Gulf Exporters

Extrusion firm’s strategy paying off

Al Mekdad: building a competitive advantage

Gulf Extrusions’ strategy to determine new growth paths and follow them up with making new products suitable for the new markets is paying off, the company indicates.

The company is a leading manufacturer of extruded aluminium products with global markets. It announced that it ended 2013 with increased revenue and production volume thanks to its expansion initiatives as reflected in its entry into new markets and winning new projects.

The Middle East and the US are its two most significant markets, both reporting the largest share of sales while the GCC segment and European regions also showed a significant increase in demand.

Its expansionist stance has enabled it to penetrate sectors such as marine and aviation and offer a huge variety of aluminum products that comply with market demands.

Modar Al Mekdad, general manager, Gulf Extrusions, said: “The excellent performance we received in 2013 has affirmed that we are moving in the right direction – having achieved what we had set out for the year. We now have a unified factory that adheres to global standards through which we are able to respond to market needs as well as produce a diversified range of aluminium products. All these factors have resulted in a strong portfolio for the company, enabling us to gain a competitive advantage as well as core competency to venture into unexplored markets and address new industries.”

Gulf Extrusions’ plant in Dubai

Gulf Extrusions’ plant in Dubai

Gulf Extrusions, a member of Al Ghurair Group, produces aluminium-extruded profiles ranging from architectural, industrial and automotive sections to components for windows, furniture, marine applications, transportation, and customised products. The company offers anodising and powder coating services as well as crimping services in which profiles of thermally broken pieces are joined together by means of a rigid and strong glass-fibred polymide insulation strip which is thermal resistant in nature, minimising thermal conductivity by 35 per cent while the U value ranges from 2.5 to 30 W/m2k.

Gulf Extrusion’s crimping provides benefits to customers including conserved energy and reduced water condensation and noise pollution. It has six presses and produces annually around 50,000 tonnes of extruded aluminium including 24,000 tonnes of Qualicoat-certified powder coating finishing, 5,000 tonnes of Qualanod certified anodising finish and 18,000 tonnes of design profiles.

 

PROJECTS

The company’s major UAE projects include BurJuman Mall, Emirates Office Tower, Adnoc, World Trade Centre, Emirates Palace, Burj Khalifa and the Abu Dhabi Mall. Its regional projects include Qatar Science and Technology Park, Landmark project – Heart of Doha, Cairo Festival City, Capital Centre, Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust). Beyond the Gulf it has supplied its products for projects including Castlehouse in London, Johannesburg Airport, South Africa, and Antilia Residence, Mumbai India.

It also extrudes aluminium for several European customers and companies. Gulf Extrusions was the first extrusion company in the GCC to receive the Emirates Quality Mark certification from the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology as well as a Certificate of Appreciation from the Dubai Quality Group.