Dankotuwa bags global recognition

Anjana Samarasinghe

Dankotuwa Porcelain the manufacturer of the world class tableware was awarded as the Sri Lankan Exporter of the Year 2005 at the 14th Presidential Export Awards held recently. It added another prestigious award to their cabinet at their office.

Chairman/ Managing Director of the Danokotuwa Porcelain Sunil G. Wijesinha said awards play a huge role in the development of the country. In the USA these types of award schemes have contributed to the development of quality American products and services.

"Everybody needs recognition and awards will motivate the business community to achieve more. The feeling of "We are working for an award winning company" will build a positive perception on your employees," he said.

Dankotuwa have been winning awards since 1989 at the Presidential Export Awards. Dankotuwa also won many prestigious awards at most recognised award ceremonies in the country including the NCE awards.

Explaining the secret of their success Wijesinha said they do not compromise on quality. Quality of our products and reliability of service are the secret of our success. Whether we are running at a loss we do not want to compromise on the quality. Being innovative and highly customised are our other components of the success.

Elaborating on their export markets, Wijesinha said the company exports 85 per cent of their monthly production and the balance is for local market. USA, Europe, India, Pakistan, South America and Middle East are their major export markets.

The company exports tableware under two brand names "Dankotuwa", and "Elan" and the brand name Laklain caters to the local market. Brand Elan is specially for designer shapes because in Europe people are more fashion conscious and demanding for new shapes in tableware.

Elan tableware is specially designed by expert designers. Shape and surface decoration are the two main elements in the high quality porcelain products.

In the international market the company has three arrangements for exports which are exported under their own brand and exporting as a core brand. The third arrangement is manufacturing tableware for other international brands.

However we are trying to promote our own brands, while manufacturing for other international brands, he

Elegant tableware displayed at the showroom. Pictures by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

 said.

Sri Lanka has the best raw material for tableware but to compete with countries like China, the company had to import raw material.

All platinum and gold lines used to decorate the surface of the Dankotuwa tableware are pure gold and platinum. Dankotuwa products comes with colour pigments of prime quality and assure food safety.

"Manufacturing is beco-ming more difficult specially in the ceramics sector which consumes a large amount of energy. "We consume Rs 25 million worth of energy every month. Gas, electricity and diesel prices peak high. High inflation rates and the bank interest rates too have negative impact on the business. Our profit margins decline day by day due to the high cost, he said.

The tableware industry will not be attractive in future. In the past if you visit any shopping mall in a developed country you could find at least two shops, which sell high-class tableware.

But today the situation has changed. Most of these shopping malls are filled with shops that sell digital devices and electrical appliances, Wijesinha said.

'Earlier people would be very proud to have a sit down dinner with elegant tableware to entertain their visitors but today the lifestyle has changed,' he said.

Dankotuwa Porcelain shifts more to the business-to-business market such as hotels and restaurants. A wide range of shapes and surface designs of Dankotuwa tableware keep them more competitive in the market.

"In future to survive in the tableware industry it is important to relocate the tableware factory in a country where energy prices are low. Bangladesh is an attractive destination for relocating since gas prices and electricity charges are low compared to Sri Lanka, he said.

Despite all these obstacles the company wants to have a wide range of export countries for their world class tableware.