

Zamil Steel Industries is one of the three main business sectors of Zamil Industrial Investment Company (ZIIC), a publicly traded stock company in Saudi Arabia.
The Zamil family, under Zamil Holding Company, owns around 60 per cent of the company shares. The other two business sectors of ZIIC are Zamil Air Conditioners and Zamil Glass Industries.
Zamil Steel was established in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in 1977 as a joint venture with Soule Steel, a US company based in Los Angeles, for the manufacture of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEB). In 1981 Zamil Steel became a 100 per cent Saudi owned and it has grown since then to become a world leader in the PEB industry. Though Zamil Steel was established primarily as a manufacturer of pre-engineered steel buildings, soon the company was expanded with the addition of the following two business units, namely Structural Steel (SS) (1984) for the design, manufacture and supply of heavy steel structures and process equipment and Towers & Galvanising (T&G) (1985). The latter was established in technical collaboration with SAE Towers of Italy, part of the world-renowned ABB Group, to produce galvanised lattice steel towers for power transmission and telecommunications.
Khalid Al-Zamil, who is the president of Zamil Steel and the managing director of ZIIC, and himself a technocrat and great visionary, has always been a great proponent of export sales and envisioned the need for Zamil Steel to become a multi-factory organisation of world repute. By 1996 Zamil Steel’s PEB factory in Dammam was producing to its full capacity and it was evident it alone would not be able to meet the growing demands from local and export markets. We were then exporting more than 70 per cent of our total production to the Gulf, Pacific and Africa regions and in order to meet the growing demand from the Asia and Africa regions it was decided to establish two more factories, one in Hanoi (Vietnam) and the other in Cairo (Egypt). These two factories were commissioned in 1999.
In 2002 Zamil Steel entered into a joint venture agreement with Steel Plus Ltd, a subsidiary of Canam Manac Group of Canada and formed Canam Asia Ltd. (CAL), for the design, manufacture and supply of open web steel joists, roof trusses and composite steel decks as well as the Hambro composite floor joist system.
Today, Zamil Steel has four distinct business units under it: Pre-Engineered Buildings Business Unit; Structural Steel Business Unit; Towers & Galvanising Business Unit; Canam Asia Ltd.
With a total production capacity of more than 5,000,000 sq m per annum, Zamil Steel PEB is considered the largest manufacturer and supplier of pre-engineered buildings in Asia and Africa. In 2003 the cumulative production capacity of all three factories was 145,000 metric tonnes (MT) per year. In 2004 Zamil Steel expanded its annual production capacity for PEB to 180,000 MT. Since 1977 Zamil Steel has supplied more than 35,000 buildings to over 75 countries worldwide – from Panama and Mexico in the West to the Philippines, China and South Korea in the East.
Our PEB business unit produces all types of low-rise non-residential buildings. Pre-engineered buildings are ideal for factories, warehouses, bulk storage buildings, distribution centres, aircraft hangars, showrooms, hypermarkets, shopping malls, agricultural buildings, petrol stations, vehicle shelters, and others.
In pursuit of our president’s vision to make Zamil Steel a world-class organisation, we have implemented a number of modern management practices such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Strategic Management Planning & Balanced Scorecard.
Zamil Steel’s long experience in the steel buildings industry has made us aware that not all our customers are so sophisticated that they are aware of the latest best engineering solutions available for their building requirements. Keeping this in mind we have now started a “Special Projects Department” which offers total engineering solutions. Also realising the fact that how demanding today’s customers are, Zamil Steel recently started offering “Total Solutions” whereby we offer all ZIIC products (i. steel, air conditioning, and glass) and other special buyout items. This reduces the need for our customers to deal with different entities and helps them make their purchases hassle-free.
In the Gulf region, our PEB business unit has the largest market share of pre-engineered steel buildings. In 2004 we had a more than 40 per cent market share of the Saudi PEB market and more than a 30 per cent market share for the rest of the GCC market.
The Structural Steel business unit has a production capacity of 45,000 MT per year. Currently we are undertaking an expansion with a view to increasing the production capacity to 60,000 MT annually.
In 2004 this business unit added pressure vessels and heat exchangers to its products range and their current lines of expertise are: structural steel buildings, equipment support structures, process structures, pipe racks, air and gas ducting, stacks & chimneys, built up girders and columns, high-rise buildings, process equipment, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, air-cooled heat exchangers, columns, oil/gas separators, desalters, skid mounted module, storage tanks, furnace, fired-heaters, desalination evaporators, etc.
The SS business unit is also a market leader in this region and has 30 per cent market share in Saudi Arabia. After establishing its prominence in the Middle East, this business unit has been exporting its products to countries such as Sudan, Portugal, Cyprus, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The factory of Towers & Galvanizing business unit is also located in the 1st Industrial Estate in Dammam.
Like our other business units, PEB and Structural Steel, T&G is also a market leader in the area of its operation a with 30 to 40 per cent market share in the GCC. It is now exporting to the whole of Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Currently we are undertaking some expansion of our facilities in order to increase the production capacity.
At Zamil Steel our policy is to treat our customers as partners, and we make sure that a one-time customer becomes our repeat customer.
For our PEB business unit the type of customers we deal with vary from market to market, and there is a long list of local and international customers and all of them are important to us. To mention a few, the list includes Toyota, Honda, Nestle, Coca Cola, Proctor and Gamble, Fuji, Fijutsu, BP, Chevron, Saudi Aramco, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, JGC, IHI, Mitsui, Daewoo, Hyundai, LG and so on…
Last year our Saudi PEB business unit was awarded over 1,400 different building projects from various parts of the world.
Of the most important projects that we have supplied recently is the Le Villaggio Retail, Sports and Entertainment Center in Doha, Qatar - a landmark shopping mall and entertainment complex with a total area exceeding 100,000 sq m. We also supplied three major shopping mall/hypermarket complexes to Fawaz Al-Hokair & Partners in Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah with a total cumulative area exceeding 300,000 sq m.
Some of the major customers of our Structural Steel business unit are: Bechtel, JGC Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation, Toyo Engineering Corporation, Technip (Italy & France), Snampregetti SPA.
Some of the important customers of our T&G business unit in terms of volume are: ABB, Italy (now SAE Power Lines); Emirates Electrical, Dubai; Hyundai, Korea; Techint, Mexico; Civilco, Oman; National Contracting Co., Saudi Telecom Co., and Etihad Etisalat from Saudi Arabia.
Recently for the first time this business unit designed and supplied roof top towers as well as wall-mount towers to Etihad Etisalat, the second mobile telephone providers in Saudi Arabia.
In order to meet the growing demand for steel towers, we are now undertaking an expansion of this factory.
Zamil Steel adheres to stringent quality measures and our objective is to achieve “total quality”. We meet the requirements of the International Standard Organisations in quality. Our quality control process starts at the time raw materials are received in the shop and continues through all production stages up to the point when the finished goods are dispatched from our factory. Non-destructive tests utilising ultrasonic equipment are one of the many methods that are used in weld testing to assure end users that our products are safe and only quality products carry the Zamil Steel name.
Our Structural Steel business unit is ISO 9001:2000 certified. We constantly upgrade our quality standards and have obtained ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications, which have resulted in an improvement in process efficiencies, workforce safety and the environment. We are proud to be the only company in the Middle East to be certified by the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction) for the fabrication of complex building structures. The SS business unit also holds recognised certification from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which authorises design and fabrication of pressure vessels & heat exchangers.
Our latest joint venture, Canam Asia, is now utilising one bay of our Dammam PEB factory and we are now in the process of setting up a full fledged factory for this company in the UAE.
Using Canam steel joists and deck system for flooring and roof construction has proven itself to be a most advantageous solution. Although the steel deck is primarily a structural component, it is visually attractive when left exposed. Its structural strength with less weight provides the maximum efficiency in the design resulting in products with a high strength-to weight ratio. As a result, delivery, erection, and structural framing costs can be lower than other systems. It is also easy to maintain, durable, and esthetically pleasing. Its value is determined by combining initial cost, life-cycle costs, and overall performance. Steel deck assemblies are the best value in floor and roof designs. They combine low cost with top performance.
While in 2003 we had achieved a cumulative total production of 180,000 MT, in 2004 it went up to a record 225,000 MT, and the first-quarter achievement of 70,000 MT during 2005 is an indication that we are still growing, and we are confident of maintaining this momentum in our growth. In terms of value, our earnings in 2003 was SR 670 million (out of which 48 per cent was from exports), in 2004 the earnings went up to a record SR 1.078 billion (with 60 per cent of it coming from exports), and for the first quarter of 2005 we have achieved a record SR 365 million. So we keep improving our own previous records.
Zamil Steel purchases the highest quality raw materials from the world’s leading manufacturers such as British Steel, Corus, BHP (BlueScope), Arcelor, Incheon, SYS of Thailand, Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed), Unicoil, United Gulf Steel, etc.
Our PEB business unit uses three types of high grade steel; hot rolled plates for the frames, hot rolled black or galvanized coils for the secondaries, and cold rolled pre-painted coils for the sheeting.
For our Structural Steel business unit the main raw materials are carbon steel, stainless steel, some special alloys, while our Towers & Galvanising business unit uses angles and plates.
We have a very active Products Research & Systems Development team, where a group of seasoned and innovative engineers is continuously working to improve our systems and products. They keep a constant watch on changes taking place in the market, receive suggestions and site reports and take immediate action to make our products better and more efficient.
For the past 12 years this team has been continuously working on developing our in-house engineering systems, and ASFAD, AGOSED and eZ-Build are the fruits of this development. Our team is currently working on developing our systems to accommodate 3-D design and modeling.