Our People
The staff at Heritage is considered important to its strategy. We treat our staff not just as part of the workforce but as a part of a large family. Honor, integrity and dedication are key facets of our company values.
At Heritage, we give emphasis to diversity; each new member has to undergo a rigorous selection process to ensure that those who wish to join our team bring in different attributes and skills from different aspects in the trade along with experience.
Our Human Resources policy is simple. ‘Your career will reward you as you do towards the establishment’. Therefore we initiate regular training and development programs for our employees in order to keep them up to date with the latest innovations and practices of the tea trade in Sri Lanka and across the globe. Thus empowering them with skills they need to build continuing relationships with our clients. In addition to these facilities, members of the Heritage group benefit from numerous staff welfare and medical schemes and receive regular health and fitness checkups by professional medical practitioners.
Heritage is an equal opportunities employer; the company is committed to elevate remuneration packages and other benefits well above industry standards.
Tea Tasting
Years of practice and strategic knowledge about tea, is important for a quality tea tasting. It is vital to maintain and deliver tea of high quality and superior standards to our clients.
The tea tasters at Heritage Group are veterans in the field, our team of highly skilled and professional individuals are the masterminds behind our success. The Heritage Group has undergone extensive training sessions on different aspects of tea on planting, production and processing from various parts of the world. This gives us the ability to understand and service clients successfully from around the world.
.Each blend of tea is carefully selected to meet and exceed our client’s expectations. A specifically designed and well-equipped facility is provided for tea tasting. This is where the individual teas are chosen for customized blends, taking into account factors such as the appearance of the tea leaf, color, aroma and the strength of its brew.
Manufacturing Plant
In 2001 Heritage Group was chosen by Mitsui & Co., Japan to partner a joint venture in Sri Lanka. This was the first step in the creating our advanced tea cleaning, blending and processing plant.
The equipment which makes up the Plant consists of:
Dust extractor units and a dust containment units
This machine extracts excess tea and unwanted dust particles to furnish a clean and uniform blend.
Grid, bar and drum magnet units
These units are used to remove metallic particles such as fine iron filling particles and nails from tea. The magnets are of varies strengths to guarantee that the heaviest metallic particles are removed before the tea is blended and processed.
Sifter and vibrator unit
This stage cleans weeds such as paper, wood and string. The process is completed by utilizing two fine wire meshes to trap and remove extraneous substances from the tea.
The Blending drum
This is largest unit of the plant. The machine is a food grade stainless steel drum capable of blending 2,500 Kg of tea per blend cycle, which lasts for approximately 20 minutes. The unit‘s rotation mixes the tea within the drum, producing uniform blends.
The Advanced metal detection unit
Possibly the most sophisticated machine used in the process. The machine extracts any ferrous and non-ferrous particles from the tea. The process is completed using two stage sensor system which detects and rejects even the extremely miniature particles which may be present in blended tea.
Advanced weighing systems
The processing plant adheres to the highest quality standards, and conforms to the rigorous requirements of the ISO 9001:2000, HACCP certification. The company has taken measures to ensure accuracy and efficiency in the packaging processes by introducing an automated weighing system which allows us to amplify on our offerings and reduce errors in the system.
With this entire unit in place the company's processing plant has earned a reputation for being one of the best blending and processing facilities in Sri Lanka.
We now operate three separate blending units that systematically do the cleaning, blending and processing, with more improvements made in the technology to give out a larger production capacity including the capability to blend leafy grades such as OPA, OP1, PEK and FF. We can now assure our clients that they will have a continuous supply of Tea to cater to their requirements.
Tea Bag Facility
The Heritage Group understood a need for expansion on its existing products and services, with this in mind Heritage built a modern Tea bagging facility in 1998 and commenced its operations within the same year. The sophisticated Tea bagging machines are capable of producing 150 Tea Bags per minute.
Food safety management systems and stringent quality assurance procedures make sure that all the tea bags and products from this facility meet the customer’s exact requirement and are packed to globally accepted standards. This facility also boasts of a diverse variation of tea bags such as single chamber tea bags, double chamber tea bags, string & tag tea bags, pyramid tea bags, Pot Bags from 2gs to 20g and catering bag tea bags without strings.
Our Tea Bag facility has been certified to meet the requirements of ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 standards.
Tea Packaging
Packaging of exceptional quality is maintained to ensure ISO standards are met along with high levels of hygienic practices to ensure the quality of the packaging completed by the division. Tea is mechanically cleaned and blended, including the bigger leaf grades. The flavor drum in the packaging section has the capacity to blend 250Kg at a time; this machine is only for flavor and herbal blending.
Storage Facility
At Heritage Teas, we position high importance towards storage. Our ware house and Storage facility is of 55,000 square feet, and is capable of storing over 2 million Kilograms of tea. All facilities are built with an air flow system which allows us to maintain the temperature of the warehouse and storage facilities at an even level. Quality controls are put in place to monitor and maintain the freshness of our teas.
With a dedicated Storage facility for Raw Materials, Finished Products, Packaging Materials and Advanced Mechanized Material Handling Equipment, our customers can rest knowing that their cargo and products are well looked after with the best of care adhering to the acknowledged global storage standards.
Our modern Lab
Our well qualified and dedicated quality assurance staff ensures that each order is processed and packed in agreement with all the quality assurance guidelines at Heritage Group and those of our clients.
Our quality assurance personnel have also been trained on quality standards such as ISO, HACCP and NASAA Organic Certification.
In order for the team to carry out the quality control procedures accurately, Heritage has invested in a modern laboratory to carry out domestic testing of teas and products. The laboratory can carry out many tests such as moisture level testing of teas, water tests, bulk density checks and tannin tests.
The Heritage Group is also able to provide comprehensive analytical reports from reputed independent survey companies on customer’s requests.
Research & Development
Research & Development is very important to continue a business of standards along with quality products and services.
Under Research and Development, the Heritage Group has initiated Lab testing of all products and new blends, new product design and new processes and systems.
Heritage Teas intend to practice modern lab testing methods to measure quality parameters for tanning, moisture and other chemical properties in tea to ensure a quality end product.
Heritage Teas is trying out new blends and tea standards. The professionals put in a lot of effort to produce new combinations and mixes using various herbs, teas of other origin, specialty teas and handmade teas in various flavors.
The production team develops new processes and systems to increase productivity and minimize depletion. New technology is to be applied to improve efficiency while reducing errors not only with the products but also with new concepts and creative Arts for packaging.
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