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Global experience in cooking appliances:

Elba marks 60 years

The Elba Company, Italy's leading manufacturer of cookers and cooking appliances, celebrates 60 years in the business of producing stylish and durable products, that match the market with the ability to grow other international markets. Elba's factory and production lines are situated in Italy.

Elba started business as a small family company in 1950 with the operation of an enameling plant, as a sub-contractor, along with a small production of wood and coal stoves for cooking and heating purposes.

The plant gradually became very specialized in enamelling body components of stoves and cookers, bath tubs, sinks etc. required by major manufacturers in Italy. By the end of the fifties, the period of reconstruction that followed the second world war was over and the following years were characterized by a huge demand for basic household appliances, like cookers and refrigerators. New expansion of business led to the setting up of a factory with larger production capacity in 1960.

The years that followed from 1965 saw phenomenal growth of the company with a global demand for its products. 1978 marked the beginning of the production of built-in cooking appliances such as built in electric ovens and built in cooker hobs. In 1991 the Elba factory was moved to the present site.

During this period, a policy of continuous investments in new products and facilities led to a dramatic growth in output (over 500,000 units per year) and turnover (over 75 million Euro). Elba now concentrated their efforts on stainless steel predominance, moving away from the traditional enamel finishes.

In 2003, the approach to the North American market began and in 2004, the turnover reached the record high of 86 million Euro.

The strength of ELBA has always been the continuous innovation and investment in new products to suit various markets. This objective was pursued by allocation of considerable resources to R&D, in terms of skill and supporting facilities. Since 2000 Elba's Gas Laboratory obtained the CE certification and authorization to conduct officially recognized type tests, by AFNOR-CERTIGAS.

All the stages of the manufacturing process are controlled by a system of procedures and a system of checks and records which ensure the required high level of quality assurance in all operations. Elba obtained the International ISO 9001 Standard in September 1998. Elba's internal quality assurance system was previously certified to the "CE" mark requirements, from 1995 onwards. In November 2003, the quality assurance system was updated to comply with ISO 9001:2000 (VISION 2000).

Abans, sole agents in Sri Lanka for Elba products are proud to be associated with Elba Company of Italy to celebrate their 60th Anniversary.

A range of Elba Cooker Ovens, built-in Hobs, built-in ovens and cooker hoods are available at amazing prices and unbelievable instalment terms at Abans Showrooms and authorized dealers islandwide.

Venora International Projects achieves ISO

Electrical and telecommunication solutions providers, Venora International Projects Limited recently received the prestigious ISO 9001:2008 certification from SGS, the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, and joins a very elite list of electrical engineering companies in Sri Lanka to be ISO certified.

SGS Lanka Certification Manager and Lead Auditor Sumanasiri Batuvita (right) hands over the certificate to Venora International Projects Limited Chairman and Managing Director Sagara Gunawardana.

The certification received by Venora covers a wide range of services including design and installation of electrical systems (low,high and extra low voltage), switchboards and power factor correction systems, installation of telecommunication equipment, earthing, lightning and surge protection.

Venora International Projects Chairman and Managing Director Sagara Gunawardana said that this was a great achievement for the Venora Group to standardize its electrical engineering installations which will better gear them to cater to a growing demand for electrical engineering services.

"Venora is going for a new venture this month, Venora Telecom, to ensure that we are total solution providers for the telecom sector for tower foundations, tower erections, BTS microwave installations and total data network coverage. Our achieving this certificate is proof that we can complete any project with the quality and standards expected by our valued customers," he said.

Venora has made several noteworthy achievements during the past year including receiving the Swarna Lanka award for services to the nation, achieved ICTAD EM1 Grading and won an award for best electrical installation for Luminaire Residencies South Asia.

In the recent past Venora International Projects has provided electrical solutions for several major hotels, high-rise buildings and other industrial buildings and are the local agents for several major international electrical lightning protection and structural cabling companies such as Schneider Electric, Forend and Leiying.

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. Recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity, the company employs more than 64,000 people and operates a network of over 1,250 offices and laboratories around the world.

Mobitel slashes India roaming rates

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, unveiled its newest offer in roaming with exclusive rates in India, in partnership with Mobitel's preferred network in India Aircel.

The new offer for Mobitel roamers in India includes Incoming calls at just Rs 2 per min, calls within India at Rs 3 per min, calls back to Sri Lanka at Rs 20 per min, SMS at Rs 5 per message and GPRS at 64 cents per 10kB. In addition to these, Mobitel roamers can also call Sri Lanka at a further discounted rate of Rs 10 per minute via the 'CALL HOME' service by dialing *140*94(number)#.

#To enjoy these benefits, a Mobitel customer has to select the 'AIRCEL' network upon landing in India, on their roaming enabled Mobitel Post Paid connection.

Mobitel Chief Executive Officer Mobitel, Suren J. Amarasekera said 'As the national mobile service provider in Sri Lanka, we felt it our responsibility to ensure that we bring in the best for our people. We found the perfect 'fit' in partnering with Aircel not only because they were our preferred partner network in India, but also because of them being the No.1 network in Tamil Nadu: the most frequently travelled region in India, by Sri Lankans.'

The new roaming offer is being communicated to the general public via an exciting integrated communication campaign, featuring one of Sri Lanka's favourite sons, a cricketing legend and Mobitel's long-standing Brand Ambassador Muttiah Muralidaran.

Epic Award at SLIIT convocation

Epic Lanka is offering the Epic Excellence Award to the best B Sc IT student at the annual convocation of Sri Lanka Institute of Information technology (SLIIT) to be held on February 15.

The winner of this award, given for the third consecutive year, will also receive a cash award and an opportunity for training or employment at Epic Lanka.

As part of our social responsibility we help universities to produce and recognize the best talents who can contribute to develop our nation, a company spokesperson from Epic Lanka said.

ICT industry can help the country in expediting the economic growth and SLIIT plays a vital role in bringing up the human capital for the vibrant IT industry he added.

Epic Lanka who won the National Business Excellence Award in ICT Sector for the third consecutive year has collected an unprecedented number of 38 National and International accolades during 2008 to 2010.

With an array of innovative ICT solutions in secure electronic payments and information security domains Epic now operates in Malaysia and Australia as well.