Elcardo wins BID Quality Award

The International Quality Summit Award in the Gold Category was presented to Sri Lanka’s Elcardo Industries (Pvt.) Limited at the annual awards ceremony held in New York recently at the Mariott Marquis Convention Hall.

Athula Rohan Weeraratne, Managing Director of Elcardo Industries (Pvt.) Limited received the prestigious award from Jose E. Prieto, President of the Business Initiative Directions (BID), which covers 178 countries in the world.

The objective of this year’s award was to recognize the commitment to quality among competing companies in the areas of business, industrial production and services. Prieto in presenting the awards said that the awarded companies are symbols of commitment to leadership, technology and innovation making them models for others in their sectors. Among those who received the award with Elcardo were leading companies from America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.

Elcardo, an ISO certified company has made pioneering innovations since its modest entry into the field of industry in 1980, by manufacturing the first ever ‘Crash Bar’ for automobile jeeps in Sri Lanka.

The Young innovator Athula Rohan Weeraratne then focused his attention on producing mild steel and stainless steel exhaust lines and exhaust line accessories for all types of vehicles. This really was the turning point in the career of the pioneering entrepreneur and the history of Elcardo.

Elcardo became the most popular and sought after brand of the vehicle owners in Sri Lanka.

Weeraratne’s interest in roller doors compelled him to carry out research, which opened up new vistas in entrepreneurship. In the absence of any local industry in the field producing the items to international standards, he opened a new factory and imported limited amounts of raw materials from Australia and Japan, saving valuable foreign exchange and adopted Australian technology to turn Sri Lankan products conforming to international standards.

In 1995, Elcardo started manufacturing the entire range of its accessories using state of the art machinery and technology. Elcardo’s commitment to quality in the true sense of the word helped them to become the leading manufacturer of roller shutter accessories. Elacardo's commitment and contribution to the national economy was recognized by Mawbima Lanka Padanama by awarding their Surya Sinha Cetificate in 2011. They also fabricate stainless steel railings, display racks and other structures for leading companies.

They moved on to manufacture Acrylic Neustone table tops to replace granite and products such as Hi-Ten C-Purlins, Colourbond Gutters, Colourbond Roffing Sheets, Cladding Sheets and Clourbond Roofing Tiles. Today star class hotels, hospitals, public and private sector companies are among their clients.

The unassuming entrepreneur in explaining his secret of success said that it was due to the complete commitement to quality and the adoption of QC100 Total Quality management Model. Weeraratne also stressed that Elcardo is made up of a team oriented towards the continuous improvement of the process and valuing customer satisfaction. This policy has paid rich dividends enabling Elcardo to become one of the leaders in the field with a high reputation for quality in its portfolio of products. Elcardo was accredited with ISO 9001-2002 and ISO 9001-2008 certificates which authenticate its high standard of service.Weeratatne said that BID Award is a tribute to the commitment of the employees of Elcardo who strive hard every passing day to achieve the maximum in their potential, to achieve the best business results.