Global Testing and Consultancy for Rubber (G-TACR)
G-TACR which is an acronym for Global Testing and Consultancy for Rubber (Figure 1) is the newly formed one stop centre for rubber at the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) under the NKEA project EPP#3 with the aim to increase world market share of latex gloves to 65% (RM30 billion) by year 2020. Under this project, MRB is responsible for the sub project E1 which is to consolidate MRB testing facilities for latex and latex based products in order to improve delivery system for commercial latex testing services offered by the MRB.
Figure 1. Logo of Global Testing and Consultancy for Rubber (G-TACR).
G-TACR main activities together with operation flow of the centre are as shown in Figure 2 and comprises of fifteen (15) accredited laboratories as listed in Table 1 with various functions complementing each other and biological lab for some biological test. These laboratories provide specialised testing services and are accredited with the quality management system MS ISO/IEC 17025 under the Laboratory Accreditation Scheme of Malaysia (SAMM) and recognized by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ILAC-MRA).
Figure 2. Operation flow of G-TACR.
Laboratory services include material or product testing that include chemical analysis, physical testing, tyre testing, calibration of equipment and environmental related testing that follow either in-house test methods or MS, ASTM, BS/EN, ISO, JIS etc. Some biological testing are also available although the test is not accredited as yet.
TABLE 1: LIST OF G-TACR LABORATORIES AND NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
| No | Laboratory | Current email address |
New email address |
| 1 | Physical Testing Lab | ptl@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-physical@lgm.gov.my |
| 2 | Tyre Testing Lab | tyre_lab@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-tyre@lgm.gov.my |
| 3 | Calibration Lab | calibration@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-calib@lgm.gov.my |
| 4 | Chromatography Lab |
upb-chromatography@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-chroma@lgm.gov.my |
| 5 | SMR Control Lab | upb_smr@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-smr@lgm.gov.my |
| 6 | Raw Rubber Testing Lab, KL |
wetlab@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-rawrubber@lgm.gov.my |
| 7 | Latex Testing Lab, KL | upb-latex@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-latex@lgm.gov.my |
| 8 | Latex and Raw Rubber Testing Lab, Sg Petani |
upbsp@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-sp@lgm.gov.my |
| 9 | Agroanalytical Lab |
agroanalytical-lab@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-agro@lgm.gov.my |
| 10 | Protein Testing Lab | upb_protein@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-protein@lgm.gov.my, gtacr-powder@lgm.gov.my |
| 11 | Spectroscopy Analysis Lab | nmrtl@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-spectro@lgm.gov.my |
| 12 | Thermal Analysis Lab |
upb-thermal@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-thermal@lgm.gov.my |
| 13 | Microscopy Lab | semtl@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-micros@lgm.gov.my |
| 14 | Pollution Control Lab → Eco Analytical Lab |
pcl@lgm.gov.my | gtacr-eco@lgm.gov.my |
| 15 | Biological Lab | | gtacr-bio@lgm.gov.my |
| 16 | Ad-hoc Testing Lab → Contingency Lab |
| gtacr-conti@lgm.gov.my |
Below are contact details of the centre:
Address:
Global Testing and Consultancy for Rubber (G-TACR)
Centre of Excellence (COE)
Malaysian Rubber Board,
47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: +603-6145 9471
Fax: +603-6141 2907
General Email: gtacr@lgm.gov.my
Website: www.lgm.gov.my/gtacr
Toll Free: 1-800-88-48227 (GTACR)