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| Sunday, 3 February 2002 |
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SLSI heading towards self sufficiency by A. Ganeshalingam The Sri Lanka Standards Institution is the national standards body in Sri Lanka established under the Sri Lanka Standards Institution Act No. 6 of 1984 which replaced the Bureau of Ceylon Standards Act No. 38 of 1964. The institution functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology and is governed by a council appointed in terms of the SLSI act. SLSI was a member of the International Standards Organisation since 1967, ISO comprises national standards bodies of 137 countries. SLSI was elected to the council of ISO in 1998 for the first time. The Institution is accredited as a certification body by Dutch Accreditation Council (RVA) in the Netherlands, giving international recognition for its system certification activities from 1996. SLSI is designated as the national enquiry point for technical regulations under the WTO/TBT agreement since 1995. It has a corporate plan which is periodically updated and revised. The goals of the Institution have been established for the fulfilment of its mission and strategies and targets have been developed to achieve the goals. SLSI consists of 11 divisions Quality Assurance Division - System Certification, Engineering Standards division, Scientific Standards Division, Laboratory Division, Metrology Division, Documentation and Information Division, Training Division, Marketing and Promotions Division, Administration Division and Finance and Supplies Division. Standards Divisions are responsible for the basic functions of the Institution as the national standards body to formulate and promote the application of national standards in all sectors of the economy to foster the economic and effective use of national resources. The effective application of standards as a means to assure that the products available in the domestic export markets conform to the relevant standard, forms an integral part of the Institution's mission and is carried out by the Quality Assurance Division. This is achieved by promoting proper quality management systems in enterprises and through inspection and quality certification of products through a certification marks scheme - the SLS mark - and Pre-export Inspection Scheme. A registration scheme is also operated for establishments processing fishery products for export. This division also operates an Import Inspection Scheme for specified items based on health, safety and critical quality issues to provide protection to the consumer from low quality imported products and also to protect local industrialists from unfair competition. System Certification Division operates certification schemes covering ISO 9000 based quality systems, ISO 14000 based Environmental Management Systems, and codex HACCP-based food safety system, to cater to the needs of Sri Lankan industry and trade for certification services. The Laboratory Division of the SLSI provides services required for standards development and quality assurance activities through six laboratory units in the fields of chemical, food, electrical, materials, microbiology and textile. This division also serves industry, trade and commerce by providing testing services needed for product and quality assurance activities. The Metrology Division provides a range of calibration services backed by traceability to management units, standards and service departments, and other national organisations overseas. The Documentation and Information division has a library, which has a comprehensive collection of national and international standard and other technical books and periodicals with a computer database, providing the resources for an efficient information service to industry and trade. It also provides a sales outlet for national and international standards. The Training Division provides training in standardisation and quality management for industrial personnel, imparting the knowledge required for providing good quality products. A one year diploma program in quality management is conducted for managers of industry and service organisations. The Marketing and Promotions Division is in charge of carrying out a well planned marketing strategy, to publicise and promote SLSI activities at national level. This division is also engaged in consumer education at national level. Sri Lanka National Quality Awards are presented annually to Sri Lankan organisations which excel in quality management activities, to promote awareness of quality to elevate quality systems and to share information on successful performances. The Administration Division is in charge of the management of the personnel of the institution. About 325 employees work in the SLSI. The Finance and Supplies Division is responsible for managing the finances of the institution, according to accepted standards of accounting and procurement of supplies and services in keeping with accepted norms. Financial Management is management of the financial resources which is money or in a wider sense, funds. The Finance and Supplies Division in conjunction with the other divisions, plans the needs, for funds, receives the funds, allocates funds, controls and reports on the use of funds and accounts for it. Providing management information to appropriate persons at the right time is the most important function of the division. The information so provided assist the different levels of management to plan their activities in the short and long term organise the tasks necessary for the plan, monitor the execution of the tasks and activities, in order to compare and control actual results with the plan and take necessary corrective measures or replan the activities. SLSI is a state-owned enterprise set up under the statute. Principal sources of financing are the government grant for capital expenditure and foreign aid. The accumulated fund as at December 31, 2000 was Rs. 321.4 million and foreign aid, Rs. 290.8 million. The asset structure consisted of land and building of Rs. 35.2 million, equipment, furniture and fittings of Rs. 20.7 million lab equipment of Rs. 222.8 million, library books of Rs. 7.1 million, motor vehicles of Rs. 1.6 million and building work in progress of Rs. 100.1 million. The economic characteristic is reviewed from the revenue received by the institution. The recurrent expenditure is met by government grants and income generated. The government grant for recurrent expenditure was Rs. 44.95 million, testing and calibration fees Rs. 10.54 million training program proceeds Rs. 7.56 million import inspection fee Rs. 7.13 million certification marking scheme income Rs. 7.11 million ISO company registration fees Rs. 6.46 million sale of standards receipts Rs. 2.43 million and others, Rs. 1.54 million for the year 2000. Import inspection fees, ISO company registration fees, certification marking scheme fees, testing fees and training program proceeds were the major sources of revenue for the Institution. The financial reporting of SLSI as for all state-owned enterprises, is governed by the Finance Act No. 38 of 1971. The statement of income and expenditure with cash flow for each month and interim quarterly financial statements are submitted to the management and the council. Final accounts for the year are submitted to the management, Council, Ministry, General Treasury and Auditor General's Department. Draft recurrent budget and capital budget for each financial year is submitted to the treasury through the Ministry for determination of government grants and Council approval for the budget is obtained before the end of September of the previous year. The recurrent expenditure is met by the government grant and generated income. The income which was Rs. 14.1 million in 1993 increased by Rs. 287.7 million to Rs. 42.8 million in 2000 while the government grant for recurrent expenditure which was 38.6 million is 1993 increased only by Rs. 6.3 million to 44.9 million in 2000. The budgeted government grant of Rs. 48.3 million in 2001, was reduced to Rs. 31.5 million, whereby SLSI had to increase the income from RS. 42.5 million in 2000 to Rs. 60 million in 2001. This necessitated SLSI to evolve and design its future based and built on its purpose, markets, future, culture, policies philosophical guidelines, needs and its total development requirements. The planning process required a great deal of thought and analysis. SLSI reviewed as to where it is now, where it wants to go, how to get there and what the expected results are. Divisions reviewed the physical and financial targets and new targets were set for each category of income, so as to reach the target of Rs. 60 million. Regular progress review meetings were held where the progress was reviewed, problems analysed, corrective action determined, results evaluated and implementation of corrective action monitored. The income per month increased to about Rs. 6 million in October 2001. Thus the budget is used as a tool of management. The inputs are made available to management to produce goods and services. In the production exercise, the actual skills, knowledge and expertise of management come in to play. The managers in the course of their operations are expected to co-ordinate, control, direct and motivate in order to achieve goods and services. The sum total of efforts made to achieve productivity is to achieve more goods and services for the same input or alternatively the same output of goods, and services for fewer inputs. SLSI is earning a higher income using the same staff and same facilities by motivating the staff to reach higher productivity level. The importance of management and technological importance in the context of an attempt to increase productivity has another aspect which is equally important - the cultural and social constraints to productivity and development. The capacity to innovate and change is one of the four characteristics needed for human development. This constraint is overcome by change in the whole approach to management education and training. Previously the divisions of the SLSI were considered as expense centres controlling the expenses of the division. Presently the performance of each division is measured in terms of both revenue and cost, whereby divisions are considered as profit centres. This will lead in time to come to the investment centre idea where each division will be responsible not only for the profit but also for the return on investment in that division. The main concern of economics is how to allocate limited resources, so as to satisfy unlimited needs and desires. Management decides on how to reduce costs and wastes and increase efficiency and profits. This is not a purely private activity unrelated to the country's economic growth or even the fight against poverty and want. The government grant for recurrent expenditure for SLSI for 2002 has been fixed at Rs. 27.7 million. SLSi has to generate a higher income this year to enable it to carry out all the plans and programs envisaged in the corporate plan. The institute is thus moving towards achieving self sufficiency by depending more on its income and less on the government grant for recurrent expenditure. |
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