In January 2021, our specialty tire production plant in Sri Lanka celebrated three years and many milestones.
In January 2018 GRI embarked on a new chapter as we opened our advanced specialty tire production plant in Badalgama, Sri Lanka. In March 2018, we produced and shipped the first tires manufactured at this new plant. Producing pneumatic specialty tires for agriculture, construction and material handling industry was an entirely new chapter, technology, and market for GRI.
Built on 10 acres of land, the first phase of the project was a 1.25 million sq. ft. plant with a capacity of 25 metric tons a day. It is the largest plant in Sri Lanka dedicated to making specialty tires and the first in Sri Lanka to produce Radial Agriculture tires.
A special feature of the pneumatic plant is its ability to manufacture 3 – 4 categories of specialty tires across a wide product range. The plant manufactures Agriculture tires, Construction tires, Forklift tires and Skid Steer tires. GRI is currently the only company in Sri Lanka to manufacture Radial Agriculture tires.
| “The swift learning curve and the rapid growth with the new plant has been a monumental achievement for us. We developed specifications for each tire covering a wide range of sizes, made samples, tested extensively, repeated as needed and rapidly industrialized each size. It was a massive exercise for all involved. I am proud to say that today, we have industrialized and commercialized over 300 SKUs,” commented Mr. Ananda Caldera, Executive Director of GRI. “GRI was able to go to the market and win its clientele through a superlative product and service. Today, we have more orders than our capacity and therefore we are expanding our production capacity to 100 metric tons a day,” explained Mr. Caldera. |
Dr. Mahesha Ranasoma, CEO of GRI, commented that “We will continue to expand our product range adding more sizes and launching new products in 2021. Innovation is in our DNA. Our skilled engineers, researchers and technical experts make GRI strive forward on innovation covering all fronts of product, process and production.”
“I wish to extend my warmest appreciation to everyone who has worked hard to make this specialty plant a success within such a short time – our stakeholders, our employees, our community and our customers who trusted us. GRI is relentlessly focused on taking high-grade Sri Lankan specialty tires to the world. We are grateful to everyone for being a part of our journey, which is just getting started, and we are excited about the possibilities that are in front of us,” said Mr. Prabhash Subasinghe, MD of GRI.
