We are Upgrading Quality – Rishad

A remote, government controlled hospital has clinched the National Quality Award giving a shocking wake up call to Lankan private and manufacturing sectors. And almost one third of our GDP consists of industrial output while Sri Lanka’s historic industry growth rate surpasses its GDP growth rate. “Almost one third of our GDP now consists of the industry sector and our historic industry growth rate, appears to surpass the historic growth rate of GDP itself” said Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on 14 October.

Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the 19^th Sri Lanka National Quality Awards (SLNQA) held on 14 October at BMICH, Colombo. A standard bearer of quality the SLNQA, organized and implemented annually by the Marketing and Promotion division of Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), puts recipients on the cutting edge of an international quality competition. On 14 October, large, medium and small scale Lankan organizations were competing in manufacturing, services, healthcare and education sectors. The criteria used, on 14 October event were similar to the criteria used for the “Malcom Baldrige” Quality Award in USA which is used in more than 80 countries for their national quality awards. During the 14 October event, Ampara General Hospital, a state controlled hospital in remote Ampara, has clinched the National Quality Award in which many Lankan public and private entities were competing in a tight, neck-to-neck race for excellence.

“It is clear that we are experiencing an event of international standards today” said Minister Bathiudeen, having congratulated the winners, and continued: “Thanks to the efforts of HE the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, one third of our GDP now consists of the industry sector. More importantly, in 2012 our industries grew by 10.3%, and I am pleased to say that our historic industry growth rate appears to surpass, the historic growth rate of GDP itself. My Ministry has been pioneering quality standards in our industrial efforts. Having identified the food processing sector as priority sector we have upgraded our assistance to it seeing the strong need for technology advancement, and obtaining of food quality, safety and environmental certifications in its value chain.  In June this year with the support of a US food scientist, for the first time in Sri  Lanka we facilitated awareness on much needed international compliance rules for Lankan food exporters.  We are supporting even other Lankan industries to obtain such global certifications as HACCP, GMP and ISO for compliance. It is obvious that when it comes to industrial quality, it goes hand in hand with new innovations. Supporting this concept is the National Intellectual Property Office under my Ministry, for the 11 year period of 2002 to 2012 registered 2,250 new patents, and 2,581 new designs in Sri Lanka.  Also, one of the best examples of our quality is the international demand for our apparels. For example, Ms Yamatani Eriko a Member of Japanese House of Councillors on September 27 personally informed me that the $ 122 Bn Japanese apparel market is looking for more and more “Made in Sri Lanka” apparels. Japanese buyers mostly look for high quality products and this request shows the special recognition for our apparels in world’s third largest apparel market. We are also supporting quality enhancement, for our rubber sector by strengthening lab testing facilities in Sri Lanka. Demand for Sri Lankan rubber is, continuously on the increase in world markets, as a result of, our quality compliance.”

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