Aluminum Products Company (Alupco) expects shortages in the supplies of quality aluminum extru-sions this year stemming from growing demand after itself registering a modest growth in sales in 2007.

Alupco general manager Khaled Abdel-Moneim said 2007 was a tough year but with sales still 10 per cent higher than in the previous year.
“In 2008, we expect demand to significantly increase in the kingdom in view of the many mega projects being developed across all regions including the Saudi economic cities and developments in Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah,” Abdel-Moneim said.
“Demand is also high in other GCC states, particularly the UAE and Qatar. Our expectation for 2008 is that there will be more demand in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region. But the expectations are only in the high-quality segment where designs and profiles should meet strict quality targets for mega projects and landmarks.”
In view of that, the company is in the process of capacity expansion to meet the rising demand of Alupco quality and designs. The company will install a new large-capacity press and an additional powder coating line.
Alupco operates two state-of-the-art plants, one in Dammam and the other in Jeddah. The Dammam plant is the largest in the Mena region with extrusion presses, anodising, powder-coating, wood finish paint, and chemical brightening capacities. The Jeddah plant is equipped with extrusion presses, anodising, and powder-coating.
Alupco profiles come as mill or wood finish, anodised, powder-coated or chemically brightened.
The company is approved to manufacture in its extrusion facilities several internationally renowned trademark systems including Schuco, AluK, Installux, RC and Smart Alu.
Its profiles are used in the construction and other industries as a raw material for the fabrication of many products including windows, doors and curtain walls. Its specially designed profiles in hard alloys are used in automotive and other industries while other profiles are used in lighting fixtures, furniture fabrication, helipads, signboards and crash barriers. 
Alupco is well known for some systems it designed and developed on its own.
“We were the first to introduce the Saraya sliding system,” said executive sales manager Mohammed Al Enezi.  The official said there was large-scale copying by competitors of the Saraya and other in-house systems and the imitations did not conform to the standards set for them.
Al Enezi said Saraya and super Saraya systems were large-consumption items. Other special products Alupco extruded were four- and two-sided curtain walls and a conventional curtain wall, all of which came under the Alupco 50SG category. Al Enezi described the 50G series as a “dominant” product with accessories easily available in the local market
The company also makes Alupco 52 system for hinged windows, doors and swing doors.
Other products include thermal break sliding windows and doors (Alupco therm 123 and 83 SL) with the fly screen outside or inside as well as new thermal break hinged door and window systems.
“These thermal break systems and the insulated glass help save energy costs by maintaining interior room temperatures regardless of outside temperature variations,” said Al Enezi. The systems are designed and developed to meet Saso, EN, DIN, BS and ASTM standards. The company has received product quality certifications from Qualicoat and Qualanod.
Alupco sources its metal requirements of aluminium billets from nearby aluminum smelters and its paint requirements from Jotun and DuPont.
In Saudi Arabia the company was the principal extrusions supplier to Al Faisaliah Tower, Kingdom Centre, the Interior Ministry and the NCCI headquarters (all in Riyadh), the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, the Sabic office building in Jubail, the Saad Hospital in Khobar, King Faisal University in Dammam and the Hilton in Jeddah, among other major projects.
It was the principal extrusion supplier in the following Gulf projects: the Telecommunications Tower, Kuwait; Burj Al Arab Hotel, Al Murooj Complex and Internet City (all in Dubai); National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi; Al Anwar Tower, Sharjah; Khalifa Stadium, Doha; Citibank headquarters and National Bank of Bahrain (both in Bahrain).
Alupco was involved in several other major projects including the Palm Island, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Textile City, Mall of the Emirates, Shatha Tower and Horizon Tower (all in Dubai), Expo Towers, Sharjah; Al Areen, Doha, and Beirut Marina Tower, Beirut.