Staff at Yuhan-Kimberly's factory in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, pose for a picture marking the unit's GMP acquirement. (Yuhan-Kimberly)

Yuhan-Kimberly, the country’s leading hygiene product manufacturer, earned the first Good Manufacturing Practice recognition for a sanitary pad manufacturing facility.

The firm on Wednesday said its factory in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, acquired the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s GMP accreditation, awarded to manufacturers that meet the authority’s production and quality control standards.

The Chungju plant is Yuhan-Kimberly’s manufacturing base for its female hygiene products, including Goodfeel and White sanitary napkins. According to the company, the unit employs a smart manufacturing system to regulate the production process in real time.

“A GMP recognition for quasi-drug products is not mandatory but, as the (nation’s) No. 1 sanitary pad manufacturer, we have prepared thoroughly over a long time to take responsibility and meet our consumers’ anticipations,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

In its race for socially and environmentally friendly business, Yuhan-Kimberly has been incorporating environmental, social and governance principles into its business management and aims for 95 percent of its sales to be of sustainable products by 2030.