Among the many companies and factories that Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah during his visit to Dammam 2nd Industrial City on Tuesday was Abahsain's upcoming state-of-the-art mechanical seal manufacturing facility. The minister was impressed by Abahsain's commitment to transferring technology and meeting the government's key localization goals.
The Abahsain Mechanical Seal Manufacturing Facility is the latest in six medium-sized industrial units which are part of the company's strategic objectives to embrace the government's policy of local content generation and indigenous human resource development.
The mechanical seal facility, established in partnership with Flowserve, a US-corporation committed to the oil and gas and petrochemical industries in the Middle East in general and Saudi Arabia in particular, is in the process of getting final touches.
Abahsain Group Director Shaukat Sheikh, who is one of the founders of the joint venture, explained to the minister as to how the facility began on a very modest scale in 1994 and has since grown into a high-class engineering company with Saudization exceeding 30 percent.
"This percentage is an unusually heartening achievement in a high-end engineered product environment," he said.
Al-Rabiah complimented Abahsain President Abdullah Abahsain on his commitment to the vocational development and training of Saudis.
He also congratulated him on developing industrial expertise in engineered and customized products, which will eventually provide real technology transfer and underpin a technology-based economy in Saudi Arabia. Flowserve Regional Director Riyadh Ramadhan briefed the minister on the facility's technical capabilities and prospects of future growth in this business.
The facility incorporates Flowserve's latest engineering know-how in sealing systems, and aims to create local content exceeding 80 percent.
