One of the Gulf’s leading distributors of industrial tools and equipment has announced it is planning to diversify into manufacturing in the next five years.

Saudi Industrial Tools Corporation (Sitaco), which is based in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, said it was venturing into manufacturing and assembling in view of the high demand regionally and globally for high-quality products.
The chairman,  Osman S Baosman, outlined the plans at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the company and the release of its third comprehensive catalogue.
The plans include converting the company into a shareholding firm. Sitaco expects to open additional branches and provide a buying service on the Internet. Baosman also announced the company would provide specialist training to complement other training it is conducting for its staff.
The vision for the next five years was in line with developments in industry and customers’ needs,” he said.
 “The next five years will place Sitaco in a position it deserves to be while it continues to serve its customers within and outside the kingdom,” he added.
Sitaco markets a wide range of products including hand tools, test instruments, machine shop equipment and tools, abrasive tools and equipment, hydraulic tools, pneumatic components for automation; lifting, storage and handling equipment, safety tools and equipment, automotive workshop tools and equipment and gardening tools and related equipment.
The list of products also covers electric power tools, construction tools, air-operated tools and related equipment for all those items, maintenance and lubrication material, welding equipment and consumables and hoses for all applications.
The products come from some of the world’s greatest names in the business. Among them are Ingersoll-Rand, Cebora, Washington Alloy, Sankyo, PFERD, Camozzi, Metabo, Elora, Kranzie, Impero, Dormer, Europress, Guhring, Greenlee, Enerpac, Faraone, SP Yools and Mitutoyo.
Sitaco came into existence when the founders realised there was a need for tools and equipment in industries that had emerged in the economic boom days of the early 1970s. “The decision was made to try this new experience even though the picture was not very clear then, and Sitaco was established in 1975,” recalled Baosman.
With time passing, the owners made very courageous decisions based on advice coming from specialist consultancies,” said the chair-man.
“The objec-tive was to enable Sitaco gain the full satisfaction of customers by fulfilling their needs when they needed them and where they needed them. That was the Sitaco mission statement.”
Key to developing the business was to identify major companies and sectors as potential customers.  Heading the list were Saudi Aramco, Saudi Airlines and the Saudi Government.  Also targeted were the manufacturing sector, the Saudi Electricity Company, the SWCC, cement factories, hotels, maintenance companies, petrochemicals plants, technical schools and training centres, hospitals, large farms, wholesalers, retailers, individuals and service workshops.
As Baosman spelled out, the secret of Sitaco’s success was not merely the marketing of top-quality goods but also taking care of after-sales. Special attention was paid to making spare parts available, keeping service centres at peak operational levels and commissioning mobile workshops to reach out to customers with tools and technicians.
In time Sitaco had gained the necessary technical expertise and financial strength to meet just about any customer order. The company had a worldwide network of suppliers in various fields to support it.
Sitaco has also been adept at providing what it terms as “total solutions”. This means its team of specialist engineers has the capability of tackling customers’ total project needs, starting with the dispensing of free technical consultancy, defining the best materials they should use and on to site planning, the supply and commissioning of equipment and finally training customers’ staff in the use of that same equipment.
The company has at any given time a stock inventory of more than 50,000 items, the value of which is nearly SR50 million. There are four distribution centres, while the information systems department  provides timely information to customers when needed.
To serve its farflung customers, Sitaco reorganised its marketing and sales department to include an outdoor sales section, which has a network of specialist sales representatives. These personnel account for 70 per cent of the Sitaco workforce, indicating that the company takes its mission to reach out to its customers and their locations very seriously.
Sitaco has also invested in improving its showrooms and establishing a section entrusted wholly with the task of finalising quotations and offers. Another section provides full and timely information about any transaction while the company’s wholesale department serves customers through a kingdomwide network of distributors. At present, Sitaco has six branches in Saudi Arabia and two each in Yemen and Sudan, and these are well supported by a fleet of company vehicles as well as by cargo transportation companies such as DHL and FedEx.
 The catalogue released on the occasion of the 30th anniversary followed ones launched in 1980 and 1998.
 The latest catalogue took two years to develop. A questionnaire was sent to users to determine what they wanted. Designing  was entrusted to a specialist company while data collection and classification was the responsibility of a team from within Sitaco itself. The catalogue is comprehensive and contains a lot of technical information. Its colour scheme is easy on the eyes and classifications are colour coded for easy reference. It will be available on the Sitaco website soon.
As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, Sitaco honoured its important customers with special awards. The recipients were SWCC, Saudi Electric Company, Arabian Cement Company, the Binladen Group, Huta Marine Company and Saudi ABV.
Present at the ceremony were more than 250 guests representing more than 140 companies. They were taken on a tour of a range of equipment marketed by Sitaco. The guests included officials of manufacturing companies that Sitaco represents.