Asanka Ranathunga and his family |
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A Sri Lankan employee of Fonterra Brands Lanka from a rural hamlet recently won the 2008 CEO Award from the worldwide parent company, Fonterra.
The company in a statement said Fonterra Global CEO Award brings with it not only honour and recognition, it demonstrates in no uncertain terms a high level of innovative skills that has commanded the respect and attention by outshining in a very competitive arena.
Asanka Ranathunga, Senior Engineering Assistant, 36, a proud product of Deliwala Central College, Rambukkana, became one of the six winners within the Fonterra global network and received a handsome cash reward which he could spend on personal or professional development. Some splurge it on a course of scuba diving off Australia or a wild life expedition to Africa. Mr Ranathunga’s choice is to upgrade his mechanical drawing skills by following an advanced course on AutoCAD (Computer Aided Design) software application.
Mr Ranathunga came up with a innovative creation while Fonterra Brands Lanka managers were mulling over the arduous task of developing a new product that would appeal to the taste and nutritional needs of Sri Lankan children. The product development strategy panned out was to launch a fruit-layered yoghurt to strengthen the Anchor Newdale brand. Getting down new machinery would have incurred the team NZ$ 10,800.
“Asanka put his thinking cap on and developed a machine fabricated entirely of locally sourced material that enabled his project team to produce the set yoghurt layered with locally grown fruits. More importantly, it was implemented on time,” according to a company statement.
Mr Ranathunga commutes from Gampaha where he lives with his wife Chandrika Damayanthi, son aged 5 years and one-month-old baby daughter and has been working at the Fonterra Brands Lanka dairy factory for 11 years.
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