Kelani Cables Makes History with Gold Award at the National Quality Awards
The Kelani brand name is synonymous with quality and safety among the customers when it comes to wiring. Once again cementing the company’s commitment to excellence in quality, Kelani Cables PLC won the gold award at the recently concluded National Quality Awards organised by the Sri Lanka Standard Institute (SLSI) in the manufacturing large scale category.
Since its inception in 1969, the company has grown from strength to strength to become the market leader in electrical cabling solutions, eventually becoming a quoted public limited liability company in 1973. Throughout its history, Kelani Cables has reached many a significant milestone, and the recently won gold award marks yet another significant moment in the company history. Having first received the Gold Award at the 2006 National Quality, Kelani Cables remains one of the few companies in Sri Lanka to repeat the feat a second time.
Commenting upon the company’s success at the awards ceremony, Mr Mahinda Saranapala- Chief Executive Officer of Kelani Cables PLC commented, “We are all happy and thrilled about the award”.
The National Quality Awards, which had been based upon the Malcolm Baldrige model, accord- ing to Mr Saranapala, presented a far more vigorous judging stage compared to a decade ago, when Kelani Cables first won the gold award. With everything from performance excellence, items and point value assessed in several criterion that included the organisational profile, organisational description and organisational situation, the company’s operations were thoroughly evaluated.
“Our operations are virtually reaching exc e l l e n c e,” Mr Saranapala stated, expressing his confidence in the workforce of Kelani Cables and their commitment towards contributing to the company’s overall success.
Kelani Cables’ achievement at the National Quality Awards signify monumental feats in the company’s future. As the company is now eligible to apply for the Asia Pacific Quality Awards, Mr Saranapala stated that Kelani will compete with other Asia Pacific brands with complete confidence in themselves.
With models such as 5S, Kaizen and TPM in place, the working environment at Kelani Cables is remarkably productive. “People are happy to come into work,” commented Mr Saranapala, explaining that such models have created a well organised, disciplined approach towards work and that employees are inspired to engage in work across many areas.
With Kaizen, 5S and other models as the foundation, Kelani Cables make use of the 5 pillar model to achieve sustainable growth and profit, which includes Total Flow Management ( TFM), To t a l Productive Maintenance ( TPM), Total Quality Management TQM), Total service Management (TSM) and To t a l E nv i ro n m e n t Management (TEM).
Kelani Cables’ commitment to quality resonates within the TQM pillar, and Mr Saranapala asserted that from the raw material to the process to online checking and final product checking, quality is an aspect that plays a large role within the operations of the company.
“The products that leave the company are assured of quality,” he reiterated.
The SLSI standards as well as the inter nationally recognised Malcolm Baldrige criteria, according to Mr Saranapala, have “a direct impact on the outcome of various things”. One such outcome comes in the form of international acceptance for Kelani as a brand.
With 68 distributors ensuring that the Kelani Cable products are available throughout the country, the distributor market has conquered 38% of the market share. Export wise, the company has two primary dealers in Bangladesh and Maldives. In addition, the company also exports their products to India, Seychelles, Dubai and South Africa.
With a 38% market share in the industry, Kelani Cables has a recorded brand value of Rs 964 Mn in the last year, according to a survey conducted by LMD, and a market capitalization of Rs 3 Bn with a sales turnover of Rs 6.7 Bn. Mr Saranapala stated that the company is anticipating remarkable growth in the coming years as well.
Mr Anil Munasinghe- General Manager- Marketing stated that in 49 years, the customers have kept their confidence in the brand due to its commitment to quality and safety. “People who use Kelani cables know that they are using the best quality cables available in the market,” he went on to say.
Mr Channa Jayasinghe- Manager Brand Development, agreeing with his colleague, once again emphasized the company’s commitment to continuous quality standards.