THE $33 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader Honeywell International has been present in the Middle East (ME) region for the last 40 years.
However, it is in the past two years that Honeywell has doubled in size, employing more than 400 specialists across the ME and over 90 industry experts based at its ME headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
The company through Honeywell Process Solutions, which is a part of Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions group, is currently executing over $120million worth various projects in Saudi Arabia alone, according to Honeywell Process Solutions’ regional general manager Larry Perkins. The Sharq III expansion and projects for Tasnee and Saudi Electricity Company are few of these.
“Honeywell is dedicated and willing to invest long-term in the Middle East, region in general and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in particular, says Perkins in an exclusive interview with OGN.
The company is also working on establishing its three-year old ad hoc relationship with (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals) (KFUPM) into a formal one so that will benefit the students and bring them into Honeywell either through internships and/or recruitment. Excerpts from the interview:
OGN: Honeywell has been present in the ME region for many years now. How has the company grown over the recent years in terms of market share, turnover and headcount?
Honeywell has been operating in the Middle East for over 40 years. Its first contract was for a control equipment project for Aramco, an oil company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1946.
Honeywell has doubled in size during the past two years, employing more than 400 specialists across the Middle East and over 90 industry experts based at its ME headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Now, as the region’s leading supplier of advanced control technology for the oil and gas, hydrocarbon processing, power generation, refining, chemical and petrochemical industries, Honeywell has a network of regional offices in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Qatar and Bahrain.
Honeywell works with some of the biggest brands in the regional oil and gas sector. Customers across the region include PDO in Oman, Equate in Kuwait, Saudi Aramco and Sabic in Saudi Arabia, Qatar Petroleum and Qafco in Qatar and Dolphin Energy, Adco and Adgas in the UAE.
To help manage its growth, Honeywell has built a new Integration Centre in Abu Dhabi to verify and test clients’ systems. This technical exercise was previously performed only in the United States and Europe.
Further proof of Honeywell’s increasing presence in the region is the Honeywell Middle East Automation College. Established in 1995 in Abu Dhabi as a means to enhance local capabilities, the college is a world-class training centre that trains Honeywell customers, staff and university students in process control. The centre houses state-of-the-art equipment and brings the latest technologies, knowledge and experience from Honeywell’s global resource pool.
What are the company’s chief activities in Saudi Arabia? Also, please provide details about some of your major projects in the country.
Honeywell has been providing integrated solutions to the refining, oil and gas and petrochemical industries in Saudi Arabia for over 60 years. With an installed base of over $600 million, Honeywell in-kingdom resources are always active in helping our customers with system enhancements and expansions. Currently Honeywell Process Solutions is executing over
$120 million in various projects in Saudi Arabia. Some projects we are working on include the Sharq III expansion and projects for Tasnee and Saudi Electricity Company, to name a few.
Over the past several years, Honeywell has provided Advanced Process Controls (APC) solutions to the refining and petrochemical sector. Sabic, the national petrochemical group has selected Honeywell to provide APC solutions to all of its facilities in Saudi Arabia through Sabic corporate APC programme. To date, Honeywell has implemented APC projects at Petrokemya, Sharq, Jubail United, Sadaf, Sipchem and Saudi Aramco. Recently, Honeywell secured a contract to supply a Plant Information Management System (Pims) solution to PetroRabigh.
How do you propose to increase your business in Saudi Arabia?
Honeywell is focused on providing “best in class” fully integrated solutions to the industrial sector. Through acquisitions of UOP, ENRAF and Hysis, Honeywell is well positioned to provide integrated teams and solutions that offer significant savings up front and ensure smooth plant startup and operations. Our in-kingdom team is in place to provide local support and assistance to our customers from field devices to APC.
We believe in service and we believe in adding value; given the fact that we have the technological expertise we can pull together a team of skilled resources for our customers from field devices to advanced control to tank gauges – no other company can claim that.
Honeywell is the largest provider of security solutions globally – our Industrial Security division in the Middle East is engaged in several significant pursuits to secure facilities infrastructure through various technologies in Saudi Arabia.
When was the Honeywell – KFUPM partnership established?
There has been an ad hoc relationship between Honeywell and KFUPM for the past three years. We are now working together on establishing a formal partnership that will benefit the students and bring them into Honeywell either through internships and/or recruitment. We would like the teaching staff to work hand in hand with Honeywell engineers in research and development aimed at serving our industrial customers in the region.
Our partnership would be focused on achieving three major objectives:
For undergraduates to understand what real life applications look like and how they work in real environments
Recruitment of undergraduates within Honeywell – providing opportunities for fresh graduates and allowing Honeywell to continue growing and serving its customers.
Bringing the academic knowledge of KFUPM into Honeywell and allowing us to share with our industrial customers the changes and developments in process automation that will have been driven by KFUPM.
Why did Honeywell select KFUPM?
KFUPM is the leading technical and engineering school in the region and, like Honeywell, is a leader in our core markets for the region: Oil and Gas, petrochemicals and minerals. In addition, KFUPM has a programme in control and instrumentation. This is the only programme which is directly related to Honeywell core technologies developed in the area of control and instrumentation. Also, KFUPM is very dedicated to establish a strong relationship with the industry. As the premiere university in its field, this is a natural partnership to develop in our view.
Honeywell is dedicated and willing to invest long-term in the Middle East region in general and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in particular. We would like to nurture local talent and find innovative ways to combat the lack of skilled resources in the industry as a whole. As a global company with offices in the vast majorities of countries, our staff can relocate to other sites and use the expertise and knowledge they have gained in Saudi Arabia elsewhere. This is a cross-pollination of resources that can only benefit both parties in the relationship.
What does this partnership involve?
Co-sponsoring of technical events such as the WISC 2007 that took place in May 2007. Also, sponsoring events such as the recognition of top Control and instrumentation students. This year, Honeywell gave out nine scholarships and four awards to the highest performing students.
Honeywell participated in the first project contest among control and instrumentation students which was organised by ISA for KFUPM students.
Are there any success stories that can be shared as a direct result of this partnership?
The Workshop for Industrial Safety and Control was a major event that Honeywell participated in. The next WISC 2008 will take place November. Honeywell will also contribute to the workshop and will participate in the exhibition as well as fielding a presenter.
