Helping industry with quality seal

THE Hong Kong Polytechnic has won recognition for putting its ''quality stamp'' on a recent Hong Kong venture in China.

The institution received the ISO-9002 Quality Assurance Certification for systems it has developed for a new garment plant set up in China by a Hong Kong company.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the award, Hong Kong Polytechnic director Professor Poon Chung-kwong said the success of the collaboration spoke well for the mutually beneficial partnership between the polytechnic and industry.

The international market has become increasingly quality conscious, and local enterprises must develop comprehensive quality management systems if Hong Kong is to have a competitive edge, according to Professor Poon.

''As a service to the community, the polytechnic will do all we can to help the commercial and industrial sectors meet the challenges ahead in building up a quality production environment,'' he said.

The polytechnic represented a vast pool of human and physical resources, with about 1,000 academic staff and a wide range of high quality equipment at its disposal, Professor Poon said.

''In 1992/93 alone, a total of 617 academic and technical staff were involved in 326 consultancy projects, generating an income of $4.74 million.'' During the ceremony, Glorious Sun Holdings chairman Dr Charles C. K. Yeung presented the director with a $1 million donation.

The money will be used to boost academic exchange between the polytechnic's Institute of Textiles and Clothing and the China Textile University.

In 1992, the Hong Kong Polytechnic was invited by Glorious Sun Holdings to provide consultancy services for its newly set-up garment factory in Huizhou.

The consultancy team, led by Dr Yeung Kwok-wing, head of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, has been helping the company by designing systems for space allocation, human resources management, streamlining of work and documentation.