PORTALJABAR, DISTRICT. GARUT - Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the economic drivers in Indonesia. Empowerment of MSMEs continues to be carried out by the government, both central and regional governments.

One of the efforts to increase the competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (UKM) products carried out by the Garut Regency Regional Government (Pemdakab) is by presenting a packaging house or Garut Packaging House (GPH).

GPH is here to help increase the competitiveness of SME products, especially from the marketing aspect, especially from the packaging side. The Head of the Garut Regency Cooperatives and SMEs Service (Diskop UKM), Ridzky Ridznurdin, said that the packaging aspect was one of the weaknesses.

"So the competitiveness of these products becomes less visible, yes, they can't compete with other products from other cities," he said at the UKM Diskop office, Garut Regency, Wednesday (20/3/2024).

Ridzky said that GPH is managed by a cooperative, which includes creative young people who understand packaging, marketing and digital marketing.

The presence of GPH, continued Ridzky, was greeted enthusiastically by business actors, in fact, he also admitted that he was surprised when customers from this packaging house were not only in the Garut area, but also from other areas such as Banjar, Ciamis, or areas in East Priangan.

"So we do not rule out the possibility of receiving orders or services needed by SMEs outside Garut Regency, so enthusiasm is very high," he said.

Ridzky explained that the Garut Packaging House concept is very inclusive, because there is no minimum order for packaging printing, as well as free packaging design consultations.

As for future steps in developing GPH, continued Ridzky, his party wants to expand the function of the packaging house, not just for packaging, but in the future it can help with digital marketing education, consultation regarding Business Identification Numbers (NIB), halal certification, and additional equipment, so that This GPH scale could become the largest and strongest packaging house in East Priangan.

GPH itself is one of the innovations promoted in the 2024 National Regional Development Awards (PPD) Assessment.

For Ridzky, this is a source of pride, although his party is now continuing to try to fill in the shortcomings of this innovation.

He also hopes that the presence of GPH can be a total solution for business actors, because this place will not only talk about packaging, but also provide other services that help business actors move up in class.

"So upgrading to class begins with business formalization, that's why GPH also has NIB services, so it's not just packaging," he said.

He invited business actors to utilize and access GPH, to improve product quality and the competitiveness of business actors.

GPH Manager Yoshi Haidir Murad said that at his place his party serves several packaging productions ranging from standing pouches, boxes, and so on.

Not only that, they also provide printing of stickers, business cards, tickets, ice cream cone packaging or paper, and so on.

One of the services that is widely used by business people, continued Yoshi, is a free packaging design consultation service. Moreover, during this consultation, business actors were also provided with education regarding packaging that meets the standards of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).

Yoshi said, so far GPH contains 6 workers, starting from himself as a manager and also backing up packaging pattern design, a graphic designer, 3 operators, and one person in charge of packaging finishing.

Garut Packaging House targets a minimum of 20 packaging designs in 1 month, so that since operating in February last year, more than 200 SMEs have been served by Garut Packaging House.

"For regular customers at the Garut Packaging House, there are actually more than 60 continuous customers, and starting production every day, even every week, we have stocked the MSMEs," said Yoshi when interviewed at GPH, Monday (26/2/2024 ).

"So, for example, if we are sure about the sales, we will stock 50 standing pouches or packages a week," he said.

Every day GPH can produce 300 standing pouches, and several other productions ranging from stickers, tickets, and so on, with the price range for producing standing pouch packaging ranging from IDR 1,370 to IDR 3,250.

All access to GPH services, continued Yoshi, has been done digitally, where his party has provided a linktree on GPH Instagram, which can be accessed by business people who want to use the facilities at the Garut Packaging House. However, it does not rule out the possibility that if a business actor comes to GPH, his party will still serve him.

His party continues to socialize this GPH program to the regions, including visiting Bunisari Village, Malangbong District, while bringing packaging samples and providing education to business actors. He has a big dream that GPH can become the largest printing service provider in East Priangan.

Hani Hardiani (41), a business actor who has used GPH facilities, said that the presence of the Garut Packaging House is very beneficial for business people, especially as GPH offers the advantage of packaging printing without a minimum order. Hani hopes that the results of packaging printing at GPH in the future can be even faster.

"Yes, it's very helpful, because in other places there has to be a minimum (order), the minimum is sometimes 500 pcs or a thousand, but here it's good like that. There's no minimum, so whatever we make, it's guaranteed to be served," he said.