Saudi Arabia's International Building Systems Factory Company (IBSF) has announced it is introducing new products on the market and increasing production capacity.

The new products include flat concealed fasteners for architectural purposes as well as steel gratings, hand rails, staircases, cable tray, and overhead crane bridges, says deputy general manager Elias C Najjar.

IBSF, located in Riyadh's second industrial area, plans this year to increase production capacity by setting up a second plant, and to expand and open more sales offices abroad. Its complex has facilities for production, warehouses and offices spread over an area of 30,000 sq m, as well as 20,000 sq m of uncovered space allotted as a storage and transit area.

Turnover in 2000 was SR150 million ($39.9 million), a 20 per cent increase over the previous year, thanks to new markets that were tapped in Africa and the Far East, says Najjar.

IBSF manufactures pre-engineered steel buildings for factories, workshops, warehouses and all types of commercial and industrial building, as well as structural steel for petrochemical and gas projects and insulated panels for buildings needing temperature control and cold store panels. The range also includes flat concealed fasteners, sandwich panels, building accessories such as doors, windows, ventilators, building components and newly-introduced telecommunication and transmission towers.

Its manufacturing capacity is 40,000 tonnes of steel buildings, structures and accessories with the current output being 35,000 tonnes of finished products, indicating a 20 per cent increase over the last year.

IBSF recently won a major contract to supply 900 tonnes of pre-engineered and structural steel including composite roof and wall claddings for 26 buildings for the Qatar Chemical Company (Q-Chem), a petrochemical plant in Mesaieed, Qatar. The US/French group of Kellog Brown & Root (KBR) and Technip are executing the contract, while the local Midmac Contracting is working on the buildings package. The project is scheduled for August next year.

Another major project executed by IBSF was for the supply of 2,500 tonnes of steel for buildings and 70,000 sq m of insulated panels for the Abu Dhabi Polymer Company's (Borouge), a petrochemcial plant in Ruwais, UAE. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

IBSF imports its raw materials from Europe, the Far East, Australia and the US. The company applies ASTM, UBC, MBMA, AISC and AWS standards and it has been ISO 9001-certified since 1998.

"IBSF, with its wise marketing strategy, is maintaining orders for a minimum of six months ahead," says Najjar.

"The management and the sales and technical staff, who have over 20 years' experience in the steel building market, expect to meet the company's targets for sales and production for year 2001-2002 and to lead the steel industry in this field."

The Saudi market accounts for half the company's production and sales are achieved through sales offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar and through a network of certified builders.

"The market is very competitive," says Najjar. "But IBSF is committed to offering competitive prices, the highest level of quality standards, faster delivery times, a wider range of products and the best customer services."