A leading Saudi supplier of building materials, which specialises in architectural products, is looking at moving into the field of manufacture.
Mohammed Assad Aldrees & Sons Company's AICS division is seriously looking at setting up a factory to manufacture finished products, says the division's manager Fahad Aldrees.
"We aim to start with steel doors and frames," he says.
Mohammed Assad Aldrees, which was established in 1978, is a large Saudi group with its headquarters in Riyadh and branch offices in Jeddah and Dammam.
The AICS division represents leading local international manufacturers of doors and frames (Ceco Door Products and Overly Manufacturing Company), toilet partitions and washroom accessories (Bushboard, AJ Washroom Accessories Inc and the Mills Company), walls and ceilings (Saudi Factory for Profiles, National Gypsum Company and Murco), hardware (Arrow, Von Durpin, Cal-Royal Products Inc, Hager, LCN Closers, Trimco, Pemko, McKinney, Dorma, PHI Precision, Adams Rite Europe, Simplex Security Systems and Abloy), locking systems (Locknetics Security Engineering), flooring systems (PAF, Polyflor and Contract Tile) and specialty products (Bilco and Midland Chutes).
AICS, which has participated at previous SaudiBuild exhibitions, will be back at this year's show, says its regional manager Mohammed Abdul Jabbar.
"We have exhibited in previous years and won a lot of business," he says. "We aim to improve market awareness of our range of top-quality products, strengthen contacts with our existing customers and establish new contacts.
"We will also be launching some of the new products from our principals, who are targeting not only Saudi Arabia but the entire Middle East. We recently acquired a few more well-known agencies, which will be highlighted at the show."
Business this year for AICS has been promising and the company hopes to do better than the previous years, with several large projects in the pipeline. "With the privatisation of several key sectors and opening up of the economy to foreign investors, there will a tremendous boost in all spheres of business over the coming years," Jabbar says. "AICS aims to cash in on these opportunities and, to this end, the company has strengthened its sales team and brought in senior new management to meet the challenges."
AICS is associated with several top projects within the Kingdom, such as the Hilton hotels in Jeddah and Madinah, Sabic's (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) headquarters in Riyadh, the Spimaco-Inara twin complexce extends to involvement in some of the world's most striking buildings including the world's tallest edifice, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the new trade centre in Hong Kong and the Microsoft Headquarters in the UK.
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