Zamil Air Conditioners (ZAC), the Dammam-based manufacturer of air conditioners, recently received the Meed (Middle East Economic Digest) magazine award for business excellence among product manufacturers.

The company was honoured in the business-to-business category. Along with ZAC, a number of other regional companies were bestowed similar recognition by the magazine in a total of 10 business categories.

The awards for 'business excellence' recognised some of the most outstanding initiatives in the fields of construction, manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, aviation, hospitality, and power industries in the whole of the Middle East. ZAC was selected from more than 600 businesses and after a shortlist of some 31 by a judging panel made up of eminent international dignitaries. Among the leading organisations that were in the running for the B-to-B category prize were Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Equate Petrochemical Company and Dubai Cable Company.

Zamil Air Conditioners achieved the award for focusing on business-critical functions and processes such as the high standards in the product itself, sales trends, competitive performance, exports and innovation.

The panel focused on ZAC's early adoption of modern management techniques, heavy investments in research and development, intensive training & development and Saudisation programmes and extensive customer-care and quality-control processes. The panel noted that "Zamil Air Conditioners is a superbly managed and successful business that has worked hard to keep abreast of technical changes in a sector with huge potential for the future".

Abdulla Al Zamil, ZAC's senior vice-president, accepted the award at a gala dinner ceremony in Dubai. "I am pleased to accept this award on behalf of the more than 2,000 ZAC employees," Al Zamil said. "Their efforts, their commitment and their vision to be the best they can be enabled ZAC to be a true competitor in its industry".

Edmund O'Sullivan, Meed's publishing director and the developer of the awards concept, commented: "Identifying the best businesses in the Middle East has been a challenging but extremely rewarding project for Meed. Tonight's winners have set a new regional standard for excellence in both strategy and management, and have created a benchmark by which future contenders will be judged".

Zamil Air Conditioners, with 2001 sales of approximately $200 million, is the largest Middle East-based manufacturer of air-conditioning products and supplier of air conditioning services for residential, commercial and institutional buildings.