RAPAPORT... Jean Paul Tolkowsky talks with RDR about his factory in Thailand and plans to manufacture in Botswana.
Jean Paul Tolkowsky, great grandnephew of Marcel Tolkowsky, whose proportions for the “ideal” round brilliant cut diamond became an industry standard, has been setting some industry standards of his own. His branded line, Cut by Tolkowsky, of hearts & arrows, ideal cut, triple excellent diamonds, is manufactured in a state-of-the-art factory in Thailand that has been certified both SA8000 for working conditions, by Social Accountability International, and IS0 9000, for product quality, by the International Organization for Standardization. Now, Tolkowsky, managing partner, Exelco, is breaking new ground with a new “second generation” factory in Botswana.
Rapaport Diamond Report: Why did you choose Thailand for your factory?
Jean Paul Tolkowsky: We had a factory in Antwerp, with close to over 20 people, but the manufacturing was growing, and the whole idea was to try to take the quality up. At the time, nobody believed that outside of New York, Tel Aviv and Antwerp, you could find polishers who would be able to polish a Triple X diamond. So Thailand was a new approach. But it was just at the middle of the Asian crisis and we could find a lot of workers who had already polished stones.
We opened our factory, H & A Cutting Works, in Bangkok at the end of 2002. And today, we have a workforce of over 500 people and produce up to 8,000 carats of rough a month, and 3,500 carats of polished.
RDR: Was there any negative feedback in Antwerp that you opened a factory away from Belgium?
JPT: We don’t have a problem. I’m working a lot now in both Antwerp and Japan with the Belgian government. We advertise in Japan and we talk about Belgium and the heritage of the family, who has been in Antwerp for more than 100 years. The company’s world headquarters is in Antwerp and we employ close to 15 people there.
RDR: Why Botswana for your new factory?
JPT: In 2006, the company grew by 15 percent. The Thai factory is at its maximum. We had two possibilities — to grow our Thai factory or to do something else. Our vision was that the future of the industry is associated with the producing countries. Botswana is beginning to build the industry and we are part of it. Our factory will open in January 2008.
RDR: How will it compare to your Thailand operation?
JPT: In Thailand, it’s one big building that is 3,500 square meters (38,000 square feet). In Botswana, it will be a series of buildings. We bought 10,000 square meters (100,000 square feet) in Gaborone, near the new DTC/Debswana building. We plan, for the moment, for Botswana to have 500 workers in place in two and half years’ time.
It’s all about finding the right people. We know if they are happy in their working environment, they will stay with us and perform well. Of the 500 people we have in Thailand, we have lost, over the years, only 2 percent.
RDR: What makes the workers stay?
JPT: We take care of our workers. Our factory was the first in Thailand that was awarded an SA8000 Social Accountability certification. And we are ISO 9000 compliant. We went through the international organizations and worked with consultants.
We have more than ten people in our human resources (HR) department just taking care of the workforce. The workers have housing and food allowances. We set up a sort of bank for the workers, with no interest on the money lent. We have a canteen with food from three different restaurants. We have newspaper stands with publications from all different regions of the country. We have two soccer teams and two volleyball teams, and a fitness center. It’s completely different from the whole idea of “factory.” And we invest in the community. We are funding some of the local orphanages. We organize all kinds of community awareness seminars about drugs and AIDS. Each year, we try to do a little more.
RDR: Are all your workers local?
JPT: Out of 500 workers in Thailand, we have two foreigners. We became DTC [Diamond Trading Company] sightholders about two years ago; Exelco is the sightholder name. And six months later, we got our second sight in Botswana. We were one of the six companies — now it’s 15 — going through the DTC with the Botswana government. And I believe one of the main reasons we got our sight in Botswana and the factory we are building is because of our corporate governance and sense of social awareness.
RDR: Are you training workers on site?
JPT: We train all the Thai workers on site. And that’s what we’re doing for Botswana. The first 30 Botswanan workers are in Thailand for a year to learn and train on site. Six months later, we’ll have the second team of people coming and at the same time we’re building the factory. So in a year’s time, when the factory is built, then the Thai instructors with the team of locals will fly out. And in two and half years, we should be close to 500 workers, with no more than two or three foreigners.
RDR: How will Botswana be different?
JPT: I see Botswana as the next generation. We want the population to understand how diamonds relate to their country. We are building a museum to educate Botswanan youth on the history of the diamond industry.
RDR: How are you preserving pipeline integrity?
JPT: From the first person to the last in the factory, it’s more or less 25 people taking care of manufacturing one diamond, including quality control. As the diamond moves in the factory, you can track it with our bar code and computer software system, and see where the diamond is and who has touched it.
We can track everything, from the beginning, from when the rough stone left London and when it touches ground in Thailand. All stones from 1 carat and above come with a “Birth Certificate” that indicates the origin of the rough, its weight before polishing and the date it left the factory. And each piece also comes with a Certificate of Authenticity that the stone was cut and polished according to the ideal cut standards set by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919. When consumers buy a product, they want to know where it comes from and understand how it is made and that everything was done the right way. Our diamonds are like that.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2007. To subscribe click here.