A leading Sri Lankan electronics manufacturing Service Company is to export printed circuit boards for high tech oil and gas exploration equipment to be produced in Norway. TOS Lanka Co. (Pvt) Ltd, a wholly Japanese - owned BOI enterprise, located in the Biyagama Export Processing Zone has entered into a long term procurement agreement with Pro partner defence AS Company of Norway to supply these printed circuit boards assembled in Sri Lanka with Norwegian technology-transfer collaboration.
Executive Director of the company Merrick Goonaratne told The Sunday Times FT that their Norwegian counterpart has evaluated the samples produced by them and they were very satisfied with the product. Toss Lanka Company is engaged in Electronic Manufacturing Services with focal emphasis on printed circuit board assembly using Surface Mount Technology supported by ROHS soldering systems. The company is also into manufacturing of electronic components and automotive harnessing by conventional assembly. The company employs over 300 trained workers most of whom have been trained in Japan by the holding company and its affiliates. “We are a fully Japanese company but we have had a successful interaction with a Norwegian company, through the Sri Lanka - Norway Match-Making Programme initiated by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce,” he said.
He revealed that The Sri Lanka - Norway Industrial Co-operation (Matchmaking) Programme has helped them to establish contacts with this Norwegian partner who is specializing in putting into the Norwegian market a product which will facilitate the life of a disabled or aged person.
The company is turning out the product here in Sri Lanka and the Norwegian partner buys it back in its entirety and has now successfully marketed the product. The quality is in compliance with all the requirements of that sophisticated market, he said.
Managing Director of Pro partner defence AS Company of Norway Tomos Flato said that his company is impressed with the skills and efficiency of Sri Lankan workers especially those engaged in the electronics and plastics manufacturing sectors. He noted that all products marketed by them should adhere to international quality standards and it should be certified as zero defects before selling it to consumers. He noted that 20 to 30 % of their consumer electronic products are marketed in the US and EU.
Norwegian technology has been transferred to 66 Sri Lankan companies engaged in electronics, electrical, steel, rubber, plastics, marine, apparel sectors during the past 15 years under The Sri Lanka - Norway Industrial Co-operation (Matchmaking) Programme initiated by the Sri Lanka - Nordic Business Councils in 1993. Project Director Anuruddha Perera said that it facilitates the transfer of Norwegian know-how, competence, technology and skills to Sri Lanka by way of a matchmaking process.
The Programme is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD). The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce acts as the National Contact Point in Sri Lanka while Advanced Business Partner AS, an industrial consultancy firm in Norway acts as the National Contact Point in Norway .
The programme also facilitates trading between Sri Lankan and Norwegian business enterprises. Sectors identified as potential are garden furniture/ wooden products, tea, leather, gems and jewellery, horticulture, coir fiber, ceramics and rubber. Sri Lankan exports to Norway had been increased from Rs. 1.820 million in 2007 to Rs. 2.041 million in 2008 while its imports fell from Rs 864 million to Rs.687 million during the same period. |
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