AS part of its initiative to localise manufacturing, Al Abdulkarim Holding Company (AKHC) through its subsidiary Industrial Systems Group (ISG) has set up two new factories at the Second Industrial City Dammam in Saudi Arabia.

The new facilities were inaugurated by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Tawfiq bin Fauzan Al Rabiah. He was accompanied by Engineer Abdul Latif Al Othman, the Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and a number of government officials and businessmen in the region. Built across an area of 24,000 sq m with and with an investment of SR200 million ($53 million), ISG is also, pursuing any possibility to source and utilise the available local raw material in order to support the local Saudi industrial integration.

In his opening speech, Musaad Al AbdulKarim, pointed out that AKHC is today Saudi Arabia’s one of the largest suppliers and stockist of high quality industrial products for major companies and projects. As a result of high demand for these products, AKHC took the decision to establish local manufacturing of these products by forming partnerships and technical cooperation with its international principals.

“Due to these partnerships ISG was formed and by license manufacturing, ISG and its principals started the transfer of technology, know-how and at the same time arranged training of Saudi nationals to enable ISG to achieve the same quality as in our principal’s location,” he said.

ISG established its first factory in 2008 under a joint venture with Emerson/Appleton for the manufacture of explosion-proof electrical equipment.

Today, ISG produces cable management systems, including accessories, manufactured in GRP/FRP, with a production capacity of 100,000 linear metres per year. This is being achieved with close technical cooperation of Enduro Composites, a US-based company. According to the company, the ISG factory is considered to be the only one manufacturing this kind of product in the Middle East with about 89 per cent of the raw material sourced from the local market.

ISG, with technical cooperation of the US-based Hubbell/Killark is also producing, industrial as well as explosion proof electrical equipment such as lighting fixtures of different types, including LED, panel boards and junction boxes with an annual production capacity of 40,000 units. Furthermore, ISG is designing and producing multi-use test vans, used for examining/testing of main distribution cables and transformers in substations with annual production capacity of 2000 units.

“The production in ISG now also includes, low-voltage power transformer under a technical cooperation agreement with the Spanish company EREMU,” Al Abdulkarim added.

In addition to these, ISG has also started manufacturing the process analytical systems and analyser shelters used to measure and analyse liquids and gas for petroleum, oil and gas with annual production of 2000 units which is all designed and built locally.