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Supercharged Exide goes for Rs. 150 m upgrade, growth
plan
An investment of Rs 150 million in a plant upgrade, exciting new
products, a new head office complex, a branded dealer and service
network and a fleet of Battmobiles that would make even Batman envious
were the key elements of a power-packed growth plan unveiled last
week by Exide, Sri Lanka’s highest-selling automotive battery.
Powered by a new management team and a new Board of Directors led
by Mrs Rohini Nanayakkara, the Battery Division of Brown & Company
PLC, the diversified 132 year old conglomerate, hosted top dealers
to a gala Partner Felicitation at Waters Edge to acknowledge their
contribution to the unassailable market leadership achieved by its
flagship brand Exide.
More than 50 dealers from all over the country received awards and
valuable prizes including frost-free refrigerators, television sets
and air tickets at the event, which was used by the company to disclose
details of a comprehensive road map to take the brand to a new paradigm
of growth.
Among these plans was the investment of Rs 150 million on a new
hi-tech manufacturing plant that will produce ‘Exide Ultra
Power’ a high-performance maintenance-free battery, new exclusive
signage for selected dealers, the launch of a fleet of Exide ‘Battmobile’
three-wheelers and vans equipped to provide ‘service in a spark,’
the adoption of new concepts in human resource management and training
programmes for dealer outlets.
Addressing the convention, Browns Group CEO and Managing Director
Murali Prakash said Browns had commenced a new journey under a new
management that had infused new life into the old giant. The ‘power
behind Browns,’ the company’s Battery Division, has been
recharged with new infrastructure, a new office complex and a network
of service centres coming up all over the island to enable it to
produce truly world class products that match the highest international
standards, he said.
Panduka Weerasinghe, General Manager - Battery and New Business
said the Dealer Convention, the first in the Browns Battery Division’s
55 year history, symbolised a new beginning and the new vigour energising
the division under its new management. “We have a long journey
ahead of us with new products and new concepts in the pipeline,”
he said.
Browns has led the local automotive battery market for more than
four decades with Exide, a global brand sold in more than 90 countries
today.
Local
manufacture of Exide batteries under licence and British standards
commenced in 1961, and in 1990 the company introduced polypropylene
batteries to the market. Locally-manufactured Exide batteries are
now exported to Singapore and India and the company has a network
of more than 450 Exide dealerships in Sri Lanka.
The new Board of Directors of Brown & Company PLC comprises
of Mrs Rohini Nanayakkara (Chairperson) and Messrs Murali Prakash
(CEO/Group Managing Director), Ishara Nanayakkara, Ajith Devasurendra,
Shanker Somasundara, Vijaya Malalasekera and M. T. L. Fernando.
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