Gulf Construction Online - OCI aims for leadership position

Knowledge Village

OCI supplied power and wiring cables to the project.

OCI aims for leadership position

01 June 2003

Oman Cable Industry (OCI), which supplied power and wiring cables for the Knowledge Village in Dubai, says it is fast becoming a market leader for cables and conductors in the Middle East.

Ranked among of the top 10 companies in Oman, the company is now poised for a quantum leap in sales turnover and has embarked on ambitious plans to augment its capacity as well as add new products.

Over the past three years, OCI has registered a 95 per cent growth in sales turnover, which has risen from $27.7 million in 1999 to $54.17 million last year. Its shareholders have benefited from a 50 per cent-plus increase in dividend since 2000 despite allocations to its ambitious expansion and modernisation plans with the return on equity showing an increase of more than 6 per year on year.

"All this has been possible due to the foresight of the management of OCI and its spirit to surpass industry standards," says Hussain Salman, vice chairman and managing director. "We want OCI products to be the first preference of all our customers and, to ensure this, we have to outperform our competition in all fields, including product quality, pricing and pre/after sales support."

The company embarked on its expansion plans four years ago and has developed capabilities to manufacture special products such as instrumentation cables and AAA conductors through its own technological prowess, he adds.

OCI's state-of-art manufacturing facilities in Oman are backed up by a workforce with more than 20 years experience in the cable industry. The company has made a substantial investment on its cable testing facilities - which are among the best in the world - to ensure a world-class product.

OCI has been constantly upgrading its research and development facility, placing special emphasis on developing capabilities to improve raw material testing procedures as well as new product development. It has also taken up special projects in close collaboration with its suppliers of insulating and sheathing compounds to develop new compounds with superior performance characteristics especially for LSF (low smoke/fume) cables.

It has also been pre-qualified by large engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for supplying cables to projects both in the region and beyond.

OCI, which has offices in Sharjah, UAE, and Doha, Qatar, is consolidating its marketing operations in the region and also has plans to open new offices outside the region. The company has developed a strong distributor network in Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Besides the Knowledge Village, some of the recent projects executed by OCI in the region include LSF cables for Wasit Power Station expansion in Sharjah, the Green Community and other Emaar projects in Dubai, Fahaheel waterfront project in Kuwait, Qatar Foundation project in Doha, Al Rayyan and Al Ittehad Stadiums in Doha for 2006 Asian games and many others.

"While we are steadily diversifying our customer base beyond the region - which is part of our long-term strategy to be recognised as a global player - our area of focus will be the GCC markets as the construction industry continues to show buoyancy and we expect a steady growth in demand for our products, at least on a medium-term scale," says Ashit Acharya, regional marketing manager (exports and the UAE).

OCI's quality systems were accredited to ISO 9002 in 1994 and to ISO 9001 in 2000 by TUV Germany. Its entire range of products has been type tested at independent laboratories such as the BSI and KEMA. It was awarded the prestigious 'Best Industry Award' for 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1997 and received the 'Certificate of Honour for Excellence' in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

OCI was also recently awarded the coveted Omani Quality Mark for excellence in product quality instituted by the Directorate General of Specifications and Measurements at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Oman.