Orange Electric Company, a progressive Sri Lankan company that is developing business and products outside, is to soon launch a mobile phone app that would automatically switch on or switch off lights as you walk in and out of a room.

The company, well known for its highly advanced CFL bulbs, is fast developing connectivity with telecommunication and IT industries to meet the rapidly changing trends in the world.

Recycling plant

Anticipating the vast potential of mobile phone applications, the company will soon enter the mobile phone industry by introducing a new “colours for orange” smartphone with innovative apps to the Sri Lankan market, Orange Electric Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku said in an interview.

This mobile phone with special features including the ability to switch on and off lights will be launched very soon, he revealed.
The company has entered this field since in future consumers may want to buy electrical items and mobile phones under the same roof and this kind of phone will be capable of operating electrical items, he added.

Discussing company plans at Orange’s head office at Nawinna, Mr. Kodituwakku expressed the belief that over a period of time electrical appliances will have to connect with mobile phone devices, which have become a part of modern day society. Two or three years from now, people will operate their domestic electrical devices through mobile apps, he disclosed.

“The key to our success is our R&D section which is developing a range of innovative products including a smart switch meter which indicates the number of units consumed,” he disclosed.

The Orange Electric has also started a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) division with 10 employees as an initial step towards its diversification into IT industry; he said adding that their diversification strategies are depending on its finances and position in its industry.

“We are very careful in diversification because it has both successes and failures — which sometimes lead managers and shareholders to consider and reject diversification strategies,” he explained.

Orange Electric came under Kushan Kodithuwakku 27 years ago as far back in 1995 following the demise of his father, as a joint venture company with Clipsal Lanka of Australia as an assembly line to manufacture injection moulding.

Kushan Kodituwakku demonstrating a new app. Pic by Ranjith Perera

Orange is now a 100 per cent Sri Lankan company with a global presence following its acquisition of a Singapore company. It is engaged in manufacturing electrical accessories not only to the local market but also making a considerable presence in the international markets.

Mr. Kodituwakku, a fearless decision maker who returned to the island in 1995 as a young man just out of the University of New Haven USA, with a degree in Industrial Engineering with specialisation in R&D and manufacturing, has changed the direction of his family company.

Rather than continuing as an import and assembly company, he stepped into direct manufacturing of electrical items and within 10 years achieved a tenfold growth in the company operations.

Today, Orange Electric is the No. 1 electrical manufacturing company in the country, even exporting some of their product lines to global markets, moving its administration and marketing and R&D sections under one roof in Maharagama.

All administrative functions what he called as trading floor business process are being carried out in one floor of the building. This has made it easy for the top management to get personnel access to any officer in the division, he disclosed. Kushan’s grandfather who hailed from Matara laid the foundation to this business. Kushan took-over this business from his father in 1995 and has developed into a strong local entity.

At that time they were only manufacturing switches. The company is now manufacturing 400 plus products including light meters and bulbs for the purpose of giving total solutions for customers, he said.

Having Sri Lanka as the base, Orange distributes its industrial products to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal – three vibrant South Asian markets.

Orel Far East, the joint venture company in Singapore, will introduce Orange industrial products to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam and the Middle East, he revealed.

With the increase of their product portfolio the company has five major factories at Maharagama, Boralesgamuwa, Ratmalana, Meegoda and Ranala with 1,000 employees, he said, adding that these five factories manufacture more than one million electrical items per month.

He disclosed that Asia’s first CFL recycling plant set up by his company in Meegoda has received ISO certification and this standards certification is unique, since this is the first time it has been given to a company for the proper disposal of Mercury.

Asia Recycling’s Quality & Environmental Management Systems have been certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards by DNV Business Assurance Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a premier Certification Body for Accredited Management Systems Certifications to ISO & other Standards The Asia Recycling plant was set up in collaboration with Nordic Recycling AB of Sweden, a world pioneer on the green technology front.

He noted that the company set up the US$500,000 plant recognising the danger their product posed to the environment and considered it their responsibility to do everything possible to mitigate any possible damage.

He said, “The plant has the capacity to recycle up to 30,000,000 bulbs per annum, which is nearly three times bigger than the annual usage of CFL bulbs in Sri Lanka”.

“In order to encourage proper disposal of these bulbs we give a discount for any brand of CFL bulb that is returned to the vendor when consumers are purchasing our bulbs,” he added.