RIYADH, 24 October 2007 — Dammam-based Al-Zamil Steel will build a new factory in Thailand as part of its expansion program targeting the buoyant economies of Southeast Asia and the Far East.
“Zamil chose to build a new factory in Thailand because it wanted to better serve its many local clients,” George Kobrossy, the company’s director general, said in a message sent to Arab News from Vietnam, where it has fabrication facility and R&D center.
“We have had a very successful sales office here since 2000,” said Kobrossy from his current headquarters in Vietnam. Somsak Yamasamit, Zamil’s senior adviser for Thailand, said Zamil had also been very successful with a sales and marketing office in Bangkok since 2000 and this new factory will help them ramp up their business.
The company’s new Thai factory, he said, will manufacture Zamil’s MaxSEAM roof system. “It is one of the strongest and most weather-tight standing seam-roof systems available today,” he pointed out.
Kobrossy was upbeat on his company’s investment in Thailand. “We have found Thailand to be a very suitable investment location because of its dynamic and vibrant economy. We believe its strategic location and outstanding infrastructure will bring us and others a sound long-term investment in this region,” he said.
Zamil Steel has in the past 30 years become one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of quality pre-engineered steel buildings for factories, warehouses, workshops, distribution centers, showrooms, aircraft hangars, schools, sports centers, supermarkets, office buildings, car parking sheds and high-story buildings.
Kobrossy said Zamil Steel had built more than 45,000 steel buildings in more than 85 countries. “We have constructed buildings from Panama to Mexico and from Vietnam to Japan,” he said.
The company prefabricates steel factory structural components that are shipped by containers all over the world to the construction sites. “At Zamil Steel, we have designed and fabricated pre-engineered steel buildings that range in complexity from a simple warehouse to a 95-meter clear-span aircraft hangar and a 4,500-ton complex steel rolling mill,” he said.
Although Zamil has set up sales organizations in many Asian countries over more than a decade, its business skyrocketed when it established a joint venture in Vietnam with Japanese trading giant Mitsui in 1997.
“We have been operating in Vietnam since 1993 and our joint venture with Mitsui was in a 100 percent foreign-owned company,” he said. Zamil and Mitsui built a factory that is capable of producing 50,000 tons of steel buildings annually. “To date, Zamil Steel Vietnam has produced more than 1,500 steel buildings across Southeast Asia,” he noted.
The company has built factories for major Japanese companies such as Yamaha, Toyota and Fujitsu, aside from a British American Tobacco factory in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the company has more than 700 employees and is now the largest manufacturer and exporter of pre-engineered steel buildings in Southeast Asia. “Our Vietnam plant showed Zamil’s commitment to the region and it improved our turnaround cycle and met more of our customers’ needs,” Kobrossy said.