Gulf Construction Online - Rexel IPG eyes region’s vast potential

Regional News

Rexel IPG eyes region’s vast potential

01 October 2016

Rexel International Projects Group (Rexel IPG), part of the Rexel Group, sees the GCC as a hotbed of opportunity as the region steps up its diversification drive.

It believes that with large amounts of investment being directed into industrial and oil and gas projects, there is a growing need for the consolidated supply of electrical bulk material. The company supplies and manages electrical bulk material for industrial companies and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) in the oil and gas, mining, power generation, petrochemicals and infrastructure sectors.

John Kaznowski, regional director for Rexel IPG in the Middle East, said that although Rexel IPG is fairly new to the Middle East, industrial companies and EPC contractors are starting to take notice “thanks to our extensive experience in servicing large capital projects across a range of sectors and our ability to offer a full package of products, single sourcing, one set of terms and conditions, material take-off support, engineering support, technical support, on-site facilities and competitive pricing”.

Rexel IPG is currently working on multiple projects in the Middle East including with six major EPC contractors on a large mining project in Saudi Arabia. To optimise the supply chain to the project, it built a new facility near the site offering full bulk electrical supply, including cables, cable tray, lighting, junction boxes, control panels and a wide range of electrical accessories as well as other services.

The project team has also reviewed and optimised the electrical designs for a variety of electrical bulk items, including lighting control panels, to help the client reduce cost and also to improve efficiencies.

Kaznowski explained: “We worked with our global team on a number of electrical designs. In the case of lighting control panels, the original design was based on 165 breakers within a single box. If you consider that each breaker emits heat, you can imagine that 165 in a single box would get very hot indeed, requiring a cooling and ventilation system to be put in place.”

He said Rexel IPG readjusted the design, breaking it down into three boxes using standard components and removing the need for an air-conditioning system.

Material take-off is also offered as a core service by Rexel IPG, which Kaznowski described as “making sure all the components ordered are not only the most optimal for the job but are also able to ‘talk’ to each other”.

He added: “For the mining project, the EPC contractor has passed part of the material take-off requirement to Rexel IPG, ensuring the full bill of material is as comprehensive as possible and the individual parts are compatible. This avoids waste, reordering and lost time. They have also engaged us for the lighting design element, ensuring that the necessary level of lighting is achieved for optimum user comfort whilst reducing costs.”

As well as employing Saudi nationals on the team, Rexel IPG also sourced Saudi products including cable, cable-tray, control panels and equipment for the project.

Rexel IPG is exhibiting at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec), being held in Abu Dhabi from November 7 to 10 (Stand 13698, Hall 13).