Govt. to develop standard operating procedure for automobile component manufacturing industry

By Charumini de Silva

The Sri Lanka Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (SLACMA) met with top officials of the Prime Minister’s Office to initiate a dialogue among relevant stakeholders to develop and finalise a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the technical and regulatory requirements of the automobile and component manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka.

“As you know there are a lot of parties approaching the Government regarding automobile assembling and also regarding component manufacturing. But we don’t have a standard procedure for these sectors. We had an initial dialogue with the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor Charitha Ratwatte on Wednesday (28) regarding standard guidelines for the automobile component industry,” SLACMA President DimanthaJayawrdena said at the body’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently.

He said the Industry and Commerce Ministry had requested the Central Program Management Unit (CPMU) to initiate a dialogue among stakeholders in order to develop and finalise a Standard Operating Procedure on the technical and regulatory requirements of the automobile and component manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka.

After lobbying the Government on the concerns and opportunities during the past 10 years, Jayawardena said a sum of Rs.3 million had been allocated for the first time by the Treasury to the Industry and Commerce Ministry to develop the automobile component manufacturing sector for 2018.

“Since 2008 we have been voicing our concerns and plans to the Government. This is the first time the sector has been identified by the Finance Ministry and Industry and Commerce Ministry as a potential sector for development.It was a great effort which took us almost 10 years and I am confident there will be many more to come,” he added.

He called on all SLACMA members to come up with suggestions to make the best use of these allocated funds for the development of the industry. 

A further discussion is to be held regarding the categorisationof the allocated funds for the betterment of the industry by organisingmarket promotional activities or by visiting India to better understand and implement their automobile industrial policy in Sri Lanka. “From SLACMA’s inception we have tried our best to promote our local automotive component manufacturing industry. We have taken a strategic decision to join the Automotive Component Manufacturing Association(ACMA) of India which represents the global supply chains,” he stressed. 

Jayawardena highlighted that being a part of ACMA has given the association many opportunities to directly communicate with global giants that were tier 1 and tier 2 automotive component manufacturers.

In addition, he noted that they had also been working with the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to enhance the quality of their products,especially with Sri Lanka’s SME manufacturers as well. 

He asserted that SLACMA had been able to work closely with the Industry and Commerce Ministry, Finance Ministry, Export Development Board (EDB), Board of Investment (BOI), Prime Minister’s Office and Sri Lanka Customs to help identify local automobile component manufacturing as a potential industry for industrial development and employment-generation in the country.

SLACMA President DimanthaJayawardena, Vice President AthulaHaputantri, Secretary AselaLihinikaduwa and Deputy Secretary NiroshanPeriyasamy were reelected at the AGM, while Treasurer SriyantheCooray was newly appointed to the association.

Pic by Lasantha Kumara