ADVERTORIAL

Speed Water Systems inks agreement with Sapanca Sirma of Turkey

Speed Water Systems, a company in the forefront of marketing hygienically bottled natural drinking water in Sri Lanka, recently entered into a technical collaboration with Sapanca Sirma, the largest company in the bottled water industry in Turkey. The aim of this technical collaboration is the exchange of technology pertaining to the manufacturing, marketing, distributing, merchandising plus display and brand positioning of bottled water between the two organizations. This is the first time that a bottled water manufacturing and marketing organization in Sri Lanka entered in to a technical collaboration with a large-scale organization in the same field in the world.

Speed Water Systems Managing Director Nishantha Delgoda said, "Even at present, we are using the most advanced technology in the world for purifying and bottling natural drinking water and we are using new marketing strategies that have never been used in Sri Lanka by any other company in this field. As a step towards furnishing the bottled drinking water industry in Sri Lanka with new technology and novel initiatives, we recently made an observation visit of the Sapanca Sirma Company of Turkey. This visit was facilitated by the Turkey office of Sritrims (Far East) Limited, a sister organization of Speed Water Systems. We had discussions with the management of Sapanca Sirma Limited after the observation visit and came to an agreement of technical collaboration with that company. We are working to have agreements of this nature with the leading organizations in the bottled drinking water field in Europe as well as Asia. Our aim is establishing a common alliance in this field with the assistance of those companies."

Turkey, situated on the border of Asia and Europe, is a country of 780,580 sq. km., with a population of 78,785,548. The major part of Turkey's requirement of bottled drinking water is supplied by the Sapanca Sirma Company, established in 1991. The Sapanca Sirma Company supplies 81 main cities of Turkey through 204 authorized sales agents.

Established in 2003, Speed Water Systems (Pvt) Limited is a wholly-owned Sri Lankan company. Guaranteed to conform to the highest international quality standards, the company's bottled water products are marketed under the brand name `SPEED'. As a company which introduced innovative, state-of-the-art know-how and technology and new marketing strategies to the bottled water industry, Speed Water Systems has emerged as the No. 2 in the market within a short period of time.

During the first year of operations itself, the company secured SLS Certification for its products. This creditworthy achievement was followed by the ISO 9001-2000 and ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management) International Certifications. Speed Water Systems is registered with the Health Ministry as a company which produces and supply purified bottled drinking water. Speed Water Systems is a member of the International Water Association (IWA) and a life member of the Indian Water Works Association.

The company's client portfolio includes government and private institutions and households of diverse categories. In other words, Speed water is supplied to a wide section of the masses. Speed bottled water is available in 500 ml, 1000 ml, 1500 ml, 5000ml pet bottles and the large 19 litre bottles. The company also markets oxygenated water, ice cubes, packeted water and dispensers.

Sritrims (Far East) Limited, a Sri Lankan organization established in 1996 in Hong Kong, is a sister company of Speed Water Systems, manufacturing garment accessories such as metal items i.e.-buttons, eyelets, grommets, rivets, hook and bars, metal plates, in alloy, brass etc and all types of belts such as webbing, braided, plattered, leather, PU, wax coated and Canvass under reputed brand names in the garment and fashion industry of the world.

The offices of Sritrims (Far East) Limited are operating in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. The Speed Water Systems observation visit to Sapanca Sirma Company of Turkey was facilitated by the Turkey office of Sritrims (Far East) Limited.

Sritrims (Far East) Limited is working with reputed buyers such as TEMA, NEXT, SAINSBURY'S, GEORGE, PEACOCK, M & S, TESCO, ANIMAL, LANDSEND, OSHKOSH, NIKE, DECATHALON, BHS, ANN TAYLOR, POLO, WALT DISNEY and NIKE. They are an okeotex 100 certified company along CPSIA certifications for European standards.

Laugfs Eco Sri gets ISO 9001

The Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), the national standard body in the country, awarded ISO 9001-2008 certificate to Laugfs Eco Sri Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Laugfs Gas PLC, one of the dynamic public quoted energy companies in Sri Lanka.

SLSI Chairman Kanchana Ratwatte, presenting the certificate to Chairman Laugfs Gas PLC, W.K.H. Wegapitiya said that 'Laugfs' has always been a company determined to provide better quality service to the public.

'Laugfs Eco Sri Limited had gone through the ISO standard process and is complaint to have the certification', he said.

Laugfs Gas PLC Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya said that Laugfs commenced its business in 1995 and have diversified into many areas providing best quality service at all times.

"When we began our operations in 1995, introducing LPG as an alternative fuel for motor vehicles, we had one uncompromising factor in our mind; that is to provide best quality service to our stakeholders. Accordingly, from the beginning, we benchmarked our standards with the international standards. Therefore, we have been awarded with the ISO certification for our conversions process which I see as a great achievement", he said.

"The company never uses the ISO certificate as a marketing tool to attract customers.

"We always believe that providing quality service consistently would help us grow.

The core principle is that we have to maintain quality standards to every stakeholder. For that we always insisted that we must get SLSI standards certificates where it was a possibility", he said.

"At present Laugfs Eco Sri Limited has over 80 vehicle emission testing centres across the country and the receiving of the ISO certification would further enhance the company's commitment in providing high quality service to its stakeholders", Wegapitiya said. (SJ)

MBSL Bank opens new head office service branch

MBSL Bank continuing its aggressive expansion program and continued drive to increase its presence and deliver exceptional service to its valued customers, had the opening of its new state-of-the-art head office recently.

The brand new service outlet is located at the ground floor of the Bank of Ceylon Merchant Tower at St. Michael's Road, Colombo 3.

The new service outlet was opened by Bank of Ceylon Chairman Dr. Gamini Wickramasinghe at the auspicious hour amongst a distinguished gathering.

Speaking at the occasion, MBSL Bank Chairman M.R. Shah said, "this is a special day because of what this event symbolizes. We can reflect today on MBSL Banks growth and progress-and we can think ahead to a future of continued achievement and success. We have come a long way in a short time, and the future looks very strong. Our fast-growing merchant banking division has many products that will give tremendous benefits to our customers. We have local, customer service-focused branches with managers who are long-term members of their local communities who understand our customer expectations and how best to deliver to meet their individual requirements .

Our aim is to ensure economic empowerment ranging from the small and medium enterprises to large-scale corporate organizations.

The bank's policies recognize that the strength of any society-as a whole - will ultimately depend on the progress of each of that society's parts.

Currently, if one were to redefine corporate advisory and capital markets, leasing, trade and project finance, the name that would easily spring to mind would be none other than MBSL. "

To mark this occasion, the bank also launched its website which includes a comprehensive guide to the full suite of merchant banking services offered by MBSL.

Piramal Glass wins National Business Excellence Award

For second consecutive year:

Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC (PGC) was acknowledged yet again for its exceptional business performances with the receipt of the prestigious National Business Excellence Award presented by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.

At the award ceremony held on November 30, at Hilton Colombo, PGC was declared the winner in the Manufacturing - Chemical and Ceramic Sector for the second consecutive year.

The National Business Excellence Awards have come to be recognized by the Sri Lankan business community as a highly prestigious "business benchmark" as the selection procedure involves evaluation of performances from a number of different aspects to maintain high standards.

According to PGC's CEO and Managing Director, Sanjay Tiwari, the organisation has during the past few years taken several initiatives to ensure that international standards and quality levels are being maintained in their products and processes.

"The initiatives taken by PGC to introduce a continuous improvement programme (Manufacturing Excellence) suitable to the requirements of the industry to improve their processes and services and thereby be on par with any international manufacturer is already paying rich dividends.

This was further strengthened by the success of the Employee engagement programme that was implemented". In addition, Piramal Glass Ceylon was also accredited with ISO 22000:2005 certifications during the early part of this year.

Piramal Glass Ceylon (Formerly Ceylon Glass Company) is the only Glass Bottle Manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka.

Located in Horana, it has been in existence for over 50 years.

The company which was originally at Ratmalana was relocated at Horana in 2007 as a BOI venture under the auspicies of the "300 factory programme of Mahinda Chintana".

Thereafter an Investment of US $ 40 million was made to put up a state-of-the-art glass plant of 250 ton capacity, with five bottle production machines and two colour fore-hearth facilities.

"PGC has the capability to offer glass containers in different shapes and colours for multiple industries such as food, liquor, pharmaceutical, agro chemical and soft drinks", said Tiwari.

Since the investment the company has seen a continuous growth in its turnover and profitability.

The company recorded a turnover of Rs 4.2 billion and PAT of Rs 578.67 million during the year ended March 31, 2011. It has also recorded a turnover of Rs 2384.7 Million and a PAT of Rs 387.3 million during the six months ended September 30, 2011, thus showing an increase of 26% in turnover and 82.6% in PAT as compared to the similar period previous year.

Piramal Glass Ceylon successfully entered the export market by increasing its sales tonnage from 1,200 tons to 26,000 tons within three years.

Presently PGC exports approximately 200 containers of glass each month and earns over $10 million dollars through its annual exports.

During the last three years Piramal Glass has established strong relationships with many reputed international organizations such as United Sprits, United Brewery, Diageo, Bacardi, Pernod Ricard, Oxenham wines, Coca Cola, Amcor etc who are leaders in the global liquor and wine industry.

The company has successfully launched and supplied bottles in more than ten different colours to multiple customers in India, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, Malta, Philippines, UAE, Uganda, Kenya and the Maldives.

TVS King three-wheeler marks second anniversary

Establishes 250 service and spare parts dealers islandwide:

The TVS King three-wheeler which was introduced to the Sri Lankan roads in December 2009 has completed a two year journey successfully.

TVS King revolutionized the three-wheeler segment of the motor industry by pioneering many features that captured the hearts and minds of customers across cities and villages in the country.

Single large windshield, twin head lamps with multi reflectors, comfortable dual tone seats, one single integrated chassis, water proof electrical system and attractive dash board with indicators are a few of those firsts that were offered by TVS King.

TVS that King was developed subsequent to in-depth research in the Sri Lankan market was able to offer a vehicle that satisfied the need for both driver and passenger comfort, very low maintenance cost, higher fuel efficiency, less noise and vibration and elegant looks and appeal.

The resounding success achieved by TVS King is evident by more than 13000 proud owners across the country.

TVS has successfully established itself as the family vehicle of rural Sri Lanka as the majority of customers have bought it for fulfilling the day-to-day transport needs of their families.

Another milestone in the past two years is the network of 250 plus service and parts dealers and repair points equipped with right tools and trained mechanics to meet the service and maintenance needs of the TVS King customer base.

These dealers are spread across all parts of the country.

The company is committed to further expanding the service and parts network aggressively and will be adding on more service and parts dealerships in the next few months.

In addition the company operates workshops for the convenience of its customers in Peliyagoda and in Ja-Ela area.

The workshop in Peliyagoda is one of the largest three-wheeler service and repair centres in the country equipped with modern tools, equipment and well trained technical staff.

In celebrating its second anniversary TVS King is giving away many valuable prize items once every two weeks including three-wheelers, sofa sets, fridges, computers and home cinema systems through a raffle draw.