Office furniture from Al Makateb.
Al Makateb set to mark silver jubilee
Saudi Arabia's Al Makateb specialises in contract furnishings for offices and other commercial institutions, focusing on providing a total solution.
01 December 2002
Saudi contract furnisher Al Makateb, which manufactures, markets and trades in quality office and residential furniture, partitions and fire-rated steel doors, marks 25 years of service to the GCC next year.
"For over 24 years, Al Makateb has been actively involved in improving the workplace environment in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries," says general manager Saleh Al Keaid. "The company believes that improving the workplace environment would certainly increase productivity, strengthen the corporate image and be reflected on a company's total operations."
Modern trends, changing needs, space constraints, telecommunications, power and data requirements have all changed the traditional workplace design, according to Keaid. "Open-plan offices are becoming the norm and personal workplace areas have been reduced to the minimum, with employees no longer permanently moored to their desks," he explains. "Break-out areas are becoming increasingly popular, to encourage informal staff meetings and communications."
Last year, Al Makateb's projects department enjoyed a very busy and successful year. "We undertook seven major projects worth nearly SR20 million," says Keaid. "These were for the Saudi American Bank (Samba), the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp), the National Guard, the Madinah Municipality, the Saudi German Hospital (SGH), the Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MoDA) and the Arriyadh Development Company."
This year has been equally promising. "We completed a prestigious project worth SR6 million for the Prince Sultan Humanitarian City, and we are currently busy with four other projects worth nearly SR15 million - for the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), the MoDA and the King Abdulaziz Hospital," he says. "As a result, new professionals have joined our projects department, to strengthen the design, estimation and presentation team.
Also, Al Makateb has added a new research and development (R&D) department to further develop and explore existing and new products, new business and opportunities.
New products
Recently, Al Makateb extended its wide range of office furniture by introducing a new raised flooring system,and classic executive office sets. "Raised flooring has has become an indispensable element in today's offices," says Keaid. "We are paying more attention to the customer, analysing their needs and requirements.
Al Makateb is also working towards further improving its popular demountable MAK 100 partition system and is exploring the possibility of introducing an upscale partition system targeted at the high-end market (banks, executive and prestigious offices).
Established in 1978, Al Makateb is headquartered in Riyadh, and with regional sales offices in Al Khobar in the Eastern Province and Jeddah in the Western Region.
Al Makateb represents several leading international barnds in office furniture namely: Haworth (US); Comforto, Wilkham and Interstuhl (all from Germany), Faram, OffixKlass and Newform (all from Italy); Dromeas (Greece); Lundqvist (Norway); Calo and Foschan (both from China); Legend and NetFloor (Taiwan); Genoveva and Canella (Spain); and Bajong (Belgium).
Its services include: project studies for interior design development; space planning requirements and specifying of items involving partitions, system and custom-made furniture, flooring, shelving, storage systems and carpeting; preparation of product quantities; budgeting, cost estimates and quotations.
To provide a total office solution, Al Makateb deals in system furniture (panel and freestanding), executive office sets ranging from classic to modern, counters and reception areas, all types of seating and sofa sets (executive, general use, ergonomic chairs, bench and tandem seating), all types of storage systems (fixed, mobile, manual and electric), school and library furniture, steel furniture, demountable partitions systems and movable low screens, all types of wooden doors, hollow metal doors and frames (fire-rated and non-fire rated).
Al Makateb has four main industrial facilities spread over an area of about 40,000 sq m, manufacturing furniture (12,000 chairs and 5,800 couches a year); partitions (35,000 sq m a year); doors (6,000 door sets a year); and wooden and office furniture (worth SR50 million a year). It is is also a major shareholder in National Furniture Manufacturing Company (Athath), which specialises in all wooden executive, residential, hotel and custom-made furniture.
