Gulf Construction Online - Mabani achieves major milestone

Steel

A dining hall at Saadiyat Island ...<br>a Mabani project

A dining hall at Saadiyat Island ...
a Mabani project

Mabani achieves major milestone

01 July 2009

MABANI Steel – the Ras Al Khaimah-based designer, fabricator and erector of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEBs) and hot rolled steel structures (HRSS) – says it shipped 5,200 tonnes of PEBs and HRSS during May, its highest monthly figure to date which also makes it the third largest PEB supplier in the GCC region.
Commenting on the milestone achieved, Mabani Steel president Muayyad Khudairi says: “We are the fastest growing PEB manufacturer in history. No other PEB company has ever grown its shipments from zero to 5,200 tonnes in just 25 months. This is not just the result of favourable market conditions during 2007 and the first three quarters of 2008. We are continuing to grow in view of the current financial crisis. We are currently operating at only two-thirds of our production capacity, which is 6,000 tonnes per month of PEBs and 2,000 tonnes per month of HRSS.”
Mabani Steel, which was established in April 2006 and began commercial production in April 2007, is a highly-capitalised PEB and HRSS start-up. The company is equally owned by Al Rajhi Investment Group, one of five largest groups in Saudi Arabia, and Raed Al Mashal, a prominent businessman from Riyadh.
Mabani Steel has assembled one of the best and most-experienced teams in the PEB industry. The executive management of Mabani Steel, including Khudairi and Ken Krieger, vice-president, has been engaged in the GCC’s PEB industry since 1975 and has contributed to the success of three of the largest PEB manufacturers in the region, says the company.
Khudairi has expertise in general management, marketing, sales and engineering, while Krieger’s expertise is focused on all aspects of factory operations, which include production and inventory planning and control, production, quality control and shipping, and above all in the design and maintenance of machinery.
The PEB major currently maintains three sales offices in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah); three sales offices in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar); two sales offices in Iraq (Baghdad and Erbil); and an office each in Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria. The company sells its products through certified builders in Kuwait, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Libya and is continuously expanding its certified builder network throughout Asia and Africa, which it defines as its target market.
According to Khudairi, the company’s rapid rise in the PEB sector is attributed to many factors, including:
• Purchase of the latest state-of-the-art PEB production equipment;
• Unique factory design whereby each product (hot rolled and built-up members, blasting and painting, and roll-formed secondary members and cladding) is produced in a separate building;
• Each building is equipped with sophisticated material handling systems that include overhead cranes, travelling jib cranes and drag conveyors; and
• Production processes are the most efficient in the steel fabrication industry. The automated blast/paint line produces the best painted steel members in the GCC region.
“All of these attributes have made Mabani Steel the lowest cost PEB producer in the GCC region,” he asserts.
Mabani Steel has delivered more than 400 jobs (shipped to destinations throughout Asia and Africa) since April 2007. In the UAE, it offers erection services using its in-house team of 300 erectors/helpers, which has carried out almost all UAE-based jobs.
“The company continues to raise its expectations in spite of current economic conditions and promises customers total satisfaction based on total transparency and attention to details,” concludes Khudairi.