AN INTERNATIONAL QUALITY CERTIFICATE TO KESPRO LTD’S WHOLESALE DELIVERY OPERATIONS
On 20 December 2000, an ISO 9002 quality certificate was issued to Kespro Ltd to cover all of its wholesale delivery operations. Kespro is the first Finnish grocery wholesaler that has received this internationally valued quality certificate. Kespro was certified by Det Norske Veritas Oy/Ab.
The quality certification of Kespro’s wholesale delivery operations is part of the changing and development process that started in spring 1999 when the unit was established. Because the certification covers both the sales, marketing and deliveries, these operations were certified in two parts. The certificate was given in August 2000 to the four wholesale delivery units operating in Southern Finland. Now the certification was extended to the units in Oulu, Turku, Kuopio and Vantaa, the retail chains and the sales to industry and bakeries. The volume of the certified wholesale deliveries is very large - over 7 million delivery lines at an annual level. The cash & carry operations of Kespro will be certified next.
Kespro is part of Kesko Food. Kespro is responsible for the sales and marketing of food and non-food products to hotel, restaurant and catering customers (HoReCa), service stations, kiosks, bakeries and industry. The sales network covering the whole country is formed of a central unit, nine wholesale delivery units and 24 cash & carry outlets operating in Finland. In 1999, the company’s net sales amounted to EUR 762 million (about FIM 4.6 billion). The company has a staff of about 600 persons. Kespro has a total of 20,000 stock items and about 25,000 customers.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide association of national standardization organizations. The ISO 9000 quality certification gives a company and its customers assurance about that the management system meets the requirements of a certain internationally known system. The key principles in this quality system are customer orientation and continuous improvement. The compliance of a company’s operations with the standard is controlled regularly at intervals of 6 to 9 months.
Additional information:
Pirjo Terho, Manager of Office Administration, Kespro Ltd, tel. +358 1053 22110.
