A foray into the manufacture of desktop PCs is the latest of Advanced Electronics Company’s (AEC) initiatives in manufacturing.
AEC, already well known as the Middle East’s leading high-tech company thanks to its partnership with reputable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), is producing the PCs at its Riyadh facility in collaboration with Acer, one of the world’s top PC vendors. AEC will produce 120,000 PCs in the first year of operations with the help of a staff of 60 under its import-substitution campaign.
The venture with Acer moves AEC into high-volume manufacture and diversifies its base while providing another challenging technical assignment for its Saudi employees, said the president and CEO of AEC, Ghassan Al-Shibli.
Since its inception in 1988, AEC has developed capabilities to manufacture and repair all types of printed circuit boards and cable assemblies. It offers a full spectrum of capabilities ranging from complete manufacturing assembly lines to full system integration and test services.
Local manufacture at AEC provides OEMs with significant competitive advantages, ranging from prompt access to local and regional markets and preferential treatment as a locally manufactured product to improved customer services and benefits from free trade agreements.
Over the past several years, AEC has invested heavily in R&D and successfully managed to develop several proprietary products and systems as well as first class R&D capabilities.
Currently its R&D efforts are mainly focused on two areas, namely the advancement of electronic products and systems and system customisation to suit local market requirements.
Present R&D activities include fleet management systems, remote-monitoring systems, value-added services, security systems, secure communications and EW systems, and industrial automation.
An important feature of AEC is the Electronics Repair Centre. Some of the repair programmes include telecommunication and microwave equipment, radar systems and industrial products.
Overall, the company’s major customers are Saudi Arabia’s Armed Forces, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Water and Electricity and the Civil Aviation Authority; Saudi Aramco, Sabic, Saudi Electric Company, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Communications, the Saudi Public Transport Company and Saudi Telecom Company.
Also on the list are Lucent Technologies, Elcotel, Ericsson, Siemens, Huawei, Tellabs, Alcatel, Solectron, Nokia, LCC International, Acer, Cisco, HP and the US Army, Navy and Air Force.
Customers include Boeing, General Dynamics Land Systems, Smiths Industries, Rockwell International, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Hughes, Northrop Grumman, Loral, Mowag, United Defense (FMC), Thales, ITT and Esterline.
The new desktop PC facility comes under AEC’s Industrial Business Unit, the other business units being Telecom Systems, Military Systems and Corporate Development.
