McLarens Group opens brand new 3M office in Colombo

McLarens Lubricants – 3M Operations Director Tharindu Atapattu (left) and Senior General Manager – 3M Operations Dilan Seneviratne (right), lighting the traditional oil lamp at the opening of the new 3M Sri Lanka office

McLarens Lubricants – 3M team

Following the announcement of its collaboration with 3M Global Channel Services (GCS) as the Master Distributor of 3M’s full line of non-healthcare products, McLarens Group opened its brand new office dedicated to 3M in Colombo. 

The opening of the office – located at 341, Union Place, Colombo 2 – was attended by Group Chairman Rohan De Silva and Group Joint Managing Directors Shehara and Dinesh Jayawardana, along with management and staff.   

The opening of the 3M Sri Lanka Headquarters is the first step in re-introducing Sri Lankan consumers to the vast range of 3M products. In the planning stages is a new customer experiential store that is set to open towards the end of November. 

The collaboration between McLarens Group and the American conglomerate renowned for applying Science to Life, enshrines the group’s subsidiary, McLarens Lubricants Ltd. (which is also the authorised distributor for Mobil Lubricants in Sri Lanka), as the Master Distributor for 3M’s product range, which includes the Industrial Business Group (IBG), Safety & Graphics Business Group (SGBG), Electronics & Energy Business Group (EEBG), and Consumer Business Group (CBG). 

The move also underlines McLarens Group’s strategy and belief that the Sri Lankan consumer deserves premium quality products made by the best manufacturers in the world.  

3M’s IBG range of products work in bonding and protecting surfaces in construction, improving the design and maintenance of land, air and water transportation, and purifying air and water for residential to industrial uses. 

SGBG includes personal protective equipment (PPE) that safeguard people at home and work, as well as traffic signs and pavement markings that improve road safety, and exterior signage and interior graphics. 

The EEBG part of 3M includes high-growth electronics market segments like datacentres, grid modernisation and automotive electrification. The CBG is home to some of 3M’s most iconic brands: Post-it Brand, Scotch. 

“This desire to always provide the very best to the Sri Lankan market is well-founded in our company’s long history. With diversified interests in shipping, marine and logistics, we at McLarens find ourselves the partner-of-choice for several multinational organisations with a stake in Sri Lanka. It is why the group moved into bunkering, oil and gas services, manufacturing, trading and distribution, property development, leisure services and strategic investments,” said McLarens Group’s Group Joint Managing Director Dinesh Jayawardana.

McLarens Group’s Group Joint Managing Director Shehara Jayawardana, while alluding to the aggressive growth plans underway at the organisation, added: “3M produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets, and is a recognised market leader. 3M’s core strength is applying its 46 distinct technology platforms – often in combination – to a wide array of customer needs. We are confident this partnership between our two very passionate and highly driven organisations will ultimately benefit the Sri Lankan market, both B2B and consumer sectors.”

Since its humble beginnings in 1944, McLarens Group has earned a reputation as one of the country’s most progressive conglomerates, driving business sectors in areas such as shipping and marine services, logistics, lubricants and automotive distribution, trading, manufacturing, and property development. With $32 billion in sales, 3M employs 90,000 people worldwide and operates through 70 subsidiaries serving customers in more than 200 countries.