A K Al-Muhaidib & Sons Group of Companies, one of Saudi Arabia's diversified trading houses, has been a regular participant at SaudiBuild exhibitions.

The group will be back at this year's event, focusing on its manufacturing and trading strengths within the building materials and construction industry.

Founded over half a century ago, Al-Muhaidib & Sons today has 16 firms within its group, several of which cater to the building and construction industry.

These include Al-Muhaidib Metal Industries, United Wood Products (UWP), Forte Industrial Company, Saudi Industrial Paints Company (Sipco), Al-Muhaidib Building Materials, Al-Muhaidib Hardware Company, International Timber, Al-Muhaidib Contracting Company and the Dewan Trading Group.

Al-Muhaidib Metal Industries, which was established in 1982, has been exhibiting at SaudiBuild for the last decade, says its factory manager Maher Churbaji.

"Within our line of manufacture, we introduce new products every year," he says. "Also, our lists of compliance certificates and executed projects keep growing."

"Our exports cover all the GCC states, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and also the east of Africa, and account for 30 per cent of total sales. Business levels have also been rising every year."

Al-Muhaidib Metal has five impressive and modern manufacturing units, all based in Riyadh's second industrial city.

The reinforced steel division provides reinforcing steel bars (cut and bend), welded expanded mesh, wire and cables, steel rods, galvanized sheets and drawn wires.

The metal works division offers steel sheets, expanded metal for plastering and block-work, wheelbarrows, mesh fencing and decorative tubes and pipes.

The ornamental division produces decorative wrought iron to the highest standards for palaces, hotels, and commercial projects. These products include gates, doors, staircases, balustrades, windows and screens.

The aluminium division fabricates a wide range of modern and sophisticated building products including doors, partition systems, windows, frames, curtain-walling, cladding and rolling shutters. It is also an authorised fabricator for Technal of France.

The steel doors division manufactures hollow metal doors and frames, fire and security doors, bullet-resistant doors, blast doors, clean rooms and detention doors.

All five factories are ISO 9001 certified.

UWP, says Churbaji, was established in 1988 and since then has developed into one of the leading wood-working companies in the Kingdom, providing high-class products and first-class service to its customers.

The factory is located in Riyadh's second industrial estate over a total area of 34,500 sq m, of which 23,000 sq m is dedicated to production. The manufacturing facility consists of three units, which specialise in different product ranges.

The lamination facilities have state-of-the-art machinery for the die manufacture of veneers, which are subsequently applied to substrates such as MDF, blockboard, plywood or chipboard. Decorative films can also be applied to these substrates. Also, UWP is a major producer of shuttering plywood.

A second factory specialises in bespoke and standard hardwood joinery, which includes doors, cabinets and timber laminated beams used in bridges, roofs and racking systems. Kitchens for contract requirements or the retail sector are manufactured including plastic laminate post-formed tops.

Other supplementary products can be supplied to customer's specifications.

All hardwood lumber, which is procured from various regions of the world, is kiln-dried to specified criteria prior to use in either the joinery or furniture factories.

"The third unit deals in custom-designed furniture and specialises in the reproduction of Najd-style woodwork and intricate hand-carving.

UWP is certified to manufacture and install fire-rated timber door sets to British standard fire-test criteria. These test reports cover 30, 60, 90 and 120-minute durations. It is also credited with Underwriters Laboratories' (US) labels for 20, 45, 60 and 90-minute durations.

UWP operates a quality management system which complies with the requirements of ES EN ISO 9001 1994. UWP is also the first wood-working establishment in Saudi Arabia to have been awarded the Saso (Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation) quality certificate for its timber doors, according to Churbaji.

Al-Muhaidib Hardware has over 42 showrooms spread over the Kingdom, and has around 30,000 items of hardware. All its showrooms provide after-sales services to clients.

Over the years, the Al-Muhaidib Hardware Company has become synonymous in the field of hardware, as being a supplier of quality products, who can be relied upon to cater to one and all with products sourced from all parts of the globe, Churbaji says.

Al-Muhaidib & Sons can be seen at stand 519.