Customer satisfaction is accorded high priority at Majees Lighting Industries, which manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor light fittings at its 1,000 sq m factory in the Sohar Industrial Estate.

''We give top priority to customer satisfaction. Today, quality has become synonymous with customer satisfaction,'' says general manager Ahmad S Nasser.

The company, which started production in September 1997, quickly entered the export arena by April 1998 and since then there has been no looking back, says Nasser, who is himself a former Philips Lighting employee.

Majees Lighting produces 150,000 fixtures per year on one shift, which are primarily standard varieties for fluorescent fittings produced to BS4533 standards. These are being marketed under its brand name MajeLite as well as supplied to the OEM market. The factory is manned by 36 personnel.

The products are manufactured using local expertise and distributed to the entire GCC region as well as further afield to countries such as the UK.

A highlight of its highly-automated production set-up is a unique spraying facility for the pretreatment of components prior to powder coating, which according to Nasser, is probably the first of its kind in the Gulf. This facility was engineered inhouse, he claims.

''All metal housings undergo a class II corrosion-resistant pretreatment by spraying at 2.5 bar pressure before it is electrostatically powder coated with an extremely durable epoxy-polyester powder (for indoor luminaries) or polyester powder (for outdoor luminaries) followed by a high-temperature curing process at 200 deg C,'' Nasser says.

Majees maintains stringent quality controls on its production process right from the import of raw materials to the end-product, with two dedicated quality controllers supervising the process. Raw materials are imported primarily from Germany, the UK and Italy, he adds.

About 40 per cent of its production is absorbed by the local market while the remaining 60 per cent is channelled into the GCC market. The UAE is its biggest export market.

''In Oman, we have supplied to almost 90 per cent of all new school projects. In addition, our prestigious clients include the Diwan, Justice Court and commercial complexes,'' he says.

In the export market, it has garnered prime projects such as Shaikh Zayed University in the UAE, Qatar Airways office in Qatar, prime projects in Kuwait and a major client in the UK.

Majees Lighting is now looking beyond the GCC where it is gaining wider acceptance. "We have to look further afield to maintain our profitability,'' says Nasser

It has appointed a senior export sales manager to concentrate on the non-GCC market, with its eyes firmly set on Sri Lanka, the CIS and African countries.

Commenting on some of the problems faced in the industry, Nasser says: ''The perception of the Omani market is that a local product is not as good as an equivalent product procured from the international market. It is very difficult to convince people that locally manufactured products can match the standards of those produced abroad.

''Our products are guaranteed for five years and are cost-competitive.''

While Majees Lighting places great importance on customer satisfaction, Nasser emphasises the need for greater customer awareness of products. ''At the end of the day, customer satisfaction is the top priority if a company has to remain in business. But sometimes, customers make demands which would result in a lower quality product. While we ensure that we highlight this aspect to the client, we always ensure the customer gets what he wants.''

Nasser also calls for greater government control on products that enter the market. ''This is no consumer protection in the electrical and construction sector. There is a lot of dumping on the market. Competition is severe and people are adopting cut-throat measures to survive.''

The MajeLite range includes basic battens and attachments, surface and recessed luminaires, weatherproof luminaires suited for clean-rooms, emergency luminaires, bulkheads, downlights and floodlights, high and low bays for industrial applications and sports halls, streetlights and garden lights.

''All MajeLite products are designed to comply with the safety, electrical, thermal and mechanical requirements of BS4533 Part 102.10 1990 and to the IEC 598 document.

''Our quality control department not only constantly evaluates new and existing designs but also monitors and approves bought in components,'' he says.

Majees says it enjoys an excellent technical back-up from the world's leading suppliers of lighting components and parts such as Vossloh Schwabe-Germany for ballasts, lamp holders and capacitors; Alanod-Germany for high purity aluminium reflectors, K Lite Australia for plastic sheets and diffusers; Henkel-Germany for chemical pretreatment and Jotun Powder Coatings.

''All are ISO certified companies and form the backbone of our technical know-how,'' Nasser says.

The company has a showroom in Muscat.