Gulf Construction Online - AMA restructures unit to take on challenge

Bahrain Review

Gair at the AMA-SMD facility ... optimistic.

AMA restructures unit to take on challenge

01 January 2013

A major restructuring has been under way at the Structural and Mechanical Division of Ahmed Mansoor Al-Aali (AMA-SMD) over the past year in a bid to help the company penetrate new markets and tackle the challenges of a competitive export arena.

Spearheading this drive is Alan Gair, the general director of AMA-SMD, who joined the division in January 2012 to help steer it into new markets.

Gair is optimistic about growth in 2013 as he discusses business development in Saudi Arabia and regionally. Since assuming the top position, he has been reorganising SMD by streamlining his workforce, investing in new equipment and controlling costs to ensure the competitive edge continues.

AMA-SMD was first established in 1990 and has one of the largest scale fabrication facilities of its kind in the Middle East with a capacity exceeding 40,000 tonnes per year (tpy).

It is acknowledged as one of the best fabrication facilities in the Middle East by virtue of its scale and state-of-the-art equipment with more than 40,000 sq m of covered areas. A key factor in SMD’s success is the quality assurance and quality management processes across the organisation based upon continuous improvements in technical expertise, technologies and training.

Gair emphasises that the capacity at SMD is formidable and with the group’s ongoing investment programme, experienced workforce and strategic location, it is able to provide competitively-priced total fabrication solutions to an increasing number of regional and international clients.

“SMD has a successful track record of structural and mechanical fabrication based upon our capacity, efficiencies and economies of scale in providing a total-solution approach to our clients. With our proven experience and technological expertise, SMD has a breadth of capabilities and the ability to fabricate anything. We have the necessary prequalifications in place in developing markets and with our key clients in Saudi Arabia we are looking optimistically at business growth in 2013. We are also planning to open an office in Saudi Arabia in 2013 to support our growth strategy across the kingdom,” says Gair.

The SMD strategy involves participation in many of the larger scale projects in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain, Qatar and the rest of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region in partnership with specialist engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors in Saudi Arabia.

Gair has vast experience in the steel fabrication business from the 1970s when he was building offshore platforms in the North Sea. A hands-on general director, Gair can draw from his long experience in structural engineering, fabrication and welding from shop floor operations to management over four decades. This includes two decades working at senior levels in Saudi Arabia with a six-year stint in Jubail Industrial City, followed by many years with Zamil Steel where he worked on process equipment, pressure vessels and structural steel.

The vast SMD facilities are spread over an area of 150,000 sq m with covered areas of 40,000 sq m including nine separate specialist workshops, fabrication shops and enclosed blasting facility and covered paint shop. More than 700 people are employed by the division, providing fabrication solutions utilising the latest CNC (computerised numerical control)-cutting machines with plasma heads to measuring and testing equipment. SMD has ISO 9001, 14001, Ohsas 18001, and ASME accreditations.

“SMD has proven quality assured capabilities providing steel fabrication to the oil and gas, petrochemical, process, steel and power sectors. In Bahrain, SMD supplies Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Gulf Petrochemicals Company (GPIC) and the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA). As well as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, SMD is looking to expand across the GCC, Mena, North America and Europe.

The division fabricates process and utility piping; process equipment including heat exchangers, pressure vessels and storage tanks; heavy structural steel; pot shells and super-structures; furnaces, stacks, ducts and miscellaneous steel; and metering skids.

SMD is a major supplier of pot shells to many of the leading aluminium smelters in the Middle East and North America including Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Qatalum of Qatar, Sohar Aluminium of Oman and Emirates Aluminium (Emal) of the UAE. In 2012, SMD supplied ahead of schedule 721 pot shells to the Ma’aden aluminium plant in Ras Al Khair, north of Jubail in Saudi Arabia, under a $45-million contract. SMD also supplied aluminium ductwork directly to the Ma’aden smelter.

“SMD has a competitive edge with its manufacturing efficiencies, intensive cost controls, and fabrication expertise that leverages from Bahrain’s strategic advantages in facilitating shipments into Saudi Arabia and the region. We are well recognised in international markets and deliver our fabrications through our knowledge partners across the region. We are winning contracts on price and quality and I am optimistic for 2013 and beyond,” he concludes.

Ahmed Mansoor Al-A’Ali Group (AMA), one of the largest and most reputed conglomerates in Bahrain founded in 1954, is engaged in a wide range of businesses from manufacturing, contracting and trading to real estate. The group employs more than 4,000 personnel and has built its reputation for reliability, integrity and performance in the public and private sectors.