RMD boards are changing construction systems and the way people dress up interiors – both office and residences, says JRD International. The Dubai-based company is looking to invest Dh1.5-billion ($400 million) in seven plants – involving 70 production lines – for manufacturing these composite polypropylene boards in seven countries within the next four years.

“Our expansion plan is part of our vision to offer the best innovation of our times in the building construction industry and interior decoration sector,” says Anupam Lunavat, managing director of the Jebel Ali-based diversified conglomerate.

With the ambitious expansion plan, the company aims to reach global production of half a million tonnes per annum by 2016.

“These game-changing products are the results of our five-year efforts to bring the best innovation to the region. As we commercially launch these products, we also want to spread them globally through this patented technology,” Lunavat says.

“RMD Board is the realisation of our dream for the future and we want to transform it into a global company. Within the next four years, we will set up similar plants in emerging economies such as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations and Turkey and North America,” he adds.

The company last year commissioned a Dh300-million ($80 million) RMD board production facility, on a 40,000-sq-m plot of land within the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which will service the GCC region as well as Africa and CIS.

By next year, the flagship plant is expected to reach a processing capacity of 110,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of composite polypropylene board, making it the largest single-site manufacturing plant of rigid extrusion of composite polypropylene board in the world, according to Lunavat.

He points out that RMD boards offer a host of advantages: they are all waterproof, fire retardant, termite, heat and chemical resistant, highly durable, lightweight and 100 per cent recyclable in addition to featuring a spectrum of qualities that gives them a longer shelf life. They can be reused 200 times, in some cases.

“The use of composite polypropylene boards in these engineered products replaces the use of wood, thus reducing the carbon footprint. They come in a wide variety and in exquisite designs, and in metal, marble and natural finishes. You get the best value for money on these boards,” says Lunavat. “These properties make them suitable for both interior and exterior applications such as shuttering, wall panelling, false ceilings and wall coverings and site-fencing, flooring, and outdoor advertising and billboards.”

RMD Board’s wall panels and false ceilings – which currently come in 600 different designs and textures – will soon be available in over a thousand designs. “These boards will eliminate the need for a lot of complex decorative boards and conventional materials that are presently being used. Easy to use, residents will be able to install these wall panels in their homes and offices with adhesives and in the shortest possible time. For example, a 500-sq-ft wall can be completed in hours,” he says.

RMD wall panels can also replace imported wall panels in the market.

Citing features released by global research organisation GRMC Advisory Services, he says the GCC wall-panelling market is poised to be worth $5.28 billion in 2015.

“RMD wall panels could eliminate the entire range of imported goods in the next few years if local interiors fit-out companies utilise the locally manufactured RMD wall panels and false ceilings,” claims Lunavat.

He says the plant uses energy-efficient patented technology that creates honeycomb-like structures that give these fire-rated boards excellent strength-to-weight ratio.

“The strength of these boards is so great that they can be used in civil engineering and construction industry – especially the new-age RMD shuttering panels, which offer value for money as they are lightweight, and reusable with an almost zero attrition rate. Their ease of installation and removal is unrivalled vis-à-vis traditional materials,” he asserts.

The shuttering services market in the GCC was estimated at $8.68 billion in 2010, and is expected to grow to $9.32 billion in 2015, according to GRMC.

Commenting on the market response to the new plant, Lunavat exclaims it has been tremendous and that demand has been high for the products. “That’s why we expect the plant to reach full production capacity by next year. For some time, the captive demand has been growing as there weren’t any comparable product in the market. RMD boards are now meeting this captive demand and as the extended markets realise the product’s potential, we expect the demand to pick up further.”

JRD International is a leader in rigid plastic packaging technology providing solutions to a wide range of industry sectors including dairy, beverage and poultry segments. The company aims to attain leadership in all the sectors it operates, and to achieve this objective, it is committed to staying close to its customers with a wide sales network throughout the globe and a local network extending throughout the UAE. It exports to Africa, CIS and South East Asia as well as countries such as India, Kenya, the UK, the US, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Sudan, and is seeking further opportunities in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.