Expansion, product diversification and exports top the strategic planning of National Plastic Factory Limited (NPF), a major plastic products manufacturer.

Located at the old industrial area in Riyadh's First Industrial City, NPF produces a wide range of plastic products such as ceiling light shades, spacers, buckets, drums, jerry-cans, water bottles, dustbins, as well as a variety of household items, industrial containers and bottles of different sizes and shapes, buckets of different size and shape for filling grease, paints, adhesive and flower pots of various sizes.

NPF, which commenced production in 1976, has experienced good growth over the years and is now planning expansion to meet the demand. The company has already started construction activities in Riyadh's Second Industrial Area and Madinah Industrial City as part of the expansion, says Shaher Al-Idrissi, general manager.

Also, NPF has plans to diversify its products range.

"We have introduced a lot of new products over the past few years such as ceiling light shades, different sizes of foods boxes and with two clips cover, different sizes and shapes of bottles for filling detergent, different types of plastic furniture such as folding chairs, garden chairs and tables," says Al-Idrissi.

NPF gets its raw materials mainly from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and some grades of plastic raw materials from local suppliers as well as from abroad.

In a major move towards quality assurance, NPF secured ISO9002 certification from Lloyds Register Quality Assurance in November last year.

The ISO certification is helping the company in its export drive. "Our export figures are seeing an increase since our accreditation to ISO 9002," says Mohammed Amin, sales and export manager.

NPF sells 80 per cent of its production in the domestic market. The rest is exported to other GCC countries.

"Our exports have increased steadily over the past years," Amin points out. "The main reason for this growth is the introduction of high-quality new products in the export market and also because we have established a list of regular clients in most of the GCC countries.

"We have plans to increase our exports considerably," says Amin.

Amin says there is stiff competition in the local market as more and more new companies are entering the field. "Though the competition is severe, due to our vast sales network, expert marketing personnel and the quality of our products, we are making steady progress," he says.

"We expect bright prospects for 2000-2001," he concludes.