Bilfal Heavy Industries Limited expects to gain leverage from two major projects it is currently working on and win additional contracts to take its turnover beyond the 2007 level.

The company achieved $73 million in sales in 2007 against $125 million in the previous year when it implemented a large project for the third expansion project of Sabic’s Sharq.
Ansari Ahmed, the official in charge of commercial and proposals matters, said Bilfal was targeting sales of $85 million and was optimistic it would win some of the contracts that major companies would announce shortly.
Bilfal is now busy fabricating evaporators for Marafiq’s desalination plants and pressure vessels for Saudi Aramco, Sabic and Sipchem. The evaporators will be delivered in December and the vessels in November.
Ansari also said the company had upgraded its equipment by installing an LPG-fired modular roller cover furnace, which he described as one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East. Other equipment installed included advanced drilling and rolling machines.
Bilfal has fabrication facilities in Jubail and Yanbu. The company’s roots go back to 1983 when it was established as a Saudi-Italian joint venture in the name of Belleli Saudi Heavy Industries Ltd. After more than a decade of manufacturing in Jubail, the Saudi side of the venture separated from Belleli. The company is now owned equally by Al Bilad and the FAL Group and its current name reflects the joint ownership.
The company has capability to handle all fabrication of equipment in power and desalination plants, large pressure vessels, reactors, heat exchangers, spheres, storage tanks and onshore and offshore modules and furnaces. It offers its clients a range of services including project management, engineering and procurement of materials.
“Our major clients are Saudi Aramco, Sabic and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation. We also work for companies such as JGC, Foster Wheeler, Technip, Snamprogetti and Technical Reunidas, but we normally work for them as a subcontractor because they work as EPC contractors for Saudi Aramco or Sabic,” said Ahmed.
“Most Bilfal clients come from the oil and gas, petrochemical and water desalination sectors. Most of them are based in Saudi Arabia and other GCC states. Although we export and provide services to other GCC states we have been very busy within Saudi Arabia trying to satisfy the very high domestic demand.
“As we specialise in fabricating a number of items there is a high focus on new development and innovations. It is important to adopt the latest technology for manufacturing to improve engineering skills, productivity and quality. Our R&D department is part of our engineering section and is helping to improve our procedures including welding capabilities.”
Bilfal manufactures equipment in accordance with ASME and ISP standards. The company has also been paying much attention to safety, according to Ahmed who recalled that it received recently a trophy from Sharq recognising it as the best contractor in terms of safety.
“Although Bilfal is a large and successful enterprise, it is still subject to the same challenges and market conditions as companies of smaller size,” he observed. “The things we are noticing are that in the market there is a high requirement now for equipment of large dimensions including high wall thickness. This is particularly the case with large-size refineries, so we have tried to concentrate on these areas to be able to stay competitive.”
The official said the growth of smaller competitors and rise in the prices of raw materials were a matter of concern. “But we do have leverage in certain areas and still have an edge over our competitors.” And while prices of steel plates were escalating month by month Bilfal clients were understanding and did not demand “last year’s prices.” Another pressing issue was the scarcity of skilled labour. “Getting good skilled labour has been a major concern for us and is a more important concern for us than the inflation in raw material prices because there is demand all over for engineering manpower,” said Ahmed.
“Quality control is certainly something that we are very serious about. This intense focus on quality is something that differentiates our company from the competition. Bilfal’s competitiveness derives from its focus on quality, as well as its technological capabilities and heavy wall thickness rolling capacity of up to 160 mm cold and 220 mm. We also have large manufacturing facilities and the capacity to handle complex materials. In addition we have a highly skilled workforce whom we are very proud of.
“In attempting to overcome these challenges and to ensure market leadership, Bilfal has plans to expand within Saudi Arabia to increase production capacity. We are considering adding a new facility to improve productivity and increase our capacity. We also want to increase our human resources capacity with selective hiring ensuring that we employ the best and the most highly skilled people.”