Aluminium Products Company Limited (Alupco), one of the top 100 Saudi companies, is going through a phase of expansions and restructuring that will set it well on the way to fulfilling its ambition of becoming one of the world's great extrusion and surface-finishing facilities.
The company, recognised as the first aluminium extrusion company in the Middle East to bag the prestigious ISO 9001 certification, also bids fair to become a significant player in the global supply of technically advanced extrusion dies, having already installed a state-of-the-art die-making plant in Jeddah.
Most of the company's extrusions are consumed in the Saudi market, but export markets in recent years have been enlarged to go beyond the traditional GCC and Arab region to the wider international field including Europe and the Americas. The exports range from extrusions for architectural purposes in construction, the main item, to those for signages, furniture, decoration and industrial applications.
Now, having impressed local and foreign markets with the quality and range of its products, Alupco is confident it can embrace additional buyers from a wider spectrum of markets with its plan to enlarge and modernise its facilities.
General manager Khalid M Al-Fuhaid says $75 million will be spent in the next few years on installing new equipment, refurbishing and modernising some existing production lines and constructing new building facilities. The projects cover both the Jeddah and Dammam plants.
At the Jeddah plant the new seventh extrusion press of 2,750 tonnes capacity is currently under installation. The production capability for extruded profiles was put at 12,000 tonnes per year. Also, there, a new powder coating line is being installed which will increase the plant's production capacity for coated profiles by 30 per cent. A new storage facility of 3,500 sq m was recently completed.
The Dammam plant projects include the refurbishment and modification of a 2,500-tonne press to increase its production capacity by 3,000 tonnes of extruded profiles per year as well as two new building projects for better servicing the increased production capacity. Work on the new Central Maintenance building and Central Storage area is expected to start in the coming weeks. The Dammam plant Casthouse will be moved to a new building, which is already under construction. The casting equipment and installations will be refurbished and modernised and the casting production capacity will be increased by 50 per cent.
Parallel to the expansion plans, Alupco is introducing new products and services, which should make it a still bigger player in its field.
'During 2003 and 2004, Alupco's R & D Department will launch in the local and other GCC markets several new products suitable for all applications including all types of windows, doors, shop fronts, curtain walls and systems with thermal break,' says Al-Fuhaid.
The expansions are certain to extend sales to new highs. Total sales grew to $125 million in 2002 from $110 million in the previous year and are expected to exceed $145 million in 2003. The company has forecast an average sales growth of 12 per cent every year in the next five years.
Local sales, which reached 70 per cent of total sales in 2002, are targeted to touch 30,000 tonnes this year and 40,000 tonnes in 2005.
Sales in the GCC region, Middle East and Europe were 30 per cent of total sales and are expected to reach 20,000 tonnes in 2005.
Alupco, the first 100 per cent Saudi aluminium extrusion company when it was set up in 1975, has grown steadily, becoming highly competitive in both regional and international markets with the backing of its European technical associates who are leaders in aluminium extrusions.
It went through an expansion programme in the late 1980s and commenced exports to the Gulf and other Arab markets. It progressed to shipping its products onto the European and the American markets in the late 1990s, going from strength to strength and winning international accolades. The company currently has a total extrusion capacity exceeding 60,000 tonnes per year. Since its inception, the company has commissioned seven immense extrusion presses, four anodising lines and four powder coating lines (two of them vertical lines, the first of their kind in the Middle East) in its massive 140,000 square meters combined production facilities.
Since restructuring the business in the late 1990s, Alupco has become an even more customer-focused and technically responsive organisation, while enhancing its proven and certified quality assurance procedures (ISO 9001) and rigorous quality control systems.
The new management has been the drive behind a 'no compromise' approach to the planning and execution of quality-assured production. The company has not rested on its oars despite becoming a generic term for aluminium extrusion in the region. It continues to build its reputation, producing items of the highest quality and making timely deliveries to meet contractors and end-users' requirements.
The general manager has inspired a growing customer-focused approach and several strategic investments. The investments have included the 3500/3800 Cadex press, the largest extrusion press in the Middle East, and the vertical coating lines, demonstrating his engineering skills and vision for this unique design.
Al-Fuhaid strongly pushed for investing $9 million in a state-of-the-art die manufacturing plant (DMP)) located in its Jeddah manufacturing facility and covering 6,000 square meters of land. The DMP, conceived in 1994 at a time when Alupco relied completely on European manufacturers to supply its extrusion dies, was commissioned in March 1999. It has the capacity to produce up to 2,500 dies currently, meeting about 50 per cent of Alupco's requirements. Production will rise in the future to 4,000 dies and in time be expanded to even fulfil some demand from other aluminium extruders worldwide.
'The investment in the DMP facility was a courageous decision by our shareholders and very much part of Alupco's longer-term vision of a commitment to quality and growth to become a global organisation,' recalls Al-Fuhaid.
Alupco facilities including the DMP have been closely involved with several major architectural projects including Riyadh's Kingdom Centre, for which it was the sole supplier of 1,200 tonnes of extrusions using 72 different dies produced for the exacting specifications of the aluminium profiles required by the client.
'The DMP is a world-class centre not only for our own extrusion requirements but to eventually meet demand for aluminium extrusion dies on an international basis. The DMP, besides providing technical advantages locally, has also curtailed our lead time, reducing costs, improving the quality of the profiles, and allowing Alupco to be more agile and flexible in meeting customers' requirements. Previously, it would take six to eight weeks to source dies from Europe and now the DMP can turn around dies within two to three weeks. Essentially it means that our customers' requirements can be met with efficiency and urgency,' adds Al-Fuhaid.
Other major projects associated with Alupco include the prestigious Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Dubai's Internet City, Citibank in Bahrain, and the National Bank of Bahrain tower, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the Telecommunications Tower in Kuwait, and the Faisaliah Center in Riyadh. Alupco provided the Faisaliah Center with more than 8,000 separately curved cladding sheets for the landmark structure.
Alupco launched a new corporate identity to mark its 25th anniversary, which it said stood for international quality in terms of both products and services.
'The new corporate identity emphasises the strength and assured quality (of Alupco products),' observed Al-Fuhaid at the time.
Al-Fuhaid acknowledges competition is getting stronger, but believes it is imperative that day-to-day users know 'who we are and what we stand for'. The awareness campaign he has initiated embraces every link in the distribution channels. The aim is to acquaint them with the reliability Alupco offers from applying international standards in products as well as services.
In order to have more Saudis share in Alupco's challenges and its bright future, the company has put in place a programme to train them at various levels both within and outside the country, depending on the specialisation. This effort has enabled the company to achieve a 30 per cent Saudiisation rate, both in managerial and vocational fields.
