Peter Salsbury, Managing Director of Marks and Spencer, the internationally known British clothing and food retailer whose St. Michael's brand enjoys a global reputation, was in Sri Lanka last week visiting Tri Star factories here. These factories are a major supplier for Marks and Spencer.

Salsbury was accompanied by Chris Lewis, Divisional Director of the company for the Far East and senior directors of S.R. Gent of the U.K. with whom Tri Star has close connections.

"They visited our two biggest factories at Attidiya and Ratmalana. The Ratmalana outfit which is our main factory employs over 2,000 workers,'' a Tri Star spokesman said. "We are operating a total of 30 factories.''

He said the visitors were most impressed with the quality of garments produced by the company and its pioneering effort at taking the clothing industry to the villages in furtherance of the poverty alleviation effort.

This was Salsbury's first visit to Sri Lanka. Two years ago, Sir Richard Greenbury, the Chairman of Marks and Spencer came here and visited some of the Tri Star factories in the countryside producing for their brand.

"Our visitors made an extensive tour of the two factories we took them to and saw our production lines for M&S. We showed him how we use state-of-the-art machinery to ensure quality, efficiency and productivity,'' the Tri star spokesman said.

He said that Salsbury inspected their newest `Vac Pack' machine which packaged pressed items of clothing into tight vacuum packs which ensured that export containers could take a higher volume of garments. That ensured freight and time saving as well as buyers abroad getting ready pressed merchandise that could be marketed without re-ironing.

"Salsbury took a special interest in our worker welfare measures and was happy to see the spacious canteens that we provide as well as the medical and recreational facilities. He also saw our modern bakery where we produce both bread and snacks for our workers' free breakfast and tea,'' the spokesman said.

"We also showed him the Buddhist, Christian and other shrines we have at our factories for the benefit of our employees and our interest in fostering racial and religious harmony.''

Richard Franks, S.R. Gents' Director for Overseas Operations showed Salsbury a wide range of ladies and children's garments now being produced for M&S by Tri Star which services the British company through S.R. Gent.

"We haven't given Tri Star the easiest of styles. But they've taken up the challenge and done remarkably well for Marks and Spencer,'' Franks told Salsbury.

Tri Star's Chairman, Kumar Dewapura told the visitors how they had started small and had grown over the years. He said that they had risked a lot of money taking the garments industry to far-flung villages to help generate employment for people in those areas.

"We are happy that we were able to improve the living conditions of poor villagers by training them to produce clothing of international standards. It took some time and some doing but we've been able to bring a new light into their lives,'' Dewapura told his guests.

"Our experience is that giving our employees a healthy working environment and showing them that we care about their problems has helped create more commitment and dedication on their part. We greatly value the support we've had from both Marks and Spencer and S.R. Gent.''

Salsbury commended Tri Star's achievements in producing high quality clothing. He also expressed particular happiness about the welfare facilities provided to workers and the efforts the group had made towards helping a large number of poor people to find a new meaning in tier lives.

Richard Franks, John Scadden and Kevin Whyte of S.R. Gent London, Rod Hobbs, Ian Clayton and Shiela Cullen of S.R. Gent's Colombo office accompanied the Marks and Spencer executives on their factory visit. Senior Tri Star managers were also present.