The company has several ongoing projects within the Mena region, successfully working with EPC contractors over the past years on a large scale

Erne Fittings, the world’s leading premium supplier of butt-weld fittings, plans to expand its facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

"Further expansion of our manufacturing sites is already on track with business plans having been put in place," says Manfred Havrilla, General Manager Erne Fittings Middle East.

"Regarding our Saudi Arabia plant, we will integrate the new elbow line into our production process by end of the third quarter. Once the process is streamlined, further projects will be studied in detail for the next decision," he says.

Erne Fittings mooted the idea to open a plant in Saudi Arabia in 2006. Erne Fittings Middle East was then founded in Al Jubail as a joint venture with a local partner. However, since 2011 it is fully owned by the Erne Group.

The company produces butt-weld fittings using hot- or cold forming process. The product range for elbows is 1" to 24" (upgraded in 2019) and 1" to 12" for reducers. Erne Fittings Middle East holds all relevant quality approvals for end-users in the GCC including Saudi Aramco and is fully licensed by the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (Sagia).

The company has several ongoing projects within the Mena region, successfully working with EPC contractors over the past years on a large scale.

The Erne Fittings Middle East plant

"Especially with EPC contractors, we could not only present proof of the quality of our products but also of our proficiency in order execution and customer service. Besides involving in projects, Erne Fittings also became a reliable partner for end-users like Saudi Aramco for direct procurement activities. The company’s activities are never ending and we look forward to even expanding our presence and collaboration with contractors and end-users," he says.

Adding new products to the company’s repertoire is a continuous process, which is ongoing since the inception of its mill. Due to close market awareness and upfront information, Erne’s plant located in Saudi Arabia can act quickly on market demands or specific customer requirements. The company’s new products offer higher wall thickness, larger outside diameter and material categories like carbon and stainless steel.

"Our latest development is the investment into a new elbow line, which is capable of manufacturing elbows up to 24" in diameter," he says.

Starting from the cutting and forming of seamless pipes, Erne’s services include heat treatment activities as per customer requirements. The final step is quality control in its in-house laboratory in which all testing are performed by Erne Fittings itself prior to shipping to the customer’s destination.

Ever since it started operations in the year 2007, Erne Fittings has installed machinery from reliable suppliers that conformed to the latest technology. Especially for machinery which is operated 24/7, high standards are needed and spare part availability must be guaranteed, he maintains. Referring to the company’s stock programme, he says the Erne Fittings headquarters in Austria has one of the largest warehouses globally.

"Our fully automated high-rack warehouse includes over 3,000 different articles and has over 10,000 storage places." Through the entire stock programme, Erne Fittings guarantees its customers high product availability. Market requirements in the Mena region being different, Erne Fittings Middle East has implemented a different solution. Keeping raw material availability at a very high level and keeping flexibility in the production, orders can be completed within a short period starting from 14 working days, he adds.