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. 

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Traveling University 2014

Travelling University (TU) is a signature seminar course of the International Material Flow Management (IMAT) master degree program of the Institute for Applied Material Flow Management (IfaS), a leading German non-profit research institute of the University of Trier. Among other things IfaS works in the field of regional economic development and works in Sri Lanka since 2010. Supported by GIZ - SME Development project of GIZ - Sri Lanka,
IfaS aims to give the university students the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in real-life situations and tangible projects, which creates a link between Sri Lankan Universities with the industrial sector.

Principle objective of TU is to innovate and add value to SMEs through the application of renewable energies and energy efficient technologies, sustainable resource management practices, industrial symbiosis, and Circular Economy. The regional dimension of this action and approaches are aimed at optimizing the SMEs’ and neighboring regions’ profitability and sustainability collectively by activating regional potentials. Activation of regional potentials pave the path to creating Regional Added Value (RAV) that enhances the business competiveness of SMEs while achieving environmental and social sustainability.

In this project the main focus is on to identify the issues faced by some selected SMEs and to deliver real life optimization strategies with regard to their energy consumption and material use. The solutions shall be based on the status quo system and short- and long-term goals of the SMEs. It is expected that the ultimate findings of the TU would help the respective SMEs as well the industry as a whole in optimizing their energy and material consumption through renewable and sustainable sources at a lower cost.

Twenty students from five national universities are participating in the program. The universities include the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), University of Moratuwa (UOM), University of Jaffna (UOJ), Uva Wellassa University (UWU) and the University of Peradeniya (UOP). Student Consultants (SC) participating in the TU have different specializations such as science, Mineral Resources and Technology (MRT), business administration, commerce, agriculture, animal science and engineering.

Student Consultants are formed into four different working groups considering a gamut of characteristics such as the gender, university attended, discipline of studies, languages they are c conversant with, as well as their ethnic background in order to ensure the balance of each group.

The TU groups and their lead-role are as follows:

Organization and Communication Group (ORGA) overlooks the organizational aspects of the TU, data collection processes, communication and information dissemination of TU while acting as the communication hub of the whole project. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) Group is responsible for analyzing the current monetary, material and energy flows of the observed system to identify shortcomings and optimization potentials. Technology and Engineering Group analyzes technology-based improvement options and managerial aspects of them outlining the qualitative and quantitative improvement potentials while the Finance Group is tasked to deliver the business plan for the identified technology improvement options.

The 10-day long TU journey is on the road from 9^th to 18^th October 2014, travelling from Colombo to Jaffna visiting a few selected companies such as Serendipol (PVT) Ltd in Kuliyapitiya, Himali Dairy Farm in Maradankadawala, King’s Ice Manufacturers in Trincomalee as well as Jeyantha Ice Manufacturers and NEFAD Foundation in Jaffna. The journey will be concluded on the 17^th of October after the final presentation of works, which will reveal the findings of TU.

This TU program will certainly involve lot of hard work but however, this will be an enormous opportunity for the enthusiastic students who love to enhance their abilities and skills in many areas while being exposed to the real world conditions.

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