Kings Ice (Pvt). Ltd

The third stop of the travelling university led the students to Trincomalee, hometown of the Kings Ice (Pvt) Ltd where the owner, Mr. D.B. Jeyakumar called the students for help. He owns an Industrial Ice Manufacturing plant started in 2013. He processes 450 ice cubes per day which are bought by fishermen. Ice manufacturing is highly affected by the fish production. Fish production varies due to business and environmental changes therefore it directly effects on ice manufacturing as well. Sometimes he needs to shut down the plant due to less demand, which he hopes to resolve with the help of the Travelling University as its motto is ‘bring out the students’ creativity to optimise the business competiveness of Sri Lankan SMEs’.

Hence, the students started to evaluate the “strength-weaknesses-opportunities-and-threats (SWOT)” of his current business structure and the future outline of his new factory being currently constructed. While analysing the company’s production process, material flows and energy flows the neuralgic points had been spotted: Market improvement potentials as well as energy, water and waste water management. Having identified the challenges, the “student consultant” immediately started to develop appropriate solutions for him laying out the technical details and business plans.

Initially, the students focused on energy related issues in the company. They suggested installing Variable Speed Drives (VSD) to the motor compressors and replacing new motors for Crushers to reduce electricity consumption of the company. Furthermore they suggested insulating the Ammonia distribution pipes and shading condenser from direct sunlight. The students also pointed out the importance of installing a Photovoltaic system to reduce total electricity demand by covering the total roof area of the company. The students found that the Nitrogen percentage of the fresh water is greater than the accepted value for human consumption. Therefore, water treatment methods known as “Ion exchange and Membrane Separation” were suggested by the students to reduce the Nitrogen percentage of fresh water. Another idea of improving hygiene of the process was suggested by the students which will be beneficial when expanding the market of the company.    

Yet again, the students and their senior academics proved that an interdisciplinary university-industry project jointly handled by five national universities can strengthen the backbone of the Sri Lankan society. Three completed and two more to go. Travelling university is now heading towards Jaffna.

The ‘Traveling University’ (TU) is a signature seminar course of the International Material Flow Management (IMAT) master degree program offered by the Institute for Applied Material Flow Management (IfaS). ‘Higher education for sustainable development’ being the motto of TU, in this interdisciplinary seminar course, IfaS aims to deploy its expertise in tangible projects world over whilst giving the students the opportunity to put their acquired knowledge into practice in real time.