ISF captures Indian market with quality products

It was a very encouraging story for those gathered at the recent “Achiever of Industrial Excellence - 2011” awards ceremony organized by Ceylon National Chamber of Industries.

ISF Industries winning the most prestigious award - The Crystal Award - presented to Sri Lankan enterprises who were courageous enough to go beyond the horizon and establish a business entity in SAARC countries.

In a country which went through a terrible war for nearly three decades, it is difficult to think that a Sri Lankan company had courage to enter into a sphere to fight with giants from Europe and India.

The most heartening thing is that too, not in the traditional agricultural products or any other item native to Sri Lanka. But for ISF Industries the challenge was not a drawback.

In spite of all these negatives ISF had made a positive move and embarked themselves in to an unusual field of Mechanical Engineering for which the resources were severely lacking in this country.

For any ambitious entrepreneur, the ISF story would be a ‘Role Model’. At a time when industries were set up in Sri Lanka during the early 50s and 60s every business was looking forward to engineering giants such as Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and later India to fulfil their needs in process machinery requirement.

ISF had a humble beginning in mid-70’s in the manufacture of process machineries. A young qualified engineer was returning from United Kingdom with the desire to set up an Engineering Company to cater to and to encourage the industries that were coming up.

It was a period when the industry of manufacturing machinery in Sri Lanka was struggling to be born. Being forced to buy machinery at a high cost from the European countries, all local industrialists and those aspiring to join them may have been dreaming that someone would come along soon to manufacture machinery and equipment in Sri Lanka to meet their demand.

It did take little time to materialize this dream. It was in 1977 when a 25-year-old young UK qualified and trained Engineer brimming with ideas returned to Sri Lanka carrying under his arm a bundle of blue prints necessary to answer their prayers.

He lost no time in laying the corner stone which later grew up to become the ISF Group presently having its Headquarters at Rockwood Place, Colombo 7.

“Siva”, to his close friends, was trained in the manufacture of sophisticated equipment at the prestigious EMC Group in UK. His additional Post Graduate qualification in Business Management helped him in his journey to success.

With his three decades of experience in the design and development of plant and machinery he stands tall in the field of designing and manufacture of different processing plant which calls for absolute perfection.

Multinational giants, Unilever, Nestle Lanka Ltd, CPC Agrifoods Ltd have placed their trust in ISF for their needs is a living guarantee that ISF quality and exceptional technical support has reached international standards beyond doubt.

After having proven their mettle with excellent track records with the corporate companies involved in process, ISF had the opportunity to supply Milk Cooling Tanks to Nestle in India from the manufacturing facility situated at Peliyagoda.

Capitalizing on this brave effort, ISF carved out another opportunity in obtaining the blessings and recommendation of Nestle India and went to establish their fully owned subsidiary in India with the approval of both Indian and Sri Lankan Governments in 1996.

However it was not a bed of roses for a tiny Sri Lankan to walk among the mighty Indians and to establish a company par excellence.

Ever since, ISF did not look back but marched ahead towards success after success shattering stiff competition even from major international players. The rest is history. Now ISF stands out as the clear leader among those in the field in India and well-accepted as a trustworthy manufacturer. They supply equipment to a diversified range of customers such as Hindustan Lever, Heinz India, Van Mallee, TTK-LIG, Britannia Industries, Carborundum Universal, ITC and many more.

Currently, ISF is playing a pivotal role in the Indian Dairy Industry, wherein it has emerged as a major supplier of Food and Dairy and other process equipment.

ISF has manufactured, installed and commissioned over 1,000 Milk Cooling Tanks and remain as the largest supplier of Food and Dairy Equipment supplier in India.

Now ISF is equipped with the manufacturing facilities to produce over 750 milk cooling tanks per annum.

ISF Industries has developed highly advanced PLC Controlled Vacuum drying systems for Nestle India, and due to the cost advantage and the excellent quality of the equipment supplied, Nestle Switzerland has now appointed ISF Industries Pvt. Ltd as their sole supplier of this equipment to their Group of Companies operating worldwide.

The Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and India has paved the way for, Softy Ice Cream machines manufactured by Industrial Stainless Steel Fabrications Pvt Ltd in Sri Lanka to be allowed duty free into the Indian market. ISF Industries has been marketing these in India coupled with the necessary after sales services promoting Sri Lankan Engineering skills abroad. Utilizing the benefits of the free trade agreements is something that the other aspiring entrepreneurs should capitalize on.

Upto now, Industrial Stainless Steel Fabrications Pvt Limited, Sri Lanka have exported more than US$ 4 million worth of Softy Ice Cream machines to India and these machines are very popular there. They stand out as a proud Product of Sri Lanka.

Continued research and development, dedication and commitment to quality have been the key factors responsible for the formidable growth and success of ISF in India. ISF continue to invest to blossom as a complete Engineering Company in Research and Development in breaking new grounds to meet the ever increasing challenges of processing industry particularly in the food sector.

ISF’s total commitment has always been to ensure Quality, Innovation, further Development and Customer Satisfaction.

They live up to their promise of delivering on time every time and follow it up with a highly professional after sales service, anywhere in the world.

ISF’s performance at the CNCI ‘Achiever of Industrial Excellence’ award ceremonies of past 10 years is unparalleled. They won Gold awards consecutively for three years yielding them with a crystal award for the third year, and repeated this feat once again culminating with another crystal award this year.