Business
Technology Transfer Mission at Mahindra Ideal Lanka Pvt Limited, Welipenna
SL technicians set to roll over all stages of car assembly at the plant
An Indian Automobile Engineer, who was a plant head Mahindra Ideal Lanka Pvt Ltd. (MILPL), car assembly plant in Wellipenna of is due to leave the island after successfully completing this training mission. Post his movement, MILPL plant will be run by 100% Sri Lankan technical workforce.
Engineer Sadhasivam Durairaj told the media recently that he would be completing his two-year technology transfer mission and Plant Head role on January 31, 2021 and he had utmost confidence that Sri Lankan technicians have gained the knowledge and competency to create a product according to the specifications of Mahindra & Mahindra, India.
“In fact, I can assure that Sri Lankan car assembly technicians at MILPL can perform the duties and responsibilities such as diagnostic tests on the assembled product to ensure efficiency and conduct adjustments as needed on par with global standards,” he said.
“Assembly technicians must be knowledgeable about the technology and mechanical industry as well as have the ability to analyse designs as a guide for creating high-quality products. Sri Lankan technicians have now absorbed all these skills to perform the assembly operations with no supervision”.
“I trained around 50 technicians and found that working at an assembly plant producing a quality product had come naturally to them. That made my job easier and more enjoyable. In fact, when I first interviewed them, I had planned to ask them only the basic questions, but I was surprised that they were even able to answer questions on more complex things such as functions of car parts, Importance of automotive systems, root causes etc. That made me confident of producing global standard quality cars in Sri Lanka from day one. I saw that training was mainly required in areas such as standardization, plant safety, shop floor disciplines etc. Over the period, they learned quickly and they adhered to standards and specifications. I’d simply say that they were good learners and followers”.
Referring to personal attributes of his Sri Lankan technical staff, Sadhasivam said,” they showed a great deal of self-discipline, attention to detail, good problem-solving skills, passion for technology and focus on the end-user of the product; all of which led to functional excellence at the assembly line”.
“The global automotive industry supply chain adopts lean manufacturing concepts, our Mahindra Ideal Lanka plant is a venue for Lean Production. We procure around 30% parts locally – seat, exhaust, battery and tyre, the local value-added parts are ordered based on the monthly requirements and procured on Just-In-Time (JIT) basis. similarly, other consumables and Imported parts are procured based on our stock holding policy – this depends on the lead time which includes packaging, shipment and customs clearance”, he said.
“Mahindra vehicles are a strong line-up of great reliability. In India, we call it Scorpio company or Bolero company because it is well- known for its sturdy products. And Ideal Motors Sri Lanka is a well established network with its service centers, showrooms, logistics and customer care centres. That synergy will ensure customer delight like no other combination,” he said.
When asked about the assembly plant’s production capacity, Sadhasivam said,” the annual capacity is 5,000 units, now we produce 100+ cars per month and we will ramp up daily production as market demand increases. Presently we have assembled KUV100 Manual Petrol variants, and we have planned to add KUV100 AMT Diesel variants in the time to come”.
“Our technicians at MILPL plant are committed to ‘Zero Defect Manufacturing and doing it right the first time. The past two years of my life as Head of Vehicle Production Plant of Mahindra Ideal Lanka have been full of amazing experiences and a lot of professional satisfaction. I came across some of the most talented, experienced and friendly coworkers in Sri Lanka, I would miss being part of this great workplace and would say that anyone who gets the opportunity to work here will find it an energy-filled workplace”.
Sadhasivam is moving on to a new ‘challenging’ position in another automotive company in India next month.
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SLT-Mobitel, the nation’s ICT and Telecommunications Service Provider recently partnered with Spotify, to mark their launch in Sri Lanka. Spotify is a paid premium music streaming app which allows subscribers to listen to music to their hearts content. Both, SLT-Mobitel Post-Paid and Pre-Paid customers will now be able to enjoy Spotify by activating a monthly recurring subscription or one-time subscription plan and access unlimited music streaming and downloading facilities.
The subscription charges will get added to the user’s customary billing, where payment will be deducted in real time. Starting from the payment date, the user will be able to access Spotify and download their favourite songs, for the next 30 days. Users who sign up for their first monthly subscription will receive an additional one month, courtesy of Spotify. The one-month subscription plan is not applicable with one-time subscription plans. SLT-Mobitel data rates, depending on the user’s respective broadband charges, will apply.
Spotify also has some exciting features that will provide SLT-Mobitel customers with the opportunity to listen to ad-free music, access millions of uninterrupted music under one platform, play any song they like, anywhere they go, and also be able to enjoy their music offline.
SLT-Mobitel customers can select their preferred premium package under four categories; Individual, Duo, Family, Student. Each category has recurring and non-recurring plans. After one month of free streaming, the package will activate once the offer period terminates. While both, the Individual and Student premiums are limited to one account user, the Duo package offers two accounts and the Family premium is accessible through six accounts. To view Spotify plans, users can log on to https://spoti.fi/3aLWvce
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by Sanath Nanayakkare
Anyone conversant with the elements of a political economy would know that Sri Lanka is using its ‘sovereign power’ to manage the different dynamics of the economy in a sustainable manner, Professor W. D Lakshman Governor of the Central Bank said on Wednesday.
“Some critics are saying that we adopt a so-called modern monetary theory. That’s not the case. In fact, Sri Lanka is using its sovereign power in a number of economic aspects to honour its external debt repayment commitments as well as to reduce its debt burden in the medium term as well as achieve resilient growth in the medium to long term, he said.
“We make policy decisions to boost our gross foreign reserves, meet our external debt servicing, to facilitate monetary expansion, to boost our GDP growth, to strengthen our current account balance and manage our domestic and external economic variables in a sustainable manner. This is not a modern monetary theory. This is an age-old tool used by central banks around the world when the circumstances demand it, he said.
“Certain trade-offs will be necessary when dealing with an economy which has a big fiscal gap to bridge. There are efforts to push Sri Lanka towards the IMF again which would in turn have influence on our policymaking. We have taken policy measures to stabilize the economy and we have adequate reserve levels to meet our debt repayments. Meanwhile, we are in negotiations with overseas central banks and multilateral agencies to further boost our reserve level and it would materialise within a matter of weeks,” he noted.
“One of the tools the Central Bank has introduced is in respect of repatriation of export proceeds into Sri Lanka and conversion of such proceeds into Sri Lankan rupees in order to strengthen the foreign exchange situation of the country,” he said.
The Governor made these remarks while delivering the keynote speech at a webinar organised by the Veemansa Initiative led by its Managing Director Luxman Siriwardene – the former Executive Director of Pathfinder Foundation.
The webinar revolved round the topic ‘External debt situation in Sri Lanka: Are we heading for a resolution or crisis?’
Professor Sirimal Abeyratne, Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Dr. Nishan de Mel and Dr. Ravi Liyanage were the other speakers on the panel.
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By Hiran H.Senewiratne
CSE produced signs of a rebound yesterday with both indices closing positive, though turnover remained low. Central Bank Governor W.D Lakshman’s recent statement on managing foreign reserves gave some boost to the market yesterday, stock market analysts said.
The index experienced a zigzag movement within the early hours of trading; thereafter, it recorded a slight up-trend as it reached its intraday high of 7,439. Later, the market witnessed a down-trend at mid-day, followed by a sideways movement and closed at 7,372, gaining 43 points during the month of February, market sources said.
It is said the banking sector dominated turnover with a contribution of considerable parcel trades in Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank and HNB.
Further, the Commercial Bank’s impressive quarterly results during the recent turbulent period also built investor confidence. Commercial Bank was able to register a18 percent net interest income when other banks were reporting a decline. Its share price increased by Rs. 3 or 3.5 percent. On the previous day, its shares started trading at Rs. 85 and at the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 88. Due to the positive growth results, the bank announced a Rs. 4.40 dividend per share, plus a Rs. 2 script divergent for every share.
Further, Sampath Bank shares also appreciated in both crossing and retail. In crossings its shares appreciated by Rs. 1.At the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 154.50. In the retail market, its shares moved up by Rs. 2 or 1.3 percent. Previously, its shares fetched Rs. 154 and at the end of yesterday they moved up to Rs. 156.
Amid those developments, both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 104.48 points and S and P SL20 rose by 67.78 points. Turnover stood at Rs. 3 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Sampath Bank, where 3.9 million shares crossed for Rs. 602.2 million, its share price being Rs. 154.50, HNB 375,000 shares crossed for Rs. 39.4 million, its shares traded at Rs. 105, Pan Asia Power 9.5 million shares crossed for Rs. 33.2 million, its shares traded at Rs. 3.50 and Access Engineering 1.2 million shares crossed for Rs. 28.2 million; its shares traded at Rs. 24.
In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Rs. 450 million (10 million shares traded), JKH Rs. 205 million (1.3 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs. 199 million (34.9 million shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs. 191 million (1.2 million shares traded) and Dipped Products Rs. 137.7 million (2.8 million shares traded). During the day 101 million share volumes changed hands in 18046 transactions.
During the day, Expolanka, the biggest contributor to the turnover, saw its share price appreciating by Rs. 6.20 or 15 percent. Its share price quoted on the previous day was Rs. 41 and at the end of trading yesterday it moved up to Rs. 47.
Sri Lanka’s rupee quoted wider at 193.50/195.50 levels to the US dollar in the spot next market on Thursday while bond yields remained unchanged, dealers said. The rupee last closed in the spot market at 194.50/195.00 to the dollar on Wednesday.
