked in a focussed manner to achieve this milestone, as well as for the commissioning of the new batching plant at Kilanas.”
He added, “The main objective of ISO 9001:2015 is to implement a result oriented Quality Management System by adopting risk-based thinking and enhanced leadership commitments at all levels in the organisation.
This is a tested and proven mechanism across the world, and I hope that Readymix will also experience this in the near future.”
Readymix was the first company in the Sultanate to achieve an ISO 9001:2008 certification in 1994. The ISO 9001 certification is an international recognition of the world’s leading quality management standard.
The upgraded certification signifies that Readymix has been audited and found to be in accordance with the requirements of the management system standards in the scope of ‘Manufacture, Delivery and Testing of Ready Mixed Concrete. Manufacture and Supply of Reinforced Concrete Square Pile’.