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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Ruhunu Food Products Ltd. - another milestone by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy South Group Correspondent Ruhunu Food Products (Pvt.) Limited, based in Kundasale in Kandy, achieved another first in the field of condiments and powdered cereals when they became the first company in this sector to be awarded the SLS certification by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute at a ceremony held at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo in December 2003. Ruhunu Food Products (Pvt.) Limited which earlier operated under the name of Ruhunu Grinding Mills (Pvt.) Limited, was awarded the SLS certification for Ruhunu brand ground chillies, turmeric powder, curry powder and rice flour (both white and red) and this will now permit them to use the SLS mark on these products. The SLS certification is issued after stringent monitoring of the operations with accent on hygienic and quality and, even after issuing the SLS Certification, this monitoring will continue to ensure consistency. The SLS certification was awarded personally to the Chairman/ Managing Director of the Ruhunu Food Products (Pvt.) Limited, Pathmasiri Muthumala by the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute Armyne Wirasinhe. Also associated at this ceremony were SLS Director General B.S.P. Mendis, SLS Deputy Director General, Prof. Srilal de Silva, and Deputy Director General, Mrs. S.P. Weragoda, amongst many others. The establishment which commenced business in 1978 in a small shop along Peradeniya Road, Kandy, with just three employees as an essentially a grinding mill, rose up to receive the SLS ISO 9001: 2000 for Quality Management Systems requirements in the year 2002. They were the first in this trade to achieve this. This certification was issued for the manufacture and packing of spices, condiments and cereals including rice and kurakkan and purchasing and packing of table salt, vinegar and noodles under he brand name Ruhunu. The Sri Lanka Standards Institute Chairman Armyne Wirasinha said that SLS mark is a third party certification which guarantees the conformity of the product to the requirements of the relevant standard and assists consumers in selecting products from the market which are of good quality. Wirasinha said that good quality is achieved through the effective implementation of a quality system, using raw materials of the standard required, quality testing, inspection and auditing. Receiving the SLS mark is a milestone for the company and to maintain quality, regular monitoring, and surveillance activities will be carried out by the SLSI staff as well as the auditors of the company. This will ensure the consistency of the quality of the products. Chairman / Managing Director of the Ruhunu Food Products (Pvt) Limited, Pathmasiri Muthumala, who hails from deep So uth it was the public looking for quality products which made him take this trade. In the mid-seventies he was running a mini-market in the Kandy market in an era of shortages with people searching high and low for condiments which were hard to get. His shop had the packeted condiments manufactured by some other grinding mill but people turned their nose away when offered this products. Pathmasiri Muthumala said that he instantly felt that people were looking for quality, and once cheated, they would never again buy that product as there was large scale adulteration at that time, in order to make a quick buck for themselves but they never knew the long-term damage they were doing for themselves. With this in mind Pathmasiri Muthumala started the Ruhunu Grinding Mills in Kandy and, when his business grew, he had to shift part of his business to a more spacious complex at Mulgampola along the same road. The secret of his success was quality and the process of natural drying of the raw materials under hygienic conditions. This is one thing he still maintains. With the business bursting its seams, Pathmasiri Muthumala did the next correct step of shifting his operations to the industrial area of Kundasale where his factory, head office, warehouse and the distribution centre is located. It is virtually a landmark at the entrance to Kundasale in a sprawling complex. He uses his own transport for delivery of products which comprises scooter vans, dual purpose vans and lorries. Ruhunu Food Products has been catering to the foreign market as well, but at the moment, he is full up with local orders which he is unable to cope with. The staff is well looked after and they are provided with all facilities such as medical, funeral aid, recreation room, rest room, annual trips, benefit funds and transport where necessary. The workers are provided with uniforms inclusive of head-cover to ensure that the processing is done under hygienic conditions. Stringent quality control is adopted and, samples of the products manufactured, is taken at various stages of manufacture and tested in the well-equipped laboratory. If there is any complaint, the product is compared with the samples which are stored by the batch numbers. This procedure helps to handle these type of problems. Ruhunu Food Products Limited employs a large workforce mostly from areas around the complex and they are not over-worked as the normal working hours are followed and it is very rarely that they do work overtime. "We must not over-work our employees and labour procedures must be followed to get the best from the employees", quipped Pathmasiri Muthumala having achieved the twin achievement of ISO certification and the SLS certification and they are the first to receive both these certification in the trade of powdered condiments and powdered cereals. |
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