Aseries of expansions over the years has raised production capacity at Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill (Garmco) to 120,000 tonnes of cold-rolled aluminium annually. The cold-rolled coil and sheet have a range of applications in gauges from 0.25mm to 3.2mm and up to 1,560mm wide. The company also produces aluminium circles in a range of alloys and tempers and aluminium foil. The mill in Bahrain produces most of its products. In addition to the core products, the group's companies around the world offer a wide range of downstream products and services including capacitor foil and other gauge foils, coil slit to required size, aluminium extrusions, electro-galvanised steel and stainless steel.

Formed in 1981through a decree issued by the late Amir, HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the company was undertaken together with the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Qatar. The plant was constructed by Kaiser Engineering, USA, and the machinery was installed by Kobe Steel of Japan who also undertook the start-up and training of local staff at one of their aluminium plants in Japan.

The first 20,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium was produced in 1986. Garmco is the largest downstream aluminium facility in the Arabian region and it complements the continued success of Aluminium Alba.

The overseas division was set up in 1991 with the opening of the sales office in Hong Kong. The head office is located in North Sitra Industrial Area in Bahrain. The country is also home o the main rolling mill and foil mill plants.

As a worldwide organisation, Garmco is more than just a supplier of flat rolled aluminium. As well as the core Garmco products, the group companies and sales network around the world supply products from other manufacturers. Garmco's presence in America reflects the commitment to the world's largest market for aluminium. As well as operating through its own dedicated sales force for its core products, Garmco also operates through its US subsidiaries.

One of these, Garmco USA, is in Danbury, Connecticut, and the other, MidAmerica Extrusions, in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a leader in aluminium extrusions. MidAmerica operates a 3,500 tonne press with an annual output exceeding 10,000 tonnes of finished product. Capabilities range from extrusion of the simplest stock shapes to the most complex custom design.

The third subsidiary, Republic Foil, in Danbury, Connecticut, is a leading supplier of electrolytic capacitor foil worldwide. Republic Foil rolls down to 4.5 microns - the thinnest commercially produced aluminium foil the world today.

Besides the electrical applications of capacitor foil and strip conduct, Republic Foil is a supplier to the flexible packaging industry, supplies eyelet stock, fin stock, cable wrap, specialty bright sheet and foil as well as stock for lithographic applications.

Garmco has an extensive sales network across Europe. In the Middle East it is the quality supplier of flat-rolled aluminium.

In the Far East, in addition to Garmco HK, an aluminium service centre was established in 1993 in Singapore. With extensive warehousing facilities and a range of finishing equipment that can slit coil down to 20mm width, Garmco Singapore serves the markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Garmco established itself in Australia in 1995 as the benchmark for quality and service throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The company has extensive stocks of sheet, coil and circles at the main facility in Melbourne as well as additional stocks held in other state capitals to service local markets which complement the orders supplied direct from the mill in Bahrain.

In New Zealand, Garmco is able to offer sheet cut to length locally from Garmco coil. The product is distributed through 14 points in New Zealand and Oceania.

"The prevailing difficulties in the Far East has caused Garmco to secure a greater market share in Europe and the US which now account for over 50 per cent of the company's market," it said, adding that the marketing policy would continue until the economic situation in the Far East improved.

With improved productivity has come an emphasis on process development including the development of a process for the hot mill, which resulted in the company "successfully developing the metallurgical practices necessary for the production of good Can Body Stock".