Holcim Lanka hosts annual employee awards in grand style

From left: Holcim Lanka Cement Industrial Performance Director Aridavid Lozano, Holcim Lanka Commercial Director Nalin Karunaratne, Lafarge Holcim Region Head O&HR Asia Pacific Lesz Sikorski, Holcim Lanka Procurement and Logistics Director Charith Wijendra, Holcim Lanka CEO Philippe Richart, Holcim Lanka Distribution Manager Ruchira Weerasinghe (Gold Award winner), Holcim Lanka Organisation and Human Resource Director Prasad Piyadigma, Holcim Lanka Chief Financial Officer Maria Iglasias, Holcim Lanka Head of Sustainable Development, Communication and External Affairs Farzana Khan and PIM Board of Management Director and Chairman Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri

Holcim Lanka, a member of the Lafarge Holcim Group, a global leader in the construction material industry hosted its annual employee award ceremony to recognise and reward exceptional performers within the business. The awards ceremony titled ‘Supiri Awards’ is a landmark event in the calendar of events at Holcim Lanka and awards the best performers in the organisation with prestigious laurels and accolades to signify the importance of their contribution.

Holcim (Lanka) Ltd. Director Organisation and Human Resources Prasad Piyadigama commented at the event: “We are building a high performance culture within the organisation where employees are empowered to make decisions in the best interest of the company. Success is celebrated in a grand scale at the ‘Supiri Awards’. A highly engaged, aligned and passionate group of employees will ensure that business results are exceeded each year, going forward, despite the challenges we will encounter along the way.” 

This year’s event attracted more than 240 nominations from all employees across all levels of the business. The nominations were first reviewed and assessed by a technical committee led by the senior management of the company. The shortlisted nominations were further reviewed by an external Panel of Judges comprising of business leaders from different industries, headed by Post Graduate Institute of Management (PIM) Board of Management Director and Chairman Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri, Brandix Apparel Ltd. CEO Asanga Ranasinghe, CBL Foods International Ltd. CEO Samitha Perera, Colombo Leadership Academy Director Riaz Hassen, Fonterra Brands Lanka Sales Capability Manager Stephen Paulraj and ACL Cables Plc General Manager Sumudu Thanthirigoda. 

The panel reviews and evaluations focused on the achievements and business impact focusing on the manner by which results were delivered through living Holcim’s organisational values via customer centricity, result orientation, integrity, sustainability and ‘our people’ derived from the Holcim values.

 The grand prize included a company sponsored tour to Dubai and its attractions. Many prizes including cash awards, tour packages, gold coins and trophies were awarded under the categories of ‘Supiri award’ (Gold, Silver, Bronze), ‘Best innovative idea’, ‘Star of the function’ (Individual and Team Category), ‘Outstanding Sales Person’, Safety Awards, etc. 

This year marked the fifth consecutive ‘Supiri Awards’ and given the tremendous impact it has on employee engagement the event will continue to take the spotlight within the company calendar of events in the years ahead as well. 

Holcim Lanka Distribution Manager Ruchira Weerasinghe won the gold award for playing a pivotal leadership role in conceptualising, designing and developing a new supply chain model of the ship-to-ship transfer operation for Holcim Lanka. This was followed by the implementation, together with external stakeholders and the Supply Chain team. This innovation realised a saving of Rs. 196 million in 2015 and has a total saving potential of Rs. 390 million on a full year basis.

Holcim Lanka Treasury and Tax Manager Aslam Saifuddin won the silver award for the introduction of distributor financing for retail customers. This resulted in a profitability increase (EBITDA) of Rs. 96 million for the period of August 2015 to December 2015.

The bronze award was won by the Cement Industrial Performance team – Nihal Vitharana, Shyam Jayasundara, Thiwanka Appuhamy, T.A. Nishantha and Sumith Perera, for designing, fabricating and installing a slag feeding belt conveyor to the kiln. This accelerated the rate from 2.5t/hr to 10t/hr and increase of height from 25m to 30m, which resulted in a saving of Rs. 71 million from the CAPEX. 

Holcim Lanka, as the leading company in building materials is firmly focused on developing a bench of talented employees who understand and cater to customer needs through creative solutions, while forming strong partnerships and providing the best in-class solutions for industry and user needs. It is at Holcim that employees are known to display exceptional expertise portraying passion to lead the future of business.