The continued growth in market demand has encouraged Aluminium Products Company Ltd (Alupco), a leading player in the aluminium profiles sector, to add new capacities and launch innovative products.

As part of its ambitious plan to invest about $80 million in expansion and upgrades in this decade, Alupco has already installed a new 2,750-tonne capacity extrusion press at its facilities in Dammam. This will increase the company’s output to 72,000 tonnes per year, says general manager Khalid Mohammad AlFuhaid.
A new vertical powder coating line is under commissioning and will be operational in February 2006. This will increase the company’s capacity of painted products to 55,000 tonnes per year, he says.
Prior to the expansions, the company had seven extrusion presses, three powder coating lines and two anodising lines.
Alupco, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, is the region’s largest producer of extruded and surface-treated aluminium profiles for architectural and industrial applications.
The company has two plants – one in Dammam and another in Jeddah.
The expansions will reinforce Alupco’s credentials as a regional and international player, says AlFuhaid.
“We are also evaluating opportunities in the GCC and Europe and have ongoing discussions with several aluminium groups,” says AlFuhaid.
He says the company, reacting to the market needs, has brought forward its expansion plans by two years and will complete the programme by 2008.
About 30 per cent of Alupco’s production is exported with the balance meeting the Saudi market’s growing demand.
“We would like to maintain a balance between export and domestic demand and the Saudi market is always a sizable proportion of the total demand. Europe is also important and we can compete successfully on quality and price even against the lead times of European manufacturers,” he says.
Alupco’s aluminium profiles are available in mill, anodised, polyester powder-coated and chemically brightened finishes, primarily for applications in the construction industry for the fabrication of products including windows, doors and curtain walling systems. In addition, the company provides customised profiles in special alloys for the automotive sector and special profiles for the electrical and furniture industries, as well as lighting fixtures.
Alupco was also the first manufacturer of architectural and industrial aluminium extrusions to create its own system of aluminium windows and doors (the Saraya system), while it is also said to be the only company in the Middle East producing up to 300 mm x 200 mm hollow sections, with any design complexity, to ASTM, DIN, BS and SASO standards.
Alupco regularly introduces new products and services for all applications including windows, doors, shop fronts, curtain walling and thermal break systems, targeting its Saudi, regional and international markets.
In the last few years, the company introduced several new products including:
• A curtain wall system – ALUPCO 50SG
• ALUPCO 52 for hinged windows and doors
• Sliding windows and doors systems with thermal break and new hinged windows and  doors with thermal breaks.
AlFuhaid says these products have been well received by the markets. “We now have the processes in place to produce all surface finishes including the wood finish,” he says.
Alupco plans to become a listed company by 2007.  “We are energetically engineering the company to realise our vision of being ‘a unique leader in the aluminium industry providing creative solutions that exceed customer expectations,” says AlFuhaid.
Alupco reported good growth during the last year.
The export market also grew significantly.
Quality is at the core of Alupco’s manufacturing operations where an extensive quality assurance system involves every stage of the process, from production to customer service. 
Alupco is the first extrusion company in the region to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification and the first in Saudi Arabia to receive the Qualicoat and Qualanod certification and AEC & AAC membership.
The design and production of aluminium profiles and surface treatments meet EN, DIN, BS and SASO standards. Production excellence is embedded in the Alupco organisation with a ‘no compromise’ approach to quality and efficiency backed by strong relationships with its technical partners.