Pan Gulf Group managing director Khalid Al Hamdan, while describing as “an excellent achievement” the group’s progress over the past 30 years since its founding, said more work had to be done to take it to another dimension.
“We obviously would like to continue our growth in the areas we have identified as our core business. We are looking at products that will be marketed globally as well as building business capability with international reach,” he said in remarks to Gulf Industry.
“There are many opportunities that we are currently pursuing … We can discuss two areas; firstly, at Pan Gulf Industrial Systems, we are actively expanding our engineering and manufacturing capabilities in order to become an international supplier for engineering products such as fire and safety systems and skid-mounted systems. We are marketing these services and products to all our international clients for their projects both locally and internationally.
“At Pan Gulf Steel Ltd we are enhancing our steel-trading capabilities by adding specialised manufacturing facilities to meet both local and regional demand and allow better control over prices and availability. Both projects will provide excellent diversification as well as add significantly to the sales and the bottomline.”
The local market now utilises most of the capacity of Pan Gulf companies with little overflow for exports. The new expansion projects will add more capacity and products that are export-oriented, Al Hamdan said.
As well as Pan Gulf Industrial Systems and Pan Gulf Steel Ltd, the group comprises Pan Gulf Welding Solutions, Gulf Steel Works, Pan Gulf Industrial Fabrication Company, Pan Gulf Piping Systems Co Ltd and Pan Gulf Foods Ltd.
Al Hamdan observed that the group’s growth strategy was based on customer satisfaction through the addition of more services and products to the same customer base. That being the strategy, its main objective was to ultimately manufacture most of the products it now imported, and with the “dual approach” and economic environment of the region it would be able to reach its goal.
On the business performance of the company’s main subsidiaries, Al Hamdan said it varied based on their stage of growth and market attributes.
“We constantly apply various techniques to enhance their performance. We recently have restructured the group to give our subsidiaries more autonomy, which will enable them to grow further with focused independent management and resources.”
Looking back across three decades, Al Hamdan noted how quickly the years had passed. “I still recall our beginning and realise that it took a tremendous amount of work to get where we are so far as well as a lot of luck. The region has offered many opportunities for those willing to take them and we are proud that we have been able to capitalise on these opportunities.
“In light of the limited resources as well as lacking experience during our initial years of operation we feel that we have attained excellent achievement. Our trading operation started with three people and one product and with hard work and perseverance we have been able to reach the level we have now.”
The ride to success was not always smooth. There was rapid growth in the first four years but then it was badly affected by a downturn in the economy between 1983 and 1988.
“The main turning point happened during that time when the company changed both its products and customer base as a response to the prevailing economic environment. Since then, we have been able to consolidate our position and add more products and services to our portfolio.”
There was no secret for the group’s success other than sound management policy and a focused approach to customers’ needs with harmonised products and strategic relations with suppliers. It was also able to attract and maintain talent, which also contributed greatly to providing a high level of customer service as well as a diversified product range.
The group could have done better, Al Hamdan said in hindsight, but added: “With the limited resources available to use at the time we feel that we have become  a major competitor in the current market. In regard to what could have been done better we feel we could have been more aggressive in developing certain areas.”