DINING/NEWS
 

Prestigious awards to Nippolac

Silicone Coatings (Pvt) Ltd, Manufacturers of Nippolac Paints, was presented two prestigious awards at the recently held CNCI Achiever of Industrial Excellence Awards held by the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries at Hotel Hilton, Colombo. This adds to the impressive collection of awards Nippolac has won over the years.

Silicone Coatings (Pvt) Ltd. is one of the largest Paint manufacturers in the Sri Lankan Market, providing paints and coatings to a wide variety of customers. Since 1979, Nippolac has been dedicated to introducing customers its latest innovations, the finest quality and the best customer service in the paint industry in Sri Lanka.

With the definite vision of Raja Hewabowala, Founder and Chairman of the Nippolac Group, the Group is geared to reach newer levels of excellence every year. He has won many awards as the Entrepreneur of the Year and is a pioneer industrialist, having started from relatively small beginnings in Matara.

There are more than 650 employees who are Nippolac’s greatest assets today. By encouraging individual achievement, teamwork and diversity, Nippolac is committed to high performance at all levels.

From its headquarters in Matara and Colombo and the production and distribution centres located at these two places, the Company concentrates on efficient operations in order to offer an admirable service through a genuine effort to be innovative in all its product categories with a view to serving the paint requirements of its customers and dealers.

Its (island-wide) distributional network manned by its enthusiastic, winning sales team, is target-oriented and viable. Silicone Coatings (Pvt) Ltd. is the only SLS and ISO certified Sri Lankan Paint Company that gives confidence to the customer with a personalised after-sales-service backed by a Trained Technical Support Team.

Silicone Coatings (Pvt) Ltd., today, has a wide range of products and applications. Nippolac has placed heavy emphasis on R & D, which has resulted in producing paints of unparalleled quality, (Award of the SLS Product Certification Mark bears testimony to this) and several innovative products to the market comprising the Nippolac Wood Care Range which has won the hearts of many users for its superior quality and this includes environmental friendly products like Polyurethane lacquer can be used on exterior wooden furniture and structures due to its UV resistant capabilities, then Polyurethane Varnish, NC Wood Finish and Sanding Sealer.

The Company has also expanded its product line towards superior quality adhesives that include “Finefix and Nippoflex”. Finefix is a Two-Pack Epoxy Adhesive that is formulated to firmly bond metal, glass, wood, cement ceramic, concrete, rubber, leather, fibreglass and hard plastic. In 2007, the Nippolac Colour Consultation Centre was opened at Nawala, Rajagirya which is an e Innovation-Gallery for all architectural solutions, opening its doors for the first time in Sri Lanka to the innovation seeking, perfection-oriented public to explore their vivid imagination. Providing professional consulting services.

Rice: Economic Boom or Bust? Part XVI

Bojoon.com and CIC has teamed up to review one of the most controversial debates of Sri Lanka - is rice as an industry worth the effort.

The discussion so far...

Rice as an industry comes under heavy fire as unprofitable notes Senior Consultant Researcher of CIC Agri Businesses Dr. Sumith Abeysiriwardena. Yet, instead of being abandoned, rice production over the last six decades has increased by 12 times! He points out the tremendous demand for rice, as a grain easy to handle and the only crop for marshy lands.

With our technology and unique hydraulic systems our productivity is high and points that history proves rice is both our staple and our stronghold against our many enemies.

Conversely, this has provided Sri Lanka a strategic moment that if used right would propel its rice industry to new levels. By developing the export market, Kotagama calculates that the farmer stands to earn a good profit with the local consumer getting his rice at the fair price.

However, he continues the socio-fabric has changed drastically since colonisation. While there are advantages with these changes, these also make intricate agricultural projects and concepts like farmer associations impossible.

Though farmer associations are a hard sell, they bring forth an array of benefits notes Dean of the Agriculture Department of Peradeniya University Professor Buddhi Marambe such as accruing proper data for research, adapting proper technology and educating the farmer on finance management.

The discussion

continues:

The debate rages on whether it is worth the effort to preserve agriculture as an industry. It may not be the sector bringing in an impressive bottom line. However, it is important to look beyond the cold cash line.

The hard truth is over 60 per cent of the population of the country is engaged in agriculture, states Professor Marambe, thus making this one of the most important sectors in Sri Lanka. The requirements of the farmers are very limited, as opposed to one living in the city.

Imagine, he implores, if this 60 per cent also starts seeking jobs, other career paths, social benefits and et cetera from the government.

Thus, the question is not whether agriculture should be preserved; it should be how to improve this very important sector, he notes. One of the first things that must be done is to start treating the farmer as a professional than an ad-hoc layman.

The farmers, he continues, must be organised into one body - may it be a farmer association or a farmer community. As one body, they must adhere to standardisation and proper procedures - as a professional body would. Yet, as an individual, they must have a stake in the industry and be a clear decision-maker.

One of the best examples is found in Australia. The farmer stores his grain in a huge granary and follows the market price fluctuations as an investor would monitor the stock market.

When the market price meets the farmer’s expected price, the farmer releases only the amount he wants to sell. The demand and supply theory keeps the prices stable and the flow of grain to the consumer steady and the farmer is not only facilitated with a state-of-the-art storage system, but also educated in his own fund management.

The chief constraint the government faces in bringing this kind of knowledge and awareness to the farmer and thereby creating better facilities is the lack of resources.

The government especially lost its connection with the farmer when KVC (agro-extension service) personnel were elevated into the position of village servicemen (grama sevaka). It was the same person who was once the KVC that is now promoted as village serviceman.

However, that promotion increased his social status and thereby cut him off from the root. While it is easy enough to blame the government for this outcome, there must have been a good reason to take this decision.

No one can say what the predicament would have been if this decision was not taken, says the Professor. Yet, as in any decision there are the desirable as well as the undesirable results.

Hence, this has been the undesirable outcome of a decision that was taken to achieve another objective. Now, what must be done is to find a solution to rectify the problem that has arisen.

Join Daily News next Friday as bojoon.com unravels with CIC many mysteries and misinterpretations surrounding rice cultivation in Sri Lanka. Share your own opinion by simply dropping an email to [email protected]. For more information of who we are, do visit www.bojoon.com