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Promises high quality products for local & export markets Rocell Bathware takes off in Rs. 1.8 bn. Factory - August 16, 2009
One of Sri Lanka's leading floor tile manufacturers, Royal Ceramics, last week launched its Rs.1.8 billion bathware and sanitaryware state-of-the-art production facility at Templeburg Industrial Estate in Panagoda.
The new factory was opened on Friday in the presence of several ministers and BOI Chief Dhammika Perera who is also a director and major shareholder of Royal Ceramics.
Mr. Nimal Perera, Managing Director of the Royal Ceramics group, said that the country was now at the threshold of accelerated growth following the end of the war.
"Opening a facility like this shows a local brand gearing itself to face the challenges that lie ahead by seizing the opportunity for a new beginning," he said.
"We aspire to contribute substantially to the national economy and offer employment to Sri Lankans."
The new factory has an annual production capacity of 250,000 pieces and employs a workforce of 200 "committed to establishing a new standard in the sanitaryware market."
The manufacturing company, Rocell Bathware, is looking at both the domestic and the export markets.
The company's CEO, Tharana Thoradeniya, said that sanitaryware is now not just a functional product but a lifestyle product. He estimated that the present bathware market to be around 600,000 pieces a year including 175,000 squatting pans.
The new company which is looking at the middle and upper end of the sanitaryware market with its factory equipped with the latest European machinery including a 90 cubic meter kiln, automated driers and robotic glazing lines. This gives Rocell Bathware the ability to produce to international standards.
The new factory's machinery and technical know-how came from Unimak of Turkey and SACNI of Italy. British standard quality products are promised.
"We are not cheap" Thoradeniya said on Friday. "We are certainly not competing with Chinese products."
The company has infrastructure for a phase two expansion already in place and is ready to grow once manufacturing capacity in the first phase is achieved.
Although high energy costs are a concern in the ceramic industry, Thoradeniya told reporters that they were more concerned about the import of cheaper, lower quality products from other Asian manufacturers in India, China and Thailand.
Rocell Bathware will use Royal Ceramics showrooms and dealer networks to market its products.
The parent company established in 1990 was the first producer of homogenous ceramic tiles claims 55% of the country's floor tile market.
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