CBL wins Gold at International Convention on Quality Control Circles in Singapore

CBL’s Synergy team

Ceylon Biscuits Ltd. (CBL), one of Sri Lanka’s largest FMCG conglomerates, was recently awarded a prestigious Gold at the 43rd International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC) in Singapore.

Hosted at the Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre, ICQCC 2018 was organised by the Singapore Productivity Association. It is a de facto international event for work improvement teams to pitch their projects to an independent pool of international assessors, with the intent of attaining international recognition and cross learning. Annually, ICQCC attracts an average of 1,500 delegates from more than 330 teams across the 13 economies and beyond, and this time, it had a recorded participation of more than 2,000 delegates representing 475 teams across 13 countries.

Further, the organisers noted: “Innovation and Quality Control Circles are timeless tools for organisations seeking to achieve excellence. In recognition of this, a group of 13 regional economies, including Singapore, have been taking turns to annually host an International Convention on Quality Control Circles (ICQCC) since 1976. The other 12 regional economies include: Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.” 

ICQCC 2018 featured cutting-edge trends, projects and practices deployed by teams across the globe, spanning a wide variety of business improvement applications in today’s age of digitisation and economic disruption. The theme for this year was “future-proof, future-ready organisations through innovations, quality circles and business excellence”.

Winning a coveted Gold at ICQCC 2018, CBL’s Synergy team emerged victorious from a pool of 475 competing teams that represented 13 countries. The team was led by Malkanthi Herath from CBL’s Production Sector and comprised Renuka Malkanthi, Nadeeka Nilmini, Sachintha Kamali, Tharanga Sandamali, Priyavi Madhushankha, Ashan Tharindu, Upeksha Senarathna and Manjula Prabath. 

CBL’s Synergy team presented a fascinating case study that outlined CBL’s successful reduction in wastage for one of the biscuits production lines simultaneously improving the quality of final product which was achieved by factory floor employees utilising highly advanced quality control tools and methods. The team presented the methodology used and the results of this accomplishment, to a distinguished international audience of experts to successfully win Gold.

Congratulating the winners CBL Chief Executive Officer Nalin B. Karunaratne said: “We are thrilled to have won a Gold at the 43rd International Convention on Quality Control Circles in Singapore. Victory at this prestigious, and longstanding, quality focused-event truly benchmarks CBL’s production processes among global leaders from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, etc.” 

Importantly, this win is evidence of CBL’s enduring family culture, wherein management and employees work together closely to achieve business excellence, which in turn positively impacts its strong orientation towards superior quality and productivity, as seen by employees even on the factory floor striving to improve product quality and process efficiency.

Karunaratne concluded: “CBL is proud to elevate Sri Lanka to new heights by winning this achievement on behalf of the country. This honour is also a direct result of our strong company policy of people empowerment, which offers every employee, no matter their position, with equal opportunities to enhance their skills in terms of leadership, knowledge and team spirit, allowing them to actively participate for company’s continued success.”