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Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The ‘Forum for Woodworking Professionals in Sri Lanka,’ a proud initiative by global giant Häfele, was inaugurated by a collective assembly of wood working professionals with the purpose of reviewing and reviving the local woodwork industry with the assistance of international expertise.
The program was held recently with over 30 leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) kitchen and furniture firms and nearly 80 distinguished guests whose attendance cemented the support for the program, showing tremendous effort towards emphasising and assisting the importance of uplifting the local woodworking industry.
Key speakers present at the inauguration were Colonel Ganegoda of the 6th Engineer Service Regiment, Brigadier Madura Wijewickrema, CEO of Major and Specialist Constructors, Anura Wijethunga, Deputy General Manager – Procurement and Control of Sanken Construction, Jurgen Wolf, Managing Director of Häfele South Asia, Anura Dahanayake, Chairman of the Institute for Construction Training and Development (ICTAD), Aelian Gunawardana, Managing Director of JAT Holdings and S.P Liyanarachchi, Chairman of National Coalition for Academic Service-Learning (NCASL).
The forum served as a platform for local wood and wood-based professionals to share their experiences and highlight common limitations faced regularly in the industry. Some of the key issued discussed and agreed upon was that despite the current standard, knowledge, skill, infrastructure and financial means, the local woodworking industry still fell short due to the lack of coherence, proper technical advancements, and limited access to quality, timely and alternate resources, and exposure to mature markets as well as training.
Sri Lankan wood working and associated enterprises are unable to cater to higher expectations in terms of quality, deliverables as well as technical expectations of clients who have had exposure in international markets.
Häfele will always take a leading role in the initiative and with a global presence and 90+ years of experience in the woodworking industry, Häfele aims to work towards assisting the role of an international entity that will provide solutions to limitations faced by the local industry and look at uplifting the standards of the local woodworking industry by sharing their experiences and exposure to different international markets.
Some of the key long-term initiatives discussed and proposed by the members of the Forum include allocating highly trained staff to provide necessary training requirements as per the needs of the local industry, assisting an array of woodworking scenarios and share the technical know-how’s gathered from different markets.
Other such key initiative include identify incentives provided by the Government for the industry, exposure in international markets and events, enhance local industry standards, effective logistics, cost effective sourcing practices, internal and global contacts who will provide resources and points of sourcing raw material, machinery and technology, credible suppliers, green manufacturing practices, prolong sustenance of local resources, access to latest information such as industry trends, magazines, etc.
In addition to that the Forum will extend plans to provide training programs to the youth who wish to enter the profession by providing them with overseas training and well-recognised professional certificate.
Häfele South Asia Managing Director Jürgen Wolf noted that he assures the support of the company and is looking forward to the uplifting of the woodworking industry by assisting the progress of skilled woodcraftsman.
General Manager of Häfele Sri Lanka Sameera Samarakkody stated that the Forum should become a strong collective body, an association, when representing the industry to the government.
Thus, with the collective body of industry leaders, precision of international relations and the sustainability of the Forum will illustrate a path way for the industry to grow and contribute to the overall growth of Sri Lanka.
