Financial Times

Raniyo sets up top centre to protect against fakes
Raniyo (Pvt) Ltd, in association with Union Locks and Hardware, has set up Sri Lanka’s first specialized Union Design Centre (UDC), the first of its kind in the region.

Located in Rajagiriya the Union Design Centre is an exclusive facility for locking systems, with the aim of providing the best locking solutions for both domestic as well as commercial purposes. Dave Waring, First Secretary Commercial of the British High Commission, declared the Union Design Centre open.

The UDC concept came about as a result of Union’s takeover by Assa Abloy, a world leader in locks and door security solutions, in 2000 when Union was established as an architectural ‘driver’ brand” with extensive branding, packaging and product development, Union then focused on how to bring the new range to market.

“The result was the Union Design Centre, a concept whereby Union is moving from the classic manufacturer- distributor- customer model to a partnership and consultancy relationship model, delivering integrated services and solutions to professionals in the project sector; ultimately to become the solution provider and thinking pad for the project market, namely architects, consultants and end user contractors,” Managing Director, Raniyo T. Ragunathan said in a statement.

Assa Abloy which encompasses 55 companies and 105 brands aims to provide the best locking solutions worldwide. Ragunathan said that Raniyo was first established in September 1992 when it entered into a partnership with Joshia Parker & Sons Ltd., U.K./the then manufacturer of Union branded architectural products.

Their success in handling the “Bello” design of locks encouraged the company to move into other designs as well, providing quality with assurance, to their many customers. One of the biggest problems faced by the industry, according to Ragunathan, is the flourishing counterfeit trade which he said ranks second internationally only to that of drug trafficking.

“We constantly face problems from pirates and counterfeiters who attempt to dupe the public. However we have faced and overcome these hurdles with reasonable success by adopting appropriate marketing tools and strategies. Union too in its endeavour to find state of the art solutions for doors and windows faced similar challenges and out of this arose the concept of the Union Design Centre”.

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