Sri Lankan quality biscuit market leader, and the country's premier biscuit manufacturer, Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Limited, has recorded a significant growth in sales and production volume this year following its principle of looking after taste along with good health of consumers by supplying them with high quality biscuits manufactured by using high quality ingredients under hygienic conditions.
The growth in volume has been increased from 17% last year to 28 % this year, said Sarath De Silva, General Manager Factory, who is a food technologist and a chartered chemist along with practical experience in food manufacturing process. He said that as a chartered chemist he is fully concerned with chemical content of ingredients that are been used to manufacture biscuits. "We should look after the health of consumers, they should not be allowed to consume high content of chemicals that can be found in colouring, essence, some ingredients and anti oxidants used to prevent rancidity and we have to follow government food act and other regulations.
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| Bandula Perera , Group General Manager-HR/Admin |
Sarath De Silva, General Manager Factory |
"We at Maliban have never used harmful ingredients to the body" and we are using expensive high quality ingredients which complied with the regulations of local and other countries. All Maliban biscuit products are free from animal fats such as pork and beef fats.
Each product of Maliban is high in quality and taste, for example the Maliban Bran Cracker is high in natural fibers which help to lead a healthier life.
Products like, Gold Marie, Cream Cracker, Glucomalt and Milk Shortcake biscuits are enriched with vitamins and minerals to give nutrition supplements to consumer. Maliban products come with their own nutrition panels, which are printed, on the packaging to educate the consumer on the content of its products, he revealed.
Maliban strictly adhered to regulations made by the Minister of Healthcare Nutrition under the Food Act No 26 of 1980 and consumer affairs authority act and other relevant statuary and regulatory requirements.
"We are one of the few major food businesses that have the ISO 22000 certification that relates to food safety management system. We were also the first biscuit manufacturer to be awarded Super Brand status and today we have been rated the top biscuit manufacturer; The House of Maliban has indeed proved that it can withstand the test of time and we are confident of bettering our performance, expanding our product range and continuing to cater to all our customers". Also we have established implemented and maintaining Integrated Management System which includes Quality Management System, Environmental Management System and Food Safety Management System along with other quality concept such as Cleaner Production, Quality Circles, and effective 5 "S" System etc. to enhance consumer delight by delivering what we promise to the consumer.
The company has gained local and international acclaim by winning world recognized quality awards, adhering to its founder's concept of "quality is our religion, "he said adding that Maliban was a pioneer in introducing quality assurance concept in Sri Lanka.
The Present Chairman of the company is also highly concerned on maintaining quality standard of Maliban Biscuits. He emphasized that these achievements were possible due to the company's focus on six areas, which is followed by all sections of the Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Limited These factors includes best performance in productivity, quality, reduction of costs, on time delivery, managing the work place safe and maintaining high morale of work force.
Maliban accords priority to innovation and quality equally to gain performance excellence through leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus and process management. He noted that Maliban consistently adopts measures to ensure that the superior quality and taste of its products are maintained throughout. "Inspection and testing are conducted on a regular basis and we take great care every step of the way - from choosing our raw material to production and packaging - to maintain our quality standards," he said.
Considering these aspects the Sri Lanka Standard Institution has awarded Maliban Biscuits with the "National Quality Award 2010" in the large scale manufacturing category. Maliban first won the National Quality Award in 1996 and the company has demonstrated its consistency and commitment to quality by winning the award for the second time in 2010. Apart from the National Quality Award, Maliban was also bestowed with six other awards in 2010/11 including Taiki Akimoto 5S Merit Award, ITQI Super Taste Award which was presented by the International Taste & Quality Institute of Brussels for Cream Cracker, Gold Marie & Chocolate Cream biscuits, CNCI Achievers (Bronze) Award, NCE Export (Silver) Award, National Cleaner Production (Silver) Award and Geo Responsibility Gold Award. Maliban Biscuit Manufactories, was awarded the FMCG Food Brand of the Year Award at the SLIM-Neilsen People's Awards 2011.these awards demonstrates the trust and confidence placed on Maliban brand, he said.
We at HR care about the quality work environment of employees at Maliban
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Outlining the importance of human resources, Around 1,400 employees work round the clock to assure the highest standards in quality due to precise and undeviating guidance given through the HR , Bandula Perera , Group General Manager-HR/Admin said that Maliban is equipped with world-class infrastructure, which includes the most modern machinery and equipments but according to him the key aspects of its success is their skilled and motivated workforce backed by a superior image of the company. With the focus of achieving further sustainable development, the company has implemented several initiatives within the past few years including projects focused on employee skills development, local and international training and identifying the gaps to be competitive in HR.
The approach on training and skill development has enhanced the employee motivation and their engagement to the company, where the company gains a long term achievement in HR sustainability which enhances the employee productivity. HR practices in the organization were given enlightenment and a fresh rhythm with a compassionate approach. Specially common sense were applied in most of the sensitive cases, which deliver results adding values to the organization. Since the straightforwardness and simplicity HR practices delivered better results than practicing complicated theories. The company has achieved many awards in quality, benchmarking the National Quality award for large scale manufacturing sector in last year and many other ISO standards. As a result of training and development based on the gap identified, improved employee competencies and skill level enabling them to comply with the required standards. Further he emphasized that the management of Maliban management looks at workers problems more in a humane and the betterment of employee welfare.
Maliban's employees' base includes members, who are expertise in their field of work, as well as newcomers. The company believes the wealth of experienced employees' provides the motivation to the new employees to perform their duties to the higher standards and contribute towards the progress of Maliban. Maliban is known to be synonymous with quality and the company considers "Quality as it's religion" and this has been communicated to each an every member of the company and their responsibility to maintain the founders' concept on quality which he believed that the Quality as he's religion.
The employees are the driving force of the company. Therefore, managing and developing human resources is a vital aspect of any company. With that focus the company's human resources department frequently directs the employees to improve their knowledge and skills. Thus, the Chairman and the Board of Directors, CEO of Maliban duly recognize the employees' contribution towards the company's growth and believe that the current company achievements were made possible with their support, positive attitudes, tirelessness and willingness. We maliban team take the household name "The Maliban" inspired by goodness for many years simply and very steadily said Mr. Bandula Perera. |
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