Fine Finish Eng. expands to North-East

Sara Pathirana

Fine Finish Engineering (Pvt.) Ltd will further invest US $ 25 million next year and is also contemplating at opening a new branch in the North-East.

In the past six years US $ 50,000 million was invested into the company mainly to install modern machinery. "These were invested from my own funds and profits generated through the company," said G. B. Hewawasam, Chief Executive Officer, Fine Finish Engineering at the Kadawatha Industrial Estate. He said with the ending of the war a construction boom is on and it was to meet future project demands that this additional investment was made.

He said that they are mainly into serving large corporate factories belonging to Coca-Cola, Unilever, Fontera, CEAT, Kelani, Dutch Lanka, Ceylon Pencil and Colombo Dockyard.

"We have a 24 X7 mobile unit that would be stationed at a particular point unit when the job is done," he said.

He said that one of their specialties is the ability to locally manufacture spare parts which would otherwise cost factories over 60 %.

"In addition we also save time of these companies and save millions of foreign exchange to them and the country," he added. "We also import raw materials to manufacture spare parts that are not available in Sri Lanka."

Hewawasam, a Director Operations Air Tariff at Trav Net, United Airlines said that the experience he gained in USA has also being put to practice in Sri Lanka providing Western style service to their customers. He also said that their mobile work force is on call 24 hours a day and is a preferred choice especially by companies involved in construction companies such as earth moving equipment and road construction.

He said that in the North East too several major infrastructure projects need their services. "It is easy for us to open a centre in North East rather than sending our team," he said.

He also disclosed plans to move into the Hydraulic service sector. Hewawasam said that many youth prefer to work with them since returns are high. The company also intends to boost their workforce to 50 employees by 2013.

"However finding qualified staff is a major problem and this is some thing the government should address more seriously," he said. He said that though the return on investment in the business is low he is happy to re invest and carry on since it's a service to the country.