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SLT, Mobitel to provide 'MyAstro' personalized service:

Novel astrological experience to all users

Taking strides as truly Sri Lankan corporates, Sri Lanka Telecom(SLT), the nation's number one Integrated telecommunications service provider and Mobitel, the national mobile service provider partnered the Presidential award winning astro maestro, Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena to offer a plethora of personalized services to their customers interested in astrology, numerology and auspicious times.

Amalgamating traditional beliefs with technology, SLT together with Mobitel strives to serve the requirements of the contemporary customer by enabling tradition at their fingertips, through its new 'MyAstro' offering.

The service offers custom astrological readings including Daily Personalized Astrological Forecasts, Personalized Numerological Forecasts and Generic forecasts (Rahu period, Auspicious times, Suba Disawa (Direction)).

SLT and Mobitel customers can subscribe for the service by creating a profile for them on 'MyAstro' portal by sending an SMS with 'MyAstro

ILM certifies lean practitioners

The first batch of students received their Lean Practitioner Certification from the Institute of Lean Management Pvt. Ltd (ILM) at a ceremony held at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo recently.

The awards were presented by Japan ChuSanRen - Central Japan Industries Association Consulting Division General Manager, Isao Akhio. The batch consisted of 17 students from four sister companies of Dipped Products PLC, which is a subsidiary of Hayleys Group.

The ILM is the leading provider of lean consulting and training services offering a range of interactive unique workshops and customized learning solutions to give organizations the necessary knowledge, tools and techniques, and world class best practices to drive their own lean initiatives. The ILM CEO Thilak Pushpakumara said that the lean certification is a validation process that delivers training in lean principles in both classroom and real time situations under the guidance of a seasoned mentor who possesses real hands on experience in lean environments with extensive overseas training and exposure and with the assistance of a financial expert.

The extensive study program of 12 days consisted of 17 modules and the program was structured in such a manner that the students were given an opportunity to get exposure to a wide area of lean management and supportive strategies such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Toyota Production System (TPS).

Opportunity was given to develop auditing skills on 5S and safety and provided necessary tools and guidance to carry out a lean diagnosis on their own.

More companies are recognizing the value of a lean certification training to jump start a lean transformation and drive the cultural change.

A certified lean practitioner provides not only credibility but also the skills, competencies, knowledge and confidence to handle a lean journey. ILM assists in creating leaders with a "license for Lean" which would put the organization in a better position to drive change and sustain it which would translate into real competitive advantage.

Also lean certification is becoming a qualification for career development and to position their capabilities within the market place.

Capital Alliance sponsors Navy rugby :

Corporate support a boon for Security Forces

Capital Alliance has extended its sponsorship to the Sri Lanka Navy rugby team for the second consecutive year. "We are very happy to be sponsoring the Navy rugby team for 2011, our second year of involvement with them. During the last two years we have seen the team develop tremendously and are very confident about their performance this year," said Capital Alliance Managing Director Ajith Fernando who was present at the event held recently where Capital Alliance handed over the sponsorship cheque to the Sri Lanka Navy rugby team.

Talent abounds in the Sri Lanka Navy rugby team, which boasts many formidable players such as Namal, Yoshitha, and Rohitha Rajapaksa as well as five team members who will be representing Sri Lanka in the Asian Five Nations Rugby Tournament 2011, Sathya Ranatunga, Chula Susantha, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Eranga Swarnathilake, and Dhanushka Perera.

"We are thankful for the support Capital Alliance has showed us. Capital Alliance was one of the first organisations to come forward with a sponsorship even last year. It would be a great boon for the Sri Lankan Forces if more corporate entities demonstrated their support with the same enthusiasm and commitment as Capital Alliance has," said Sub-Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Captain of the Sri Lanka Navy Rugby Team.

Printcare pioneers braille in food packaging:

Socially responsible companies asked to follow suit

Printcare, the printing major, entered into an agreement with the Bobst group of Switzerland to produce Braille embossed packaging which will greatly benefit the visually impaired to improve their quality of life.

Printcare Group CEO K R Ravindran and Bobst Group CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst signed an agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland recently which will see the introduction of this new technology to Sri Lanka.

The European Union in 2007-08, with WHO directives, decided that all pharmaceutical cartons sold in the European Union by 2013 will be Braille Embossed, for the readability by blind people. Apart from gearing up for this requirement Printcare believes that the more socially responsible companies in the food industry should also begin to adopt this standard in their packaging requirements.

Jean-Pascal Bobst said that "Bobst is very closely associated with Printcare, one of the flagship packaging companies from the subcontinent, for the past 15 years and has always enjoyed this relationship not merely as a machine supplier but more as a business partner.

The order from Printcare for our new equipment is another milestone in our longstanding relationship which not only demonstrates their quest for operational excellence but also shows their deep sense of commitment towards corporate social responsibility as they will be one of the pioneers in the world introducing braille embossing in non pharmaceutical cartons to help in product identification by visually impaired people."

Ravindran was equally demonstrative of his praise for Bobst whom he termed as a customer driven company constantly working closely with its clientele to meet market demands.

"We have been working with Bobst for more than a decade. Bobst has constantly kept ahead of the market and our cooperation with them has seen us reap the benefits and offer in turn to our own customers the latest in technology, which enhances their own product and offering to the end user."

The Bobst Group is listed on the Zurich stock exchange. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, it is a world leader in manufacturing and services of equipment for the Folding Carton, Corrugated Board and Flexible Packaging industry.

Selected as a Business Superbrand, Printcare is a leader in the printing and packaging industries.

Well known for being the global leader in tea bag tags and envelopes, supplying the worlds most reputed tea brands, Printcare is now a diversified Group which is also involved in printing and packaging for the apparel and FMCG sectors, security printing for lotteries and telecom industries, printing and binding for the publishing industry, and specialized media services for education and learning sectors.

EFutures provides eCommerce solutions to me.lk

EFutures, a leading provider of software and web solutions and IT consultancy services in Sri Lanka has been providing online solutions development for Maharaja Entertainment since 2007. Maharaja Entertainment has partnered with EFutures in providing eCommerce solutions through the popular eCommerce site me.lk. The company is a dynamic firm, which employs the best in design and development talent in Sri Lanka. EFutures specializes in implementing enterprise web and software solutions for both local and international companies.

Maharaja Entertainment is an operating company belonging to The Capital Maharaja Organization, one of the largest groups of private sector companies in Sri Lanka. Maharaja Entertainment since inception in 1999 has emerged as a prestigious label and distributor of Sri Lankan music. Maharaja Entertainment's alliances with world majors in music and movies have put the company in the forefront of marketing and distributing original music and movies on both physical and digital formats in the island. The web solution developed using latest technologies includes a vast product range and particularly song and video download capability and supplying Sri Lankan music to overseas digital stores.

The website includes sections such as company profile, artist information, online purchase and features such as search for by artists, band and song title. MyAccount feature allows the users to create personal accounts at me.lk to maintain a profile and manage purchases.

The solution integrated with an Internet Payment Gateway allows users to make online purchases. EFutures is currently in the process of developing an Online Artist Reservation facility allowing registered users to reserve local artist for events. The solution includes a web based Content Management Tool that allows the client to maintain the artist information and product information.

EFutures handles offshore software projects and has one of the most impressive portfolios in the software industry. The company has become the corporate choice in outsourcing both web and software development. EFutures places emphasis on customer satisfaction, and as such development is based on customer specifications for a software product.