Noratel A Global Establishment with a Local Pulse
Noratel International Pvt. Ltd, Sri Lanka is a Group Company of Noratel AS, a group founded in 1925 and 100% owned by DiscoverIE which is listed in the London Stock Exchange with a history fit for the books and lessons to inspire generations. Established in 1989 under the Swedish Group Toroid AB, a major toroidal transformer manufacturer, the organization became part of the global acquisition of the mother group by Noratel AS in 2005. Begun with a workforce 100-200 in a single factory building, the operations have now expanded to three factory buildings on 40,000 square meters housing a workforce of 1200 and a production of 150,000 transformers per month.
With its majority clientele in the medical industry, today Noratel designs, customizes, and manufactures a range of transformers, chokes, and reactors for industries in renewable energy, railways, robotics and maritime activities for Europe, the USA, Canada, and local markets. These industry segments, especially the medical sector, requires the transformers that are manufactured to be precise and high quality. The Noratel product range that includes toroidal transformers, 3 phase transformers, current transformers and control transformers, chokes and reactors are UL and IEC certified ensuring high safety standards. The facility also conforms to IS0 9001 2015, 1SO 14001 2015 and is expected to be certified under ISO 45001 by 2023. Noratel is the recipient of merit awards at the Global Commerce Excellence Awards in 2012 and Social Dialogue and Workplace cooperation Awards in 2018 and 2019.
Sustainability – for The Planet and the Community
Passionate about environmentally sustainable business, Noratel is aware of the impact it has on the earth as a manufacturing organization. Conscious of its carbon footprint, the organization has initiated several strategic measures to address it and has taken steps to reduce the current electricity consumption to 50% by 2025. By 2021, the organization had cutdown its carbon footprint by 15% by installing solar panels and supplying the excess energy to the Ceylon Electricity Board. Conducting an energy audit and implementing its recommendations, installing LED lighting and motion sensors are few other measures that the organization has taken towards this endeavour.
Supporting local businesses, Noratel sources 10 -15% of its supply chain from local suppliers. Copper, which is an important raw material is being procured from local suppliers in significant volume. Currently 30% of fabricated components and 100% of packing material are also procured from local suppliers and the company intends to increase sourcing fabricated components and plastic moulded components from Sri Lankan suppliers to a 100% in 3-5 years.
Noratel is also keen on working with respective agencies to develop the capacity of the local suppliers thereby widening their opportunity to be a part of the supply chain for export-oriented manufacturers. In this regard, Noratel gives credit to the EDB for the frequent workshops, seminars and awareness sessions that are organized providing valuable insights to those in the industry. EDB has been of immense support and help when in need of procedural and access facilitation efforts as was the case during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Funding the education of several students who are sponsored by the company, takes a special place among the many CSR activities conducted by Noratel. In addition to these, several special activities have been carried out during the pandemic to support those who were affected within the Katunayake industrial zone.
A Philosophy Built on Quality
Ensuring the quality of products that are manufactured in their plant is of paramount importance to Noratel. In order to do so, special emphasis is given to the training that is provided to each employee who will be part of the process. Special measures are taken to screen the candidates prior to recruitment and individuals with a background in physics, chemistry, or mathematics at least up to secondary education are at an advantage when being hired. Additionally, Noratel attempts to work with state agencies to develop mechanisms to enable potential candidates achieve higher academic qualifications and technical knowhow that organizations such as Noratel requires. Noratel treats the welfare of its employees with significant importance. In order to support them financially, the company provides the employees with multiple allowances, increments and the opportunity to engage in a minimum of 40-50 hours of overtime work enabling them to earn an additional income.
Quality, precision, specialization, and service standards being in the centre of Noratel’s business philosophy, the company foresees greater opportunities and potential to grow and expand their current exports in the coming years.
