Noritake invests Rs. 300m on pocelain printing plant
Noritake Lanka Porcelain Ltd., a pioneer porcelain tableware
manufacturer, set up its state-of-the-art printing plant in Matale with
an investment of Rs. 300 million to enhance sophisticated designs.
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Tamio Marubayashi Pic :
Chinthaka Kumarasinghe |
The new printing technology is expected to increase the production
capacity from 100,000 sheets to 150,000 sheets per month and minimise
the printing cycle time. The targeted turnover for a month would be over
Rs. 400 million. Manager Executive Officer, Group General Manager,
Tabletop Group, Noritake, Tamio Marubayashi said, Noritake parent
company in Japan has decided to invest more in Sri Lanka as the
environment for investments is favourable.
“Despite adverse conditions faced by Noritake Japan due to the global
recession not a single employee was retrenched in Sri Lanka though the
company laid off over 150 employees in Japan”, he said.
Noritake survived the storms of the global crisis due to its strong
market penetration. Leading players in the ceramics industry such as
Royal Doulton and Wedgewood went bankrupt due to the global financial
crisis.
Noritake, which is a name of a city in Japan was set up in 1904 and
commenced operations in Sri Lanka in 1972 as the first joint venture
company.
Noritake is rated among the top five leading global companies such as
Lenox, Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, Villeroy Bosch. USA, UK, Indonesia and
Thailand are some of the main export markets of Noritake Lanka. The
company exports around 85 percent of its products while the rest is for
the domestic market.
Marubayashi said the company was happy over the decision taken by the
government to withdraw the Duty on LP Gas mid this year which is highly
beneficial to the industry.
LF
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