New R & D Centre to drive Sri Lankan ceramics

The public and private sectors, for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan ceramics industry, have joined forces to address constraints to the industry with a setting up of a new R&D centre.

The Sri Lankan Ceramics Council (SLACC) recently received a grant from The Competitiveness Program (TCP), a USAID funded project, to start-up a new Centre for Technical Excellence in Ceramics, the council said.

“The SLACC, the apex body for the ceramics industry, as a first step, invited the entire industry to invest in the new centre. After getting industry buy-in from five private sector investors, the SLACC, tactfully negotiated investment into this Rs. 15 million project from the Industrial Techonology Institute (ITI) and the five Ceramics manufactures (Midaya Ceramic Co. Ltd., Lanka Tiles Ltd., Lanka Walltile Ltd., Dankotuwa Porcelain Ltd., and Royal Ceramics Lanka Ltd.) jointly investing about 50% of the cost along with approximately Rs. 7.7 million grant given from USAID/TCP,” the statement said.

It said the objectives of the centre includes finding solutions to some of the immediate constraints of the industry such as rising energy costs. The centre will be the first of its kind to offer cost effective services to very small businesses with limited resources for research and development and training. It will be housed at the ITI in Colombo 7. Construction of the new centre is underway and expected to be fully operational by January.