Hard work and a single-minded determination to upgrade its quality systems have hoisted Dubai Cables (Ducab) on to the world stage not only as a large-scale supplier of products but also as an award-winning entity of quality.
From the beginning Ducab has promoted the need of supplying quality products and assumed leadership in creating a culture of quality in the market. The company was one of the founding members of the Dubai Quality Group, set up in 1994 and recognised as a Gulf region pioneer on quality and quality management systems.
As a reputed manufacturing organisation, Ducab has always had its own set of procedures and instructions for manufacturing and testing cables. Therefore, in 1993, at a time when Quality Management Systems and ISO 9000 standards were relatively unknown in the region, Ducab achieved certification to ISO 9002. This feat was achieved in its first attempt at certification and could be attributed mainly to excellent process-based systems already in place.
In 1994 we added several non-standard, made-to-order products to our product range. This required the design element to be included in our quality management system. Therefore, in 1994, when the ISO 9000 series of standards was revised, Ducab did just that and upgraded the certification to ISO 9001:1994.
In 1998, as Ducab increased its overseas customer base, a requirement arose for the products to be BASEC (British Approvals Services for Cables)-marked. BASEC is a specialist organisation that provides ISO 9001, ISO 14000 and OHSAS (Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Service) 18001 certifications for cable manufacturers and product approvals for various types of cables.

BASEC certification
The first requirement for obtaining product approvals is that the company’s quality management system be certified to ISO 9001 by BASEC. Ducab set out to do this and obtained the certification in the first attempt.  Along with ISO 9001 audits, BASEC also carried out audits against their internal standard BA 2250. Subsequently, samples of cables for which BASEC product certification was required were type tested successfully and product approval received.
To maintain product approvals BASEC has to pick up and test large numbers of routine samples during their quarterly visits. Ducab also decided to go in for process capability approval from the same authority. In early 2001, BASEC audited the different processes at Ducab, selected samples at various checkpoints in the process and performed and witnessed in-process and final tests at Ducab. Subsequently we were presented with the process capability approval for our processes. Ducab is the first energy cable manufacturer in the world to receive this approval from BASEC.
Ducab recognises that BASEC approval is critical in order to distinguish its products from those of lower-quality regional competitors. The availability of low-priced, poor-quality cables due to dumping constitutes a serious problem in local markets and Ducab understands that the relentless pursuit of quality and continuous improvement is the only long-term route to success.

Type-tested by well-regarded bodies
As well as BASEC, Ducab’s products are type-tested and approved by well-regarded third-party certification bodies such as Lloyds, KEMA (standing for the Dutch company NV tot Keuring van Elektrotechnische Materialen), LPCB (Loss Prevention Certification Board, UK) and ESMA (Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology). The latest certification it has received is from ESMA, a UAE government federal authority which gives product certification conforming to UAE national standards. The certification is called the Emirates Mark of Conformity (Al-Alama).
Ducab is the first ever cable manufacturing company to receive product certification from ESMA, a relatively new regulatory body whose vision is to regulate the quality and safety of products manufactured and distributed in the market. This scheme requires regular quality system surveillance audits and product testing to maintain certification.
Established in 1979, Ducab is owned equally by the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and has three factories - two in Musaffah, Abu Dhabi, and one in Dubai. Ducab started a PVC compounding plant in 2006 at Jebel Ali and recently opened a most modern production facility at Musaffah-Abu Dhabi for manu-facturing copper rods, the main raw material for cable manufacturing.
Its product range covers Ducab Powerplus medium and high voltage cables up to 132 kV, low voltage power cables, control and auxiliary cables, wiring cables, lead-sheathed cables for the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors and Ducab Smokemaster, the specialised low smoke and fume cables. Ducab also offers a complete range of cable components and accessories under the brand name Ducab Connect. It recently launched its latest product, Ducab Fire Resistant cables under the brand name Ducab-FR which got product approval from LPCB, one of the prime approval bodies in the world on fire and smoke safety products.
Ducab’s accomplishments in all quality aspects received due recognition when it won the Dubai Quality Award in the very first year of its inception in 1994. Four years later, it was honoured again with the Dubai Quality Award 1998 - Gold Category. And in 2004 it won the same award, again with gold, making it the only organisation to achieve such a distinction and testifying to its status as a world-class cable manufacturer.

Improving continually
Quality can only be assured if it is effectively managed by implementing a system which is monitored and improved continually.
At Dubal, quality assurance systems and procedures are well-established throughout the operation — right from raw material purchasing to finished product, from customer enquiry to delivery. Ducab provides technical support and services after the delivery of cables. Its machines and testing facilities are most modern with highly sophisticated automated controls to ensure consistency in product quality. The key success of any system is the feedback loop which helps in identifying deficiencies and improvement opportunities. Ducab’s entire business process is strengthened with ERP systems such as BaaN, Maximo and Quality Navigator. These systems are customised to provide excellent management reports which act as tools for management to keep the systems in control.
Third-party certification bodies such as BASEC, LPCB, Lloyds and ESMA provide the impartial third eye into our operations and help immensely to improve systems. For Ducab, external audit is not a paper exercise. BASEC, as part of its management system certification, product certification and process capability approval schemes, carries out audits three times in a year, each of duration of 10 to 15 man-days across three Ducab factories.
LPCB carries out two factory production control audits per year as part of the approval process for fire resistant cables. ESMA and Lloyds carry out annual audits as part of their product certification scheme. All these bodies during their audit visits collect random samples from factories and test independently in labs such as BSI (British Standards Institution) and LPCB UK to check consistency of quality in our products. The main difference compared to some of our competitors is this surveillance scheme. Many companies in the industry get the product type tested initially, but will not have surveillance audits and independent random sample testing to check the consistency of product quality. Ducab wants to be consistent with its philosophy of “do it right first time, every time”. These efforts are recognised by our customers who consistently voted that we were 100 per cent on product quality in our customer satisfaction surveys conducted annually.

Six Sigma adopted
As part of its quality drive, Ducab has also adopted the Six Sigma quality management methodology pioneered by Motorola. We have five black-belt and 35 green-belt holders from various departments who were trained under Six Sigma. Ducab has also embraced the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen and 5 S for continuous improvement.
As a responsible corporate entity, Ducab has always been concerned about the environment and has been following good manufacturing practices such as reduction of waste and recycling where possible. Its environmental management system is certified to ISO 14001: 2004. We achieve extraordinary results in the industry without compromising the safety of our employees.  Our Health and Safety system is certified to OHSAS 18001: 2007. We have consecutively won the RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) award for 18 years and the Order of Distinction award from year 2005 onwards. In March of this year, Dubai Municipality awarded Ducab “The Safety at Work Award.”
Ducab’s Total Quality Management philosophy has enabled it to stand out amongst the Middle Eastern and other international cable manufacturers and compete with the best in the world.