AL ABDULKARIM Holding Company (AKHC) is one of Saudi Arabia’s leading suppliers and stockists of electrical, electromechanical, telecommunication, instrumentation and oilfield components and equipment.

Headquartered in Dammam, AKHC has a network of branches, showrooms and warehouses across Saudi Arabia (Al Khobar, Jubail, Riyadh, Jeddah and Yanbu), the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain, the UK, Italy, India, China, Japan, and Kazakhstan.

Each outlet stocks material locally or can readily obtain the materials from another location.

AKHC has been involved in the growth of the Saudi economy by taking a leading role in providing products and services from its partners worldwide to address the needs of its customers. Its business has continued to evolve over the years and today AKHC boasts a regional presence across the Middle East, says a company spokesman.

AKHC has seven core business lines catering to diverse segments such as construction; oil and gas, both upstream and downstream; chemicals; petrochemicals; power transmission and distribution; desalination; and IT infrastructure.

The company has also diversified into the areas of in-kingdom manufacturing, advanced supply chain programmes and providing products, professional solutions and services in the areas of electricity and power, communications, oilfields, instrumentation, industrial automation, information technology, enterprise applications, lab systems, training and education, he says.

In addition to its own expertise, AKHC also draws on the skills of industrial specialists, especially in managing operations, capital financing, human resources development and information technology.

With over 200,000 sq ft of covered warehouse space and 50,000 sq ft of paved storage area, AKHC carries a substantial inventory of electrical and instrumentation items, telecommunication products, pipes, valves and fittings. These inventories support AKHC’s blanket warehousing agreements with Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saudi Basic Industries Company’s (Sabic) petrochemical plants. These stocks also fulfil the urgent supply needs of many of the key contractors engaged in the development of the kingdom’s oil, gas, petrochemical and industrial sectors.

Naizak is a subsidiary of AKHC and was formed with a vision to provide unique solutions utilising latest engineering and technology.

Naizak believes a competitive advantage is developed and achieved through sustained investment in professional and skilled technical resources, a commitment to excellence, with teamwork, and corporate accountability towards the community with honesty and integrity.

“Under the visionary leadership of our chairman, combined with professional and technically skilled staff, and a wide network of branch offices spread across the entire Arabian Gulf, Naizak with its oil and gas equipment and its world renowned international technology partners cater to the diverse needs of the oil and gas, industrial, engineering and utility sector with a pro-customer attitude offering a wide range of specialist products and unique services for the upstream and downstream oil sector,” he says.

Meanwhile, as part of the kingdom’s initiative to localise manufacturing, AKHC established Industrial Systems Group (ISG) with the aim of setting up local manufacturing of electrical and mechanical products. This facility is approved by Saudi Aramco, he says.

ISG established its first factory in 2008 under a joint venture with Emerson/Appleton for the manufacture of explosion-proof electrical equipment and its next venture will be for fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) and cable management systems in collaboration with American partners. “Today, ISG has a factory space covering over 12,000 sq m, and it will soon be embarking on two new factories for the manufacture of valves and flanges,” the spokesman says.