Renault Trucks Greater ME
Gregoire Blaise, President
Renault Trucks, which only recently witnessed the first of the trucks roll off its new assembly facility in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), is quickly growing its regional presence.
Operated by Arabian Vehicles & Trucks Industry (AVI), the KAEC facility was developed to produce the C & K range of Renault trucks from knock-down kits in a collaboration effort between a highly trained local team and Renault engineers and quality and logistics personnel from Bourg-en-bresse in France.
AVI is a JV between Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery and Volvo Trucks Corporation. The facility in KAEC has the capacity to produce up to 4,000 trucks annually across the two brands.
Renault Trucks has also recently announced its exclusive partnership in Iraq with the Sunflower General Trading Company — a truck distributor and business partner of the State Company for Automotive Industry (SCAI).
The deal highlighted the French OEM’s ongoing efforts to consolidate it presence in the country’s heavy-duty segment following the opening of a production plant for its C,K and D ranges in Iraq in 2013.
Alongside the deal, Renault announced that it would be developing a 1,000m2 service centre and workshop to service the estimated 2,500 Renault Trucks already in Iraq — scheduled to be open for business in 2016.
Renault Trucks has also introduced a flexible financing programme for the Middle East to support sales of its C-, K-, and D-range models, which were launched in Q4 of 2014.
Gregoire Blaise is the new president for the renamed ‘Renault Trucks greater Middle East’ operation based in Dubai.
Blaise has been working with Renault, and subsequently Volvo, since 1999. He began in France, but his role has also seen him assigned to Germany and China.
Sandvik
Rafa Lopez, GM, Sandvik Breakers factory
Sandvik is the world’s leading manufacturer of hydraulic hammers and attachments. Its factory in Lahti, Finland, employs 150 full time employees, and the brand has over 150 dealers around the world and 24/7 customer support platform, ‘Breaker Portal’.
The Sandvik Middle East office in Dubai has 46 employees, led by Erik Lunden, who is the vice president of Sandvik Middle East.
A significant product group for Sandvik in the Middle East is its Rammer range of breakers and crushers — developed over the past 35 years in conjunction with its customers around the world.
The result, Sandvik claims, is that Rammers are tough, durable and reliable, and offer the greatest economy in terms of ownership and operating costs — while delivering maximum production.
Alongside its hydraulic hammers, Sandvik provides tools such as its Ramdata service indicator sensor device and special AGW (Air-Grease-Water) unit. However, its latest innovations are present in the PRO Hammer series, which is especially designed for extreme conditions and applications such as tunnelling.
In February 2016, Rammer dealers from all corners of the globe gathered in Dubai for a dealer seminar. The 100 or so participants joined key figures from Rammer to learn about the latest developments from the market-leading hammer manufacturer.
Lopez comments: “Despite the shrinking market due to oil prices drop, Rammer has been making good sales due to its product reliability and peace of mind for customers. Rammer has maintained good and reliable reputation since inception. We have a well-educated and professional dealer sales and service and customer support network, along with parts and tools availability. The Sandvik team at the Lahti factory, the Middle east team and their dealers share the same desire to provide the best customer support in this region.”
Swaidan Trading
Ajit Kumar, CEO of Swaidan Trading
Swaidan Trading has been in operation for 37 years, since 1979, and currently maintains over 1000 employees, four showrooms, 10 maintenance and service workshops and a joint venture in Oman for bus sales and maintenance.
Swaidan recently secured its first deal through it Omani joint venture, ‘First Vehicles’, which it created with Oman’s Al Izz Group.
The deal, for 40 low-floor city buses, was signed with the Oman National Transport Company.
In reality, Swaidan this process began in 2008, when Swaidan secured a massive bus order with Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA).
Kumar, explains: “We started our relationship with VDL in 2006. We bid two times with the RTA and were not successful, but in 2008 we were.
“It was, at the point in time the world’s number one bus order — it was for about $517m, including the bus supply and maintenance over ten years. It helped catapult us into public transport, and gave us a much greater visibility and access.”
However, Swaidan also has other line, and during the last 12 months it has also supplied over 1,000 Sunwin school buses, and over 1,500 Ashok Leyland buses.
Ajit Kumar has been with the Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group, and managing its commercial vehicles and heavy equipment division, for over 15 years. He has a bachelor’s of science from Bangalore University, and a diploma in operations research, as well as a specialisation in truck marketing, from the Truck Marketing Institute in California. His philosophy is “Customer is king”, and he is always keen to follow this in his work. This, he believes, has also been the catalyst behind the division’s record sales of buses and coaches.
Terex Middle East
Sharbel Kordahil, Managing Director
Terex has been present in the Middle East with a high-profile sales and marketing operation for at least 10 years. Today, the group has a diversified office that splits down the five traditional divisions of the Terex family.
Sharbel Kordahi is ostensibly the Genie man, but he is also the go-to-guy for the entire Terex operation in the Middle East, owing to his long tenure and experience with Terex in the region.
There is also another reason why he has gravitated towards Terex’s AWP division. He notes: “In terms of market share, Terex AWP is the strongest business in the region.” It also achieves the second highest turnover after Terex Cranes, which leads due to the price of the product.
With the most recent product launches and developments in 2015/2016 and at Bauma, Genie pursues its customers in the Middle East by delivering ever greater ease-of-use, capability, productivity and flexibility.
One product creating a stir is the Genie Z-60/37 FE fuel-electric hybrid, articulated Z-boom AWP — modest in terms of its working height at 20.39m, but also novel.
Kordahi notes: “With the market increasingly looking at fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly products, the battery-driven and hybrid Z-60/37 FE are definitely exciting products.
“The big leap that was made in the past few years was the introduction of the AC motors. Now they are more affordable and you have electric machines that are 95% as efficient as the diesel machines.”
In telehandlers, Kordahi notes, the Middle East is a high-reach market, so the larger machines, and now, particularly the large rotator models (which are more like mini cranes) are coming to dominate the market. He adds: “There is a big push towards the GTH-5021, which is geared towards the construction sector.” The GTH-5021 telehandler can also equip a forks, winches and man-baskets.
Volvo Construction Equipment
Jonas Gardetun, VP for Hub South, Sales Region EMEA
Volvo CE has come a long way in the region over the past few decades — from a niche supplier with single-digit market share to a major player in the regional construction industry. Today, the company is well-positioned in the different markets, and is able to support customers in almost all segments.
In particular, Volvo CE has been rapidly gaining market share within the general purpose processing segment (GPPE) segment in the Middle East — excavators being a major contributor — and its sees the trend continuing through 2016.
One way Volvo CE has been demonstrating its commitment to the Middle East is by designing and developing products especially for the region.
The new Volvo G-Series wheel loaders with Z-bar linkage are a good example of this. The first shipments were delivered earlier in the year and Volvo has already a lot of positive feedback.
As Gardetun explains: “The future is about further collaboration with our customers to help them achieve the highest levels of jobsite efficiency and profitability in an environmentally-conscious way.
“Examples range from site simulations and machine selections to training of operators on Volvo simulators for optimal machine usage and productivity, as well as monitoring machine performance through our CareTrack telematics.”
Long term, he notes, Volvo has full confidence in the Middle Eastern market and has doubled the number of staff in its regional office in Dubai to near 100 people to better support dealers and customers.
By moving staff from the Volvo CE sales region EMEA headquarters in Eskilstuna, Sweden, Volvo has to reduced unnecessary travel and ensure everyone has the same working week — allowing tasks to be completed more efficiently.
Volvo CE’s Parts Distribution Centre and Technical Training Centre in Jebel Ali, Dubai, has meanwhile just celebrated its 10th anniversary, and “continues to go from strength to strength”, having “greatly helped to shorten the lead times for spare parts” for Volvo CE’s customers in the region. At the same time, Volvo CE’s Technical Training Centre runs regular pre- and aftermarket training for its staff and dealers sessions to ensure its representatives are as well-equipped as possible to meet its customers’ needs. For its customer groups, it is also using its industry-leading machine simulators and SiteSim software.
“Over the last decade we have strengthened the network significantly by appointing dealers in new territories, as well as supporting the expansion of our existing dealers’ geographical coverage and capabilities,” continues Gardetun.
“For example, our dealer Famco, in Saudi Arabia, is currently investing in three new branches: in Medina, Jizan and Abha, and a pre-delivery inspection centre in Damman — in addition to its existing four branches in Jeddah, Mecca, Riyadh and Damman.
“Volvo CE currently has 15 independent dealers in the Middle East, the majority of which have excellent geographical coverage in their respective territories.”
Volvo Trucks Middle East
Lars-Erik Forsbergh, President
Volvo Trucks Middle East was established in 2006 and now operates in 13 different countries with an extensive importer and distributor network. The Volvo Trucks facility in Jebel Ali Free Zoen covers 47,500m2 and encompasses Regional Parts Distribution Centre, the Regional Competence Development Centre and offices of Volvo Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment and Volvo Buses.
Since 2006, Volvo Trucks Middle East has significantly developed its dealer network by working with our designated partners in different parts of the Middle East, and the regional team has grown to more than 70 employees.
As part of its company promise to develop and deliver innovative transport solutions for the trucking industry, Volvo has both reduced the cost of fleet ownership by reducing fuel emissions and truck downtime and introduced measures that will help keep truck drivers safe.
Our I-Shift Gearbox is the first transmission of its kind which has been specifically designed for heavy long haulage and construction applications. It offers up to 7% greater fuel efficiency when combined with Volvo Trucks’ leading aerodynamics features and services such as Dynafleet, to ensure minimal internal energy loss while optimising fuel consumption. At the same time, Volvo’s driver development programme prioritises safety by ensuring that truck drivers of every nationality use the universal language of safety behind the wheel.
Wolffkran ISS
Habib Mikati, Managing Director
Hailing from Heilbronn in southern Germany, tower crane manufacturer Wolfffkran has remained true to its calling since 1854 — the same year the Suez Canal Company was formed — in an unbroken span of 162 years devoted to the production and perfection of cranes.
Habib Mikati explains: “You can see the biggest assembly of Wolff cranes on The Palm, where ACC has more than 16 of our cranes. Although they have never used Wolffkran before, they came to us because we were able to specially retrofit items for them.
“No other company here was able to do the design — only we could provide them with the solution for this project. Wolff is known for these challenges.
“The cranes were on rental, but now ACC wants to buy them, and we have another project with him which has six cranes on it.”
The region’s favourite crane, is the 355B crane, a luffing model used extensively on high-rise and densely-populated projects across the Gulf, and especially in KSA.
They are also durable. Mikati adds: “I received one query from Jordan about cranes from 1976.”
United Motors & Heavy Equipment
Khalifa Saif Darwish Al Ketbi — Managing Director
Headed by Khalifa Saif Darwish Al Ketbi as MD, and part of the Darwish Bin Ahmed & Sons Group of companies, United Motors & Heavy Equipment (UMHE) is an equipment dealer whose brands span an array of segments and markets — from the UAE to Russia and a number of other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
The company stocks MAN trucks and buses; Sany road, construction and crawler crane equipment; Yale and Landoll forklifts; Imer aerial work platforms; Airman and Daishin generators, Generac tower lights; Bell Equipment articulated dump trucks and Astec crushers; and a host of heavy equipment parts suppliers including: BERCO undercarriage parts; Wear Master cutting edges; Atlas Copco rock-drilling tools; and, MRF-, Titan- and Advance-branded tyres.
UMHE has dedicated logistics and warehousing facilities in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai and Sharjah equipped with the Oracle 12i ERP support system to reach a network of customers spread across more than 30 countries.
The strength of UMHE lies in its openness to brands and its willingness to take on new markets and opportunities.
Its rhetoric is one of continuous appetite and expansion, as Al Ketbi notes: “We aim to strengthen as well as diversify our existing spectrum of products and provide more comprehensive solutions to our customers, whom we consider to be the heart of our business.
The most recent additions to the UMHE range has been the articulated dump trucks from Bell Equipment, which chose UMHE as its UAE dealer in 2015.
Bell’s boldest claim is that their engine is one of the “lightest engines per kilowatt” — enabling the company’s trucks to be built about 20% lighter than its competitors and leading to lower fuel use, particularly when the truck is returning empty after haulage.
UMHE’s focus on products with real pay-off, and not just necessarily brand recognition, is a reflection of the company’s customer-oriented approach and philosophy of improvement. Al Ketbi explains: “Through the implementation of a lean business model, we will sustain our high standards, and establish a platform for our customers through which we can ensure constant improvement of our services on an ongoing basis.
“We thrive on solid ethical values, impeccable services and a diverse product range. We say: ‘The customer comes first’ and ‘Honesty is the best policy’.”
Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo
Mubarak Bin Jassim Bin Kanoo — Group Chairman
The Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Group of Companies is one of the largest independent, family owned company in the Gulf region. Established in Bahrain in 1890 as a trading and shipping business by Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, YBA Kanoo began to operate extensively in the Gulf during the early 1960’s and has since grown to become one of the most diversified and highly regarded business houses in the Gulf region.
For over 40 years now, Kanoo Machinery has been catering to diverse industrial sectors with a wide range of equipment from the world’s leading manufacturers of materials handling equipment.
Kanoo Machinery has been selling the Grove mobile crane range in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain for almost 50 years, and recently showcased almost the entire range of Grove rough-terrain cranes to over 70 customers in Dammam.
Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery
The Zahid family has been connected to commerce for over a century, playing a pivotal role in the development of the Kingdom’s infrastructure. Today, through partnerships, joint ventures and wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, Zahid Group represents a range of companies, offering customer-centric solutions in a number of industries.
In 1950, a chance meeting with Caterpillar led the Zahid family to begin distributing the brand within the Kingdom. This partnership eventually led to the formation of Alzahid group’s flagship company, Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery, in 1967 by Sheikh Yousuf Zahid.
In the years since, Zahid Tractor has formed partnerships with many brands, including: Challenger agricultural tractors, JLG material handling equipment, Rammer industrial hammers, Renault trucks, Svetruck lifts, Terex cranes and Volvo trucks and buses. The group has also entered rental operations.
In 2015, another Zahid Group entity, Arabian Vehicles & Trucks Industry (AVI) — formed as a joint venture between Zahid Tractor & Heavy Machinery and the Volvo Truck Corporation — also celebrated the production of the first Volvo trucks made on Saudi soil at an assembly facility in the Industrial Valley of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).
PMV Power List 2016 — Part one: A-C
