Talk of Alba’s latest expansion and the faces of its employees light up like lamps.

From the CEO to the humblest worker doing his bit on the shop floor, everyone considers Potline 5 the embodiment of a most remarkable achievement. All acknowledge it is the culmination of sophisticated planning and organisational skills, teamwork, strong leadership and dedication as well as courage to take on challenges. 
When the new Alcan-Pechiney AP-30 potline showed up so did the records: the longest potline, the quickest start-up and the safest commissioning.
“It is better than the previous potline,” exults acting chief executive Ahmed Saleh Al Noaimi, an Alba employee for 31 years and serving it for all but three years of its existence. “There’s higher metal purity and good pots stability; the pots have been looked after well and they have been behaving in a better way,” says Al Noaimi in his office not far from the site where the pots have been arrayed with clinical efficiency.
The potline’s cost of production was $1.7 billion, 10 per cent of which came from equity and the rest from credit financing. With the enlarged project completed well before time, Alba was richer by a good $150 million, an amazing amount of savings.
The success story began four years ago when the Alba board decided to go ahead with the new line. Project planners first talked of having 288 cells, but keen to maximise production with minimal additional cost, they came up with a proposal to augment the plots by another 48 cells. The technology supplier was convinced to accept it. Now that 336 cells have been laid out, up 17 per cent over the original count, with very minimal increase in capital costs, the potline has become a model of that technology.  Originally, the duration of the start-up was planned to be 180 days. But that too was curtailed to 100 days and eventually to 77.  The start-up worked like clockwork, with four to six pots per day being started and no accident occurring throughout the commissioning period. 
“Line 5 to me is a project of excellence from all angles. There are a few lessons we’d like to repeat and a few we want to avoid,” observes Al Noaimi. The positive aspects were the augmentation of the cells, the quick and safe start-up and the savings. As for the negative lessons, says Al Noaimi, “they were of little significance.” 
“Because of Alba’s 35-year experience and also the hard work we put in and the experience of our workers, we could come up with that kind of performance.” The official is sure that with the expertise gained in the latest expansion, the next potline, whenever that happens, will be even more fruitful.
Already there’s talk of a Potline 6, but Al Noaimi is guarded in his remarks about it. That’s because any word about its prospects should officially come from the board. But Al Noaimi acknowledges that the preliminary moves have been made, the feasibility studies are in progress and that it could be six months to a year when the studies will be completed and submitted to the board. There’s also the question of receiving dedicated gas supplies to keep the line going.  “Line 6 will make a lot of sense to build,” he asserts. It’s not a question of whether there will be an expansion but when. It will also be cheaper to build with some of the infrastructure already around, such as the carbon plant, and it will be a twin to the line just completed. With the Line 5 boost of 320,000 tonnes, Alba’s capacity is now 840,000 tonnes per year. With Line 6, another 300,000 tonnes will be added. Alba is also set for another capacity creep of 100,000 tonnes with improvements to be implemented in its various potlines over three to four years. Around the time Line 6 is completed, Alba’s total annual capacity could be in the vicinity of 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes. As of today, Alba is the largest among the modern potlines and its trajectory is forward. That’s because the outlook for aluminium engenders optimism. Demand is very strong and growing with China and other emerging markets guzzling up large quantities of the metal. As a metal, aluminium has wide applications, from household goods to automotives, airplanes and spacecraft. Most smelters would be happy with a long-term price of $1,550 per tonnes and most expansion studies are based on that price. “Now we see the upside of that price. There are a number of factors responsible for it including one that does not reflect supply and demand. It could be the currency issue,” says Al Noaimi.
Alba’s good progress has not only brought joy to Bahrain, which owns 77 per cent of the company, there is jubilation also in Saudi Arabia, where the petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) possesses a 20 per cent stake in the company. Breton Investments has the remainder shareholding of 3 per cent.
The shareholding pattern would have changed by now, if moves for bringing in Alcoa had materialised, as they were once expected to. An MoU was signed in 2003 with Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary aluminium and alumina, envisaging that the US company would take a 26 per cent stake in Alba. The Bahraini government was keen to reduce its own shareholding by that amount. Alcoa and the Bahraini Ministry of Finance could not decide on a price. 
Selling a part of the government’s stake would be in line with Bahrain’s investment and privatisation policy. Alba has not restricted its options to slicing the government’s stake. It is looking at a range of possibilities including buying a stake in a foreign smelter or alumina refinery.  Serious talks have not yet commenced with anyone. “We are in the process of reviewing our strategy and business plans which will determine the future of Alba,” comments Al Noaimi.  So far, Alba has been looking at investment possibilities in India, Africa and Southeast Asia and finds the Indian market most promising.  Says Al Noaimi: “We have been talking to refineries and smelter companies as well as smelter-owning refineries and companies that have a mix of all these things. We’re not limiting our options as to whom we should look to. The door is open.”
Although overall more in terms of tonnes will be available to Bahrain’s downstream aluminium industry, its biggest customer is unhappy. Garmco has expressed fears it will not receive as much as it would like and that Alba’s supplies might actually fall even when Line 6 appears. Alba has pledged to support the local industry but there are limits as to how far it can proceed to satisfying it. After all, Alba is a commercial undertaking and enlarging revenues is a primary concern. If the price offered by overseas parties is attractive it will be unable to resist the temptation to supply them larger volumes. The company is taking an increasingly dim view of subsidies and believes downstream companies should operate within the framework of international prices and strive to become competitive. The challenge is how to capitalise on overseas markets while simultaneously serving as an important contributor to Bahrain’s downstream industry, which also happens to be a major provider of employment to the kingdom’s citizens.
“Some of the local companies have been complaining they don’t get enough. The Far East customers are also asking for more. If we increase our supplies, we’ll do so with the same percentage, maintaining the general overall proportion of distribution,” says Al Noaimi. Last year Bahrain received 45 per cent of the production, the other Gulf states 17 per cent, the Far East 26 per cent and other markets 12 per cent.
Alba is keen on entering new markets. It recently implemented some supplies to the US and there could be penetration of the European market before long.
With an eye on making a stronger presence in international markets and also to widen its product range, Alba introduced not long ago a new wheel alloy, which is said to be doing well, particularly in the Far East. This year it launched properzi’s in different sizes, and expects to attract markets because of its ability to produce high-quality products. 
Alba is confident it will be able to ride the competition with new and cutting-edge products notwithstanding the impending arrival of new smelters. In fact, it is happy to see more smelters being set up, particularly in the Gulf region, and believes there is room for all who are coming.  Recent decisions to install aluminium smelters in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have not come as a surprise to Alba, and it is not losing sleep at having to operate internationally alongside them. “The new smelters will meet the growth of demand in the market and substitute for smelters that have closed down. These smelters in the GCC region, with good co-ordination, will give the region its voice in the industry, and rather than looking at them as competitors, we can do a lot to help our customers, the industry in general and ourselves,” maintains Al Noaimi.
In the meantime, Alba is happy it is able to make a significant contribution to Bahrain. With Line 5 adding 60 per cent to the capacity, the GDP contribution of the Alba downstream companies in Bahrain will stay between 10 and 14 per cent, while Alba’s own contribution will be 10 per cent of the GDP against 8 per cent previously.
It would not be far fetched to say that Alba could raise its revenues through consultancy, the company having gained expertise in quickening the start-up phase. “We’ve had a number of international smelters approaching us to buy our knowledge of starting smelters of this size in a short period,” revealed Al Noaimi. The company will be discussing this aspect with interested parties, who, the official pointed out, belonged to the region as well as outside it.
Al Noaimi and other company officials have been overwhelmed by the messages of appreciation and congratulations that have poured in from within and outside the region. They have also underlined the positive impact that the new potline has had on company morale.  
“Line 5 and its success story have given people a lot of confidence. It built a very cohesive and homogenous team and that by itself helped develop a lot of alliances between various departments in the company,” observed Al Noaimi.