Saudi Leather Industries Company Ltd, which supplies footwear to leading industrial establishments, has announced it is doubling its production capacity by year’s end with the installation of a Desma injection moulding machine with 30 stations.

The new capacity will enable the company to export more volumes. As part of the growth strategy it will diversify into ladies safety footwear in 2010 and security belts, general manager Khalid Al Jabr said.

Saudi Leather currently exports 30 per cent of its production to the Gulf, Middle East and North African states as well as to some markets in other Asian regions.

Al Jabr said Saudi Leather was exploring the possibility of expanding the export base by including West and East Africa and Europe. It recently started making efforts to export to Nigeria and Tanzania. The company would take part in the A+A Health & Safety trade fair in November in Germany as a prelude to making contacts for exports to Europe.

As well as safety footwear, the company specialises in military, work and formal footwear. Founded in 1982, it introduced technology from Wolverine Inc of the US and is now a 100 per Saudi operation and part of the Al Bilad Group. The company uses natural leather and its manufacturing facilities are situated in Dammam’s Second Industrial City.

Al Jabr said high volumes of the company’s safety and military products were being delivered to the Middle East markets. Sales of all kinds of footwear were 520,000 pairs in 2008 and 230,000 pairs in first-half 2009 with expectations that the figure could rise to 475,000 pairs by year’s end. The turnover was $12 million in 2008 and $5.9 million in the first half of this year.

Testing period
“The current year is a testing period due to various cross currents prevailing in the market and the global financial crisis that has affected us,” said Al Jabr.

Top customers of Saudi Leather are Saudi Aramco, Saudi Airlines, Saudi Electric Company and Sabic. The company recently signed a five-year contract with Saudi Aramco and a two-year contract with Sabic and will shortly sign another contract with Saudi Electric Company, the general manager said.

Innovations at Saudi Leather this year included the introduction of a light composite toe cap (non-metallic) for safety footwear which Al Jabr said was more comfortable, made no noise when passed through a metal detector and was particularly useful for people working in the aviation industry.

The Saudi Leather plant in Dammam

“Key to retaining customer loyalty and patronage for our products and services was consistency in quality and on-schedule deliveries,” Al Jabr said. “Understanding how important customer service is we operate a well-equipped fleet of vehicles to provide an on-site shoe-fitting service, eliminating the need for customers to hold inventory.”

Saudi Leather can manufacture safety boots with a steel mid-sole which makes them puncture-proof as well as customised footwear of abnormal sizes. It introduced 19 new styles for safety boots in 2009.

The company maintains adequate stocks, has four branches, one each in Jubail, Riyadh, Jeddah and Yanbu, and a network of associates in the Middle East.

Accredited to the ISO 9001:2000 company management system, it is a member of Satra Technology Centre, a leading UK-based authority on international legislation, testing and the technical aspects of a wide range of consumer products including footwear, leathergoods, apparel, toys, safety products, furniture, floorcoverings, construction products and homeware.