Lanka Tiles gears for global market
Lanka Tiles PLC (LTL), manufacturer of floor tiles, has completed its Rs.2 .5 billion capacity expansion and is ready to make a global footprint, officials said.
“We are in the process of commissioning our Ranala factory after the expansion. This expansion has made us the biggest manufacturer of tiles in the country,” Mahendra Jayasekara, Managing Director LTL told the Business Times. He said now the factory has the capacity to make polished porcelain tiles, tiles with coloured bodies and large sized tiles.
Mr. Jayasekara noted that since the company is not in position to make all requirements of tiles by customers, they ventured into India to manufacture certain types of tiles. “We deploy Sri Lankans to manufacture these tiles in India.” That is the reason behind taking some of their operations into India. Mr. Jayasekara noted that when certain customers want specific tiles which are not available with LTL, these customers invariably turn to low quality Chinese products. “So we saw a market in this sector. We decided to build tiles for the specifications in India, bring them down and offer them at a reasonable price to the customers.”
Lanka Tiles is currently working with eight to 10 factories in Morbi, Gujarat, India to manufacture a range of tiles in sizes and textures that are not manufactured locally, he further added.
“The main aim of this initiative of Lanka Tiles is to offer a product manufactured to international quality standards to its customers irrespective of the country of manufacture as the demand for imported tiles is growing in the local market.”
Currently imported tiles account for over 60 per cent of the local market. The main feature in this arrangement of manufacturing tiles overseas under Lanka Tiles brand is that these products are manufactured under strict supervision of Lanka Tiles staff who also get the opportunity through this arrangement to work in overseas factories and share knowledge with their counterparts overseas, according to Mr. Jayasekara.
“Lanka Tiles is proud to have local staff working in factories in India and China where they ensure that the products are manufactured to its strict quality standards,” he said noting that this arrangement by Lanka Tiles provides Sri Lankan customers the opportunity to buy an imported product under the Lanka Tiles brand that gives an assurance about its quality.
Lanka Tiles not only imports products manufactured overseas under its own brand but also exports the Lanka Tiles products to many overseas markets, thereby strengthening its brand presence in overseas markets, he said stressing that Lanka Tiles is the only Sri Lankan brand that bears the name ‘Lanka’ which has made a mark globally.
“We are the only Sri Lankan brand which uses ‘ Lanka ‘ in our name. With this we want to go further into global markets,” he added.