Gulf Construction Online - Meeting the highest standards for steel

Al Abbar Group

The Team behind Al Abbar's stainless steel products.

Meeting the highest standards for steel

Al Abbar Stainless Steel Division is a pioneer in the supply of stainless steel architectural products in the local market.

01 October 2003

The Al Abbar Group continues to meet growing needs for associated architectural products such as high-quality stainless steel, and is one of only a few companies in the region to produce the product to international manufacturing standards, according to operation manager for Al Abbar Stainless Steel Division, Eduardo Relampagos.

Stainless steel, complemented by glass, is very much in vogue on structures throughout the Middle East, especially in Dubai. This trend has fuelled demand for architectural products, particularly those supplied locally.

'With the huge expansion of Dubai, we expect there to be many projects needing stainless steel products in the next five years,' says Relampagos.

High-quality, locally-produced stainless steel, increasingly specified on large regional projects has only been available relatively recently. Until Al Abbar set up its stainless steel production facilities in 1995 to meet the needs of the group's existing clients, the market had to rely on limited quality imports of stainless steel, local products of moderate quality or alternative materials.

However, after launch, the division's reputation for competitively-priced quality product grew and the division became a pioneer as a principal supplier of stainless steel to the local market. To reinforce its dominating position today, Al Abbar Stainless Steel says that it stays firmly committed to its original vision: that of providing increasingly sophisticated, high quality stainless steel products to meet the ever-changing needs of the construction industry.

Al Abbar's 150 sq m stainless steel plant, located close to the group's aluminium and glass factories in the Al Awir area of Dubai, has advanced cutting, welding, buffing and polishing equipment operated by 65 highly experienced staff, who help maintain the strictest quality controls, says Relampagos.

Facilities include a CNC folding machine (folds 3 m sheets) linked to Autocad, a shearing machine, a Euromac machine for panel notching, rollers (which can accommodate 3.2 m lengths of sheet) for rolling of column cladding curved items, lathes, bed polisher, pipe polisher and a water-jet cutter using high pressure (2,800 psi) water.

In such a highly specialised industry, a thorough understanding of the required products holds the key to design success, he says. With fine stainless steel finishes achieved only by highly skilled, experienced artisans, Al Abbar employs designers with extensive experience and a sure touch. Being located close to the group's other manufacturing units, Al Abbar Steel offers a short notice and cost effective supply of aluminium and glass components to the precise requirements of clients.

In an environment of continuous improvement, Relampagos acknowledges that his quest for excellence is an ongoing one.
'While we may all know our jobs, we need ongoing training to be aware of trends in the wider industry and to interact with it,' he says. 'We certainly can't shut our eyes to the world,' he adds.
Training is therefore an integral part of Al Abbar Steel's philosophy for the development of its approximately 150 staff, and is undertaken both in-house and externally.

'Experts are sometimes flown in from Europe to train our staff on our welding machines, for example,' explains Relampagos.
'In addition to architectural metal, we started moving into selective marine applications such as fixed glass and manual sliding doors in 1997, for which we use 316L stainless steel which has high corrosion resistance,' says Relampagos. Al Abbar's quality certifications for marine applications are awarded by Lloyds of London, he adds.

Al Abbar Stainless Steel operates alongside the Al Abbar Structural Steel Division and, with the support of the company's engineering department, it sources high-quality materials from around the world to ensure that superior standards of finish are achieved on all of its projects.

Al Abbar's service extends from design to installation, 'quality' being the watchword throughout all processes. Indeed, Al Abbar Steel is one of the few such companies in the Middle East producing products to international quality standards, a factor which has helped it supply many landmark projects.

Buildings in Dubai such as the Emirates Towers, Dubai Hilton Creek, BMW showroom, Enoc Building, Sahara Tower, National Bank of Dubai, Zomorrodah Building or in Sharjah such as Durrah Centre and the recently finished Crystal Plaza have all benefited from Al Abbar Stainless Steel's comprehensive design, manufacturing and installation service for balustrades and railings; staircases; false ceilings; shopfronts; doors and windows; walls and column cladding; elevator fronts and escalator claddings and decorative effects and features. Fine quality polished or satin finish steel provides an extra dimension to some of the above structures, literally transforming something ordinary into something spectacular.

'We also receive a lot of positive feedback from European end-users on our product and our competitive cost advantages,' says Relampagos, adding that the company is a regular supplier to projects in neighbouring Gulf countries.

Having established an enviable reputation for superior stainless steel products, Al Abbar is looking to build on its pioneering role in a rapidly developing market, he explains.
'The challenge for me will be to keep this division running efficiently,' he says. 'Coordination, monitoring and proper dissemination of jobs to individuals will be critical, but we will be able to achieve all this thanks to the support and guidance of our chairman Rashid Al Abbar and director Mansoor Al Abbar,' Relampagos concludes.