Cumaraswamy marks 45 years of dedicated service in laundry and dry cleaning industry

This year Amaranath Cumaraswamy is completing 45 years of continuous service in the laundry and dry cleaning field in Sir Lanka. He started his career 45 years ago (1972) in the Laundry Department at the first five-star hotel in Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel. 

Here he had the opportunity to work in the first fully automated professional laundry and dry cleaning plant in Sri Lanka. Trained under Xavier Salhani, an Italian who was the director for laundry and dry cleaning for Asian Pacific for Inter-Continental Hotel, he was trained in all aspects connected with professional laundry and dry cleaning work. In 1974 he won the first ‘Employee of the month’ award for his outstanding service in the hotel laundry section. In 1976 he was transferred to Riyadh Inter-Continental Hotel in Saudi Arabia and in 1978 he joined the Ramada Hotel Chain as laundry manager and served for 12 years in Abu Dhabi, Jabel Dhanna and Dubai. 

In 1988 he returned to Sri Lanka and joined the then Ramada Renaissance Hotel Colombo (present Cinnamon Lakeside) as Laundry Manager. There he was responsible in opening of the Drive-in Laundry Counter, creases and pleats, and today it is the best professional laundry and dry cleaning service outlet in town.

After a long stint in the industry at both local and international hotels, he retired in 2008 and in 2009 he joined Sri Lankan Catering as Management Consultant for laundry and dry cleaning. This was an opportunity for him to share his vast knowledge and experience in opening the laundry and dry cleaning facility at Sri Lanka Catering at Katunayake. The Laundry Service named Aero clean was equipped with the best state-of-the-art branded laundry and dry cleaning equipment in the world to provide laundry and dry cleaned linen and garments at their best and processed approximately 10,000 kg of linen per day. This facility provides direct employment for 85 people, most of them school-leavers who were trained by him in this field. The 24-hour operation provided its services to Sri Lanka Airlines and other international airlines.

After completing his consultancy agreement with Sri Lankan Catering in 2012, he joined the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, formerly known as Ceylon Hotel School, as Laundry Manager/Lecturer. With the opening of the well equipped and fully-automated laundry and dry cleaning facility at SLITHM, for the first time in Sri Lanka SLITHM has introduced a three-month management level theory and practical course in professional laundry and dry cleaning operations.

The future prospects of the laundry industry in Sri Lanka looks bright and this sector has reached a formal role in providing a professional service for individuals as well as corporates. There is a huge potential for growth in the laundry industry in Sri Lanka and the boom in the tourism industry has fuelled growth further.

The first batch of students who successfully completed the three-month full-time craft level course in laundry operation has already found employment in five-star hotels in Colombo. The main aim of the course is to train more youngsters to take up job opportunities is the field. Since there are lots of job opportunities in Sri Lanka and abroad and by 2016 there will be a few more five-star hotels opening in Sri Lanka, SLITHM will be able to provide professionally- trained laundry personnel to take up positions in the new hotels. This specialised course is only conducted by SLITHM and it is envisaged to provide at least 200 trained personnel to work five-star hotels, catering services, hospital and commercial laundry and dry cleaning plants in Sri Lanka and abroad.

Cumaraswamy is very optimistic about the future of laundry operations in the county and would like to see more youngsters taking up jobs in this field. A member of the International Fabricare Institute of USA, he has trained over 400 staff in this field. Some of them are working as laundry management in Sri Lanka, Middle East and Maldives for five-star hotel chains and commercial laundries.

Those who wish to follow a career path in this filed now have an opportunity to make use of the specialised course provided by SLITHM (Ceylon Hotel School) in laundry and dry cleaning operations and be sure of a job opportunity in this booming industry in Sri Lanka and abroad. 

This industry needs some recognition in order to stimulate interest of the country’s youth to join this industry as there is a proven career path.