ADVERTORIAL

Demand for automobiles increases

Indunil Hewage

The local demand for automobiles in the country has increased in keeping with the Government measures to reduce taxes on vehicles.

Capital Reach Leasing PLC, Assistant General Manager, Dilhan Manoj Kumar said the company is happy with the measures taken by the Government to reduce taxes on vehicles and it would help create a huge demand for cars in the country.

“Although the company is not very much focused on property business, it has lands in Piliyandala and fifty percent of the total land area has already been sold out”, he said.

The “Company’s public deposit base and profit has increased by 100 percent during the last year. Growth and profit of the company has strengthened by five times when compared with the last five years and company has a strong balance sheet, cash flow and customer base”, he said.

The company is currently operating eight branches and planning to set up branches in Negombo, Hambantota and Batticaloa areas in the near future.

He said the company is running its business in a steady and successful manner and it is not rushing into many sources of business hastily.

Capital Reach Leasing opened its new office at Sri Jinarathana Road, Colombo 02 on Monday to provide a better service to its clientele.

Pasalen Karaliyata - Union Assurance CSR initiative

‘Pasalen Karaliyata’ program was initiated in 2007 as a CSR program with the association of the Education Ministry.

The program was based on a concept where Union Assurance Plc contributes towards the recognition of aesthetic talents of schoolchildren in national schools and reward them for their skills.

The program was even extended to recognize their performance as a university entry qualification.

The ‘Pasalen Karaliyata’ program also offers great rewards for the winning schoolchildren as well as the schools they belong to. Not only the first, second and third place winners are singled out for recognition, but the schools they represent also receive cash awards.

This program was successfully conducted for the second consecutive year, and plans are on board to launch the third season of this outstanding program. The third season will be extended to the North and the East as well, as the children in the war affected areas could not participate in the previous two programs.

This will add a new flavour to this program with Sinhalese and Tamil cultures blending with each other.

The purpose of this project is now redefined as the program needed to be aligned with the new corporate brand.

The program will be positioned as a national campaign to establish one important element of our corporate brand. Being ‘respectful’ to the key stakeholder is one core element in the new brand promise and the program will be devised to highlight this important brand promise.

The National level attempt to make a law abiding, respectful citizen ‘Yahapath, Gaurawanvitha Puravesiyeku Bihikireeme Jathika Mehewara’ will be the new core message of ‘Pasalen Karaliyata’ for the year 2010.

This theme also has the capacity to be established as what ‘Union Assurance’ brand stands for.

UTF wins 6 Sigma Silver award

United Tractors (UTE) won the silver award in 6 Sigma Presidents Award Ceremony held in Singapore recently.

6 Sigma is a business management strategy which enjoys widespread application in many sectors of the industry. 6 Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes.

Each 6 Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified targets. The success of each 6 Sigma project is measured by evaluating the achievement of these targets and contribution it made towards the process improvement.

United Tractors has fully integrated 6 Sigma in its business processes. Their principal, Caterpillar is one of the leading global companies to embed 6 Sigma as a management philosophy. This tool which was deployed a decade ago has given numerous benefits to Caterpillar which helped them to remain at the top as one of the biggest construction machinery and engine manufacturers in the world while growing into a USD 50 billion Fortune 500 enterprise.

Every year Caterpillar dealers world over carry out various 6 Sigma projects to improve their internal processes.

After the successful implementation of these projects they get the opportunity to present them for the Caterpillar Presidents Award contest which is held on a regional basis. The best projects selected will receive Gold, Silver and Bronze awards after a careful evaluation by an expert panel appointed by Caterpillar.

UTE won the 2010 Caterpillar presidents silver award for its project, ‘Caterpillar Parts Inventory Control Improvement’. This project was spearheaded by Black Belt Prabath Peiris under the able guidance of Anura Karunarathne The first Sri Lankan to become a qualified 6 Sigma Master Black Belt.

This project helped UTE to reduce the Caterpillar inventory level for spare parts whilst increasing the parts availability to customers.

When the project team got together for the first time they had two issues to tackle. Firstly they had to make sure that Caterpillar spare parts, once brought into the stock had to be sold within a maximum period of six months in order to reduce interest incurred in stock holding. Secondly they had to ensure that the spare parts availability is maintained at 80 percent or higher which is essential for maintaining the customer satisfaction. Achieving both these tasks together was a monumental challenge the team had to overcome.

As part of the solution the team developed an ordering formula in the form of an algorithm using the Six Sigma statistical techniques to overcome the weaknesses in the generic Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) formula.

Secondly an inventory committee was appointed to forecast the future market demand based on the market knowledge. Next the project team identified the necessary improvements in IT system in order to overcome the shortcomings.

Multilac enters Pakistan

Macksons Paints, manufacturers of Multilac, recently sent a major consignment of paints to Pakistan.

Multilac also plans to launch their innovative Colour Bank concept in Pakistan in the near future.

“Pakistan is a huge market with tremendous potential”, said Multilac Managing Director Mizver Makeen.

There is a felt need there for high performance coatings. The first shipment we sent to Pakistan contains high performance, innovative coatings that are new to the Pakistan market. This was made possible with the support and backing of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board.

The export order to Pakistan is a significant step for us as a Sri Lankan company poised for regional and global growth,” he said.

“We are pleased to have received the first shipment of Multilac Paints from Sri Lanka, the first but important step towards exporting of Sri Lankan manufactured high quality paints to Pakistan” Pakistan Multilac distributor Hamid Mahmood said.

“It makes us proud of the fact that Multilac is sending us innovative and unique products we have never heard of in Pakistan before.

They are new to our local market but definitely relevant since they meet most of the needs consumers here have,” he said.

Given the success of the export order to a fellow SAARC nation, Multilac officials say that the future will see the company setting up a factory in Pakistan and commencing local manufacturing which will help further in offering competitive prices to the large market there.

“The company is grateful for the assistance we received from the Sri Lankan Export Development Board” said Managing Director Mizver Makeen.

“It was their initiative and encouragement that enabled us to participate in the My Karachi exhibition 2009, which really opened the door for a Sri Lankan company such as ourselves to enter the Pakistani market,” he said.

Makeen said that Multilac can increase exports to Pakistan further if the import duty component on paints is reduced in Pakistan under the free trade agreement between the two countries.

“Currently, only a few products are given such concessions. However, it should ideally be included in bilateral discussions to enhance the range of products receiving duty waivers as our Government and the Dept of Commerce is in this process and hopefully we should get the green light soon” he said.

DFCC Vardhana Bank expands ATM Network

DFCC Vardhana Bank (DVB) and DFCC Bank opened seven new postal units during June, bringing their total branch network to 81; consisting of 44 main branches and 37 postal units.

The latest postal units were opened in Bandaragama, Mathugama, Hikkaduwa, Uragasmanhandiya, Elpitiya, Karandeniya and Wathugedara.

DVB’s postal units not only helps increase its physical distribution network, but also gives the bank the opportunity to target new areas, thus reaching out to a larger cross-section of the market.

An 81-strong branch network engages the bank’s clientele even more which consists mainly of individual customers and small and medium enterprises who engage in various economic activities.

DVB’s network is further supported by an enhanced network of ATM’s via a MoU signed with Sampath Bank earlier this year. The combined set up of DVB-Sampath Bank ATM network comprises over 212 ATM points spread across the island, providing customers of both banks to access their accounts with more ease.

Pears celebrates 50 years

Awards consumers Rs 2.5 million in cash prizes:

Pears, Unilever Sri Lanka’s baby care brand celebrated its 50th year in Sri Lanka by rewarding loyal consumers with prizes worth Rs 2.5 million.

Pears was first launched in Sri Lanka as a talcum powder in 1960. from then on, it has evolved to offer a vast range of products which specifically cater to baby care needs.

Its wide portfolio of products, includes baby soaps, oil, shampoo and talc, and cologne. To celebrate its important milestone in the country, Pears launched its ‘Waasana Salli Malla consumer promotion early this year.

Consumers who sent any three pears wrappers stood a chance of winning cash prizes worth Rs. 2.5 million in total. According to Unilever officials, over 50,000 entries were received for the competition from all parts of the island.