PROJECTING itself as a concrete specialist in Saudi Arabia, Al Kifah Building Materials Company (AKBMC) continues to grow its business throughout the kingdom, promptly responding and even anticipating the needs of the market.

Towards this end, it has undergone vertical and horizontal expansion to enfold a range of factories, right from crushers and readymix concrete facilities to a concrete batching plant factory.
Its star product is readymix concrete which it continues to supply to some of the niche projects in the kingdom.
“Our concrete business is huge and generates most of the revenue of Al Kifah Building Materials Company,” says Sulaiman Al Afaliq, chairman of AKBMC. “In fact, we have increased our overall sales by 20 per cent this year, despite the global downturn, thanks to the performance of our readymix business.”
One of the most prestigious projects being handled by its concrete supply division is the Manifa oilfield development, which entails the building of several drilling islands and a 41-km causeway that will enable transportation from the coast to shallow-water offshore platforms.
 “The project involves extensive dredging and reclamation works to create islands and we are happy to be the sole concrete supplier to this massive development,” says Al Afaliq. “This is the first project of its kind that we are handling and have already supplied about half – around 120,000 cu m – of concrete required for the site preparation works alone. The entire development calls for the supply of millions of cu m of concrete.”
Al Afaliq expects the site preparation works to be completed by mid-2010.
The estimated $12-billion Manifa project, when complete, will add 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude oil to Aramco’s production. Saudi Aramco has been trying to obtain the best prices for the much-awaited project in view of the current global economic scenario.
AKBMC is also the sole supplier to the Shaybah development and expects to start supply to the oilfield’s next phase of expansion.  It has previously supplied some 200,000 cu m of concrete for the first and second phases of expansion – which were launched to increase the oilfield’s output to 750,000 bpd – and the company anticipates that the next phase – which will take output to 1 million bpd – would involve a similar volume of concrete.
AKBMC is also supplying a number of university projects in Saudi Arabia. These include the Jizan University; the Northern Border University in Arar, which calls for the supply of 250,000 cu m of concrete for the site preparation and housing facilities; and its latest project, a housing facility for King Faisal University (KFU) in Al Hasa. For the KFU project, AKBMC is set to start supply this month of 170,000 cu m of concrete, which will be delivered over two years.
Other landmark projects include the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

Early success
The fact that AKBMC has been able to clinch these high-profile projects can be attributed to its long history and sound reputation  in the concrete business. The origins of the company can be traced back to 1979 when its first building block – Al Ahsa Readymix Factory – was set up. The outstanding success of this factory inspired the vertical and horizontal expansion of the facility.
Subsequently, a production line for various types of blocks was brought on stream at the Al Ahsa factory, following which the company launched a number of crusher units. At the horizontal expansion level, many other factories were set up in various parts in the kingdom such as Hail Readymix and Brick Factory in 1986 and Dammam Readymix and Brick Factory in 1994.
In 1995, Al Kifah Batching Plant Factory was established in joint venture with an English firm, to become the first of its kind in the Middle East. In 1997, the establishment became 100 per cent Saudi owned.
With this broad portfolio of factories in operation, the umbrella firm AKBMC was then set up in 2005 as an independent company owned by At Kifah Holding Company.
Today, AKBMC also encompasses Al Kifah Industrial and Construction Equipment (KICE), which is the sole agent of Junjin concrete pumps and the marketing arm of the company, as well as a transportation company.  KICE was launched four years ago to market building equipment and has the exclusive dealership to market and distribute all kinds of Junjin pumps – mobile or static in lengths from 25 to 63 m – in the Gulf.
AKBMC is not resting on its laurels but continues to expand.  It is now setting up a readymix concrete facility in Makkah, which is expected to launch production early next year. The company currently owns 19 readymix concrete factories, all equipped with the latest machinery and equipment, including the best electronic systems for automatic concrete mixing.
So what gives AKBMC a competitive edge in the market? Al Afaliq comments: “We offer quality and service and have gone through various approvals processes.  In addition, we have a well equipped and well maintained fleet, which we have recently renovated, and continuously enhance the quality of our products.
“This apart, we follow projects wherever they are being developed to ensure close proximity and deliver concrete where the client requires it. We have wide experience in the harshest of conditions and have successfully supplied to regions with the highest of temperatures as in the case of the oilfields.”
Thanks to its high standards, AKBMC have been approved and is employed by all government agencies as well as major companies such as Saudi Aramco, Saudi  Electricity Company, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Basic Industries Company (Sabic) as well as Kayan Company.
To ensure its factories comply with international standards and produce high-quality products, AKBMC has equipped all laboratories in each branch with the latest testing and monitoring systems. Desalinated water is used in the production of readymix.
Staffed by highly-skilled and well-trained technical and administrative personnel, AKBMC’s concrete factories are spread through most parts of the kingdom – and the network will soon be boosted by the new facility in Makkah.
AKBMC can produce various kinds of concrete according to the required specifications and is also capable of designing mixtures using the latest methods and according to international standards.
Al Afaliq anticipates that the competition in the concrete supply market will soon get more intense with many international players now tying up with Saudi companies.  However, what he fears most is the unhealthy competition created by cement companies joining up with concrete suppliers.
“This creates a conflict of interest as your cement supplier becomes your competitor. It is not healthy for our industry as you are now competing with cement companies that have wide margins and hence will cut their prices in order to sell more concrete,” he says.
Turning to the batching plant business handled by Al Kifah Batching Plant Factory, Al Afaliq says that sales have now begun to pick up following a lull towards the end of last year and early this year. The company has closed a deal to supply a major batching plant in Iraq through the services of KICE, which has been handling the marketing and sales of batching plant since last year.
Al Kifah Batching Plant Factory is considered the only producer in the Middle East of mobile, portable and static concrete mixing and batching plant and accessories in the Middle East.
The ISO9001-certified company is currently producing and developing a large number of equipment that cater to the concrete industry such as: a transit mixer, water chiller, precast distribution system and dust collector.
The company produced its first transit concrete mixers last May and these are currently being tested as part of the group’s own fleet before they are officially launched on the market.  It also hopes to complete its first ice water chillers, which again will be tested in-house before they are offered to the market by next summer.
Al Kifah Batching Plant has also developed precast distribution systems, which have been delivered to the group’s own Al Kifah Precast Factory and are now in the commissioning stage.
The dust collectors, which are being developed initially to meet the group’s own requirements, are now in the planning stage.
“Dust collectors have been in great demand following the new directives from the government requiring their installation on crushers.  We are currently working on the shopdrawings,” Al Afaliq says.
AKBMC owns eight block factories, all equipped with the latest and most advanced machinery and equipment in the industry. These plants have a total estimated annual production capacity of more than 36 million blocks including hollow, insulated, Hordi, Cardstone, solid, fire-resistant and coloured cement blocks.
The firm owns five crushers in Ahsa, Riyadh, Jubail, Hail and Rabigh, all equipped with the latest equipment and facilities. The crushers were established to supply the company's readymix and blocks factories with the required quantities of aggregate although the surplus is sold to outside clients. The company has a staff strength of more than 2,000 employees.