Mammut Building Systems - the UAE’s largest manufacturer of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEBs) and polyurethane-injected sandwich panels - made a foray into the Saudi market early this year and intends to emerge as a key player by capturing 20 per cent of the Saudi market before the end of 2005.

Mammut has already bagged several prestigious contracts in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and claims to have signed contracts worth more than SR20 million ($5.3 million) in three months.
The company’s plans for Saudi Arabia are being implemented by a three-member team, headed by Ashraf Kassab, regional sales manager for Saudi Arabia.
Kassab has over 10 years of sales experience in the PEB industry of which five were with Kirby Building Systems, Kuwait, and five with Zamil Steel, Saudi Arabia. Also on the team is technical manager Medhat Badr, who has over 10 years of engineering experience in the PEB industry with Zamil Steel and is one of the best structural engineers in the PEB industry, recognised for his innovative design techniques, says the company.
Mohammed El Kholy who is one of the best steel erection engineers in the PEB industry and who, at one time, was the key erection engineer at Zamil Steel, Egypt, completes the team.
Mammut, which attributes its meteoric rise in the PEB industry during the past two years to several strategic decisions taken two years ago, has already emerged as a market leader in the UAE having captured 60 per cent of the PEB market there.
States vice-president Muayyad Khudairi: “When I joined Mammut in January 2002 we made four strategic decisions: to recruit the best and most experienced talent in the PEB industry; upgrade our PEB components to the highest standards in the industry; increase our PEB plant capacity to a level that will enable us to dispatch complete steel buildings from our factory within eight weeks and become the largest manufacturer of polyurethane sandwich panels in the region.”
Adds Khudairi: “As of today, we have achieved our goals. Our PEB plant capacity is 5,000 tonnes per month. Our sales averages at 3,500 tonnes per month, leaving us 1,500 tonnes per month of slack capacity to process exceptionally large projects. We have installed a multi-million-dollar continuous foaming machine for the production of polyurethane sandwich panels with a capacity of 120,000 sq m per month and we continue to seek out and recruit the best talent in the PEB industry.”
Listing out the attributes of Mammut’s products, he says: “Our product superiority includes shot-blasting of all its primary steel members prior to painting (versus brush cleaning or solvent cleaning); the application of 50 microns of alkyd-oxide primers (versus 35 microns); the use of hot-rolled sections for bearing end frames (versus light-gauge cold-framed members), thicker gauge material for eave gutters, flashings and trims, hot dip galvanised anchor bolts (versus black steel), 1.5 mm thick roof skylights (versus 1 mm or less)  plus several other features.”
Mammut plans to publish a brochure entitled “The Mammut Difference”, which will list all the features in its PEBs that are superior to those of its competitors.
“Of all the competitive advantages that we have over our rivals the one we are proud of most is our people. We have picked people who sincerely perceive our customers’ interests to be as important as our own interests. Our people remain our greatest asset and through their commitment and inspiration, we will achieve our vision 2005, which is to become the largest supplier of pre-engineered steel buildings in the Middle East by the end of 2005,” Khudairi adds.
The company claims to be the only PEB manufacturer to offer the supply and erection of its buildings in the UAE and has an erection staff of 65 dedicated to the erection of its buildings. Mammut has fully staffed sales offices in the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Qatar (Doha), Oman (Muscat), Saudi (Al Khobar), Bangladesh (Dhaka and Chittagong), Pakistan (Lahore and Karachi), Sri Lanka (Colombo) and Sudan (Khartoum).