With factory expansions in two cities, Jeddah-based Procter & Gamble (P&G) Gulf is in a stronger position to meet the growing demand for its world-famous brands and penetrate new markets.

“The household products industry in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Arabian Peninsula is dynamic, and Modern Products Company (MPC) and Modern Industries Company (MIC) have been a very important part of this industry for many years,” said Alkarim Rajwani, soon after his appointment as general manager for P&G’s operations across the Arabian Peninsula earlier in 2003.

MPC and MIC are P&G’s Saudi partners and both companies have witnessed tremendous development in the past two or three years.  MPC was opened in Jeddah in 1982 to make Pampers and the feminine care product Always. MIC’s factory in Dammam, which opened in 1981, manufactures a wide range of shampoo products, dishwashing liquids, fabric softeners and detergents. The MIC range includes Tide, Ariel, Downy and Fairy.

“As a company, we are very focused on providing our customers with the highest quality products at every opportunity. This will continue to be our focus and we will continue to do what is necessary to stay at the forefront of the industry across the region,” said Rajwani, who has held senior posts for P&G in locations including Korea, China, the US and Canada.

P&G invested more than $65 million in one year alone to expand its two factories and set up a new operations base for the Gulf at the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. The free zone facility incorporates leading-edge technology and a new raw materials mixing unit that further expands and enhances P&G’s manufacturing and marketing capabilities across the region. The MPC plant spent SR220 million ($58.6 million) on an upgrade and now has the most sophisticated diaper production lines in the world as well as some of the latest innovations in feminine care products.

According to P&G, the export volume from both factories reached 50,000 tonnes in 2002 with the total value of export sales exceeding $533 million in the three years until the end of 2002. Markets importing P&G Saudi Arabia’s products included the Indian Subcontinent, South Africa, Eastern Europe, the CIS states and Hong Kong.

At a ceremony held during the Top 100 GCC companies’ conference in September 2003, the Governor of Riyadh, Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, honoured MPC for its leading role in Saudi industry.
Procter & Gamble has been operating in the Arabian Peninsula since 1958, but it developed its first synthetic detergent plant in Jeddah in 1964 through MIC, which also happened to be among the first manufacturing facilities in the kingdom in the modern era. The first plant was officially opened by King Faisal in 1965.

Tide was the first consumer product of the company to be manufactured locally and the first product to be advertised on TV in Saudi Arabia. Manufacture of Tide later moved to the Dammam plant.
“We have invested in special production lines to manufacture the right products for each market. For example, our sachet lines produce single-usage shampoo packs exclusively for markets in Eastern Europe,” a company spokesman says.

“All our locally manufactured products carry the Seal of Quality from the Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation, which goes a long way into building trust in our brands among consumers and the local regulatory authorities, thereby allowing us better and faster access into the many countries we export to.”

The company invests SR30 million every year on training of its Saudi staff, some of whom are sent to P&G offices around the world. Fifty-one per cent of the employees are Saudi with Saudis making up 71 per cent of the managerial positions.