Saudi Cable  Company (SCC), which reported a record doubling of sales in 2006, has announced it will expand its production capacity by nearly 30 per cent to help it feed growing markets both within the region and internationally.

The company also announced it will forge new international alliances to strengthen its prospects of gaining contracts worldwide.
Jeddah-based SCC has its production facilities in the Red Sea port city as well as in its subsidiaries in Turkey and Bahrain.
Sales in 2006, including those related to its subsidiaries, amounted to SR2.57 billion (SR685 million) against SR1.18 billion in the previous year. The Saudi market accounted for most of the 2006 turnover, around SR2.22 million. Production at the company’s Jeddah facilities comprises energy cables to 230 kV, metallic telephone and optical fibre telecom cables and instrumentation, control and speciality cables. Saudi Cable also manufactures items that go into the cables production process or packaging. It has a plant to make copper rods, a PVC compounding plant and a facility for making reels and pallets.
Each of the cable units has state-of-the-art testing equipment and facilities including HV testing to 500 kV. The company also offers mica-insulated fire retardant cables and instrument, control, thermocouple and field bus cables for petrochemical plants and petroleum refineries.
Its Turkish subsidiary Mass Kablo comprises two plants – Demirer Kablo, the largest cable manufacturer in Turkey, and Kavel Kablo, a leading supplier of telecom cables.
The Turkish production facilities located in Bozayuk, near Bursa, specialise in extra-high voltage cables to 400 kV, one of a few in the world with the capability to manufacture, install and site extra-high voltage cable systems. And in Bahrain, Saudi Cable has a 50 per cent share in Midal Cables, which produces aluminium and alloy rods and bare conductors.
Saudi Cable offers a ‘total package solution” covering design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, site testing and commissioning as well as operations with financing for those who need the financing.
Among the company’s customers are some of the most high-profile state organisations.  In 2006 it supplied cables worth SR772 million to Saudi Electricity Company, while contracts it won in neighbouring Qatar fetched SR860 million in revenues including SR300 million with Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation for the manufacture and installation of 220 kV extra-high voltage cables and another contract worth SR460 million for manufacturing and installing high voltage cables of 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV. The Jeddah company also supplied products including 66 kV feeder cables for the New Doha International Airport.
The early months of this year have picked up on the momentum, the company having secured a contract for World Bank-funded projects in Eastern Europe after a bidding war involving the world’s biggest cable manufacturers based in Europe and Japan.  The contract, valued at SR100 million, requires it to manufacture and install underground cables of 380 kV.
Also coming this year was a contract from Bahrain’s Ministry of Electricity and Water for the manufacture and installation of additional extentions of 220 and 66 kV underground cables as part of the ministry’s upgrading of the national underground electrical network.
Over the years, the company has been able to supply local and regional markets as well as the more far-flung ones in North Africa, Asia and Europe, benefiting from its long-term alliances with leading international companies in the fields of energy, telecommun-ications and instrumentation cables and accessories as well as from the skills of its own  team of engineers and its quality control procedures.
But with the economic boom sweeping across Saudi Arabia and feeding innumerable infrastructure projects and the company already utilising 75 per cent of its production for local markets, the SCC Group thinks it is best for its Jeddah facilities to focus on the domestic front for the time being, said SCC Group president and managing director Dr Waleed A Linjawi. The plants in Turkey and Bahrain will cater to the bulk of the exports. 
“Saudi Cable has achieved a tremendous breakthrough in the European market through its production facilities in Turkey (Demirer Kablo), exporting extra-high-voltage under-ground cables to a number of European countries,” says Dr Linjawi. “Also, Demirer Kablo has gained vast experience in turnkey projects for which it has been contracted by the Turkish Electricity Corporation.”
The infrastructure boom in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere has prompted the company to upgrade its production capacity from time to time. In the next upgrade, the company plans to raise capacity to 90,000 tonnes from the current level of 70,000 tonnes. This will be accomplished through the modernisation of existing equipment and installation of new machines. The enlarged capacity will involve production of  power cables and telecom cables.
Dr Linjawi expects Saudi Cable Company to witness this year “large substantial growth in business volume” as a consequence of projects launched in various sectors.
“We are optimistic about the company’s future performance as it is on a planned course and stands foremost in maintaining its balance sheet firm and free from defects,” says Dr Linjawi. He added that company concerns revolved round the strengthening of professional practices and the realisation of high returns for shareholders.”
The company is also concerned over the rise in raw material prices and what it describes as “unethical competition” “With the international markets open as they now are, SCC is not immune to any of these risks,” it says. But it has put in place mechanisms to contain damage.
As Dr Linjawi explains: “True, the prices of copper and aluminium have risen very high in view of large demand from the Chinese market … However, we always leave a certain defined pricing margin to cover any change in raw material prices. This protects us from the risk of any sharp rise in the prices of these materials.”
 Another strategy is to develop adaptability. Notwithstanding that big companies such as Saudi Aramco, Sabic and Saudi Electricity grant it preference, there are limits to that preference as legitimate competition comes into play, Saudi Arabia having joined the World Trade Organisation. “While we maintain the quality of our products, we must work in parallel on reducing operating costs to strengthen our competitiveness,” says Dr Linjawi. But, he was quick to point out that accession to the World Trade Organisation had opened the doors to global markets and greater exports.
Another strategy he highlights is the forging of alliances with global companies “as the world has become a small global village whereby what affects the cable industry in Rome affects also the cable industry in Jeddah.” Alliances have become a tool for acquiring modern technology, he says. “We are on the look out for strategic alliances and partnerships worldwide so as to choose those that are most beneficial to the company’s vision,” says Dr Linjawi.  “The vision should concentrate on getting out of the narrow circle of manufacturing to a horizon that is wider and more open. Our vision is to continue in leading the cable industry in the region product-wise as well as service-wise.”
Now more than 30 years’ old (the company was established in 1975), some of its finest moments came at the time Kuwait was being rebuilt following the cessation of hostilities in the 1991 Gulf war. 
Kuwait presented a spectacle of demolished transmission towers and overhead conductors. SCC was involved in the effort that helped restore electricity to Kuwait in 17 days. That involvement was instrumental in the company gaining a number of contracts for the transmission of electricity in Saudi Arabia, other GCC states and the international arena, as a result of which it accumulated wider expertise and won recognition as a capable supplier.