Mutlaq H Al-Morished has a massive job that is literally testing his mettle and that of the Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed) during a period of intense competition for steel supply.

He is president of the Metals Group, a significant part of Sabic's (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) diversified manufacturing businesses, consisting of flat and bar steel and aluminium. Al-Morished is also president of the world-scale Hadeed complex located in Jubail Industrial City, the region's leading steel maker.

Al-Morished is well aware of the cyclical and extremely tough nature of the steel business and is fighting hard to increase market share for Hadeed. In an increasingly competitive regional and world market every day, Hadeed is intensifying its efforts to reduce costs and improve productivity.

Hadeed has built its reputation on quality and delivery, and importantly as a highly competitive supplier of rebar to the construction and industrial sectors. Hadeed is associated with almost all the major construction projects of the Middle East over the past 20 years for rebar supply.

The Kingdom Centre is using Hadeed products as has Al-Faisaliah, Burj Al Arab and Emirates Towers and many other landmark projects where quality counts. In fact, for weldable rebars only Hadeed in the Gulf region, and certain manufacturers in Japan and Germany have the advanced technology necessary to provide the steel.

Like most global steel makers, Hadeed adopted a strategy of increasing its range of steel products to add value, hence the decision to build a flat steel plant.

During a period of intensive capacity expansion for the flat steel facility, Al-Morished has improved cost efficiencies and productivity, reorganised the workforce and significantly reduced operating costs to make the company leaner and fitter. Nevertheless, Al-Morished also has to battle against the global steel market to bring Hadeed increased market share. "There is much dumping into the Saudi market so we are facing intense competition from within the region and from the CIS countries. Our quality is second-to-none but it is not easy in the short term when there is unfair competition," says Al-Morished.

Hadeed now has a range of new products following its massive expansion that upgraded and expanded facilities through state-of-the-art technologies and technical enhancements for both production and administration. Hadeed has also invested heavily in IT not only to serve management and administration but to improve production processes.

Commercial production of flat steel started in the summer of 2000 making Hadeed II the only plant in the region with the ability to produce quality flat steel sheets. Hadeed II includes an electric steel-making unit, a continuous slab caster, and hot and cold rolling mills with auxiliary integrated facilities.

Hadeed II has a design capacity of 850,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of flat sheet steel products available for conversion by regional customers into a variety of manufactured products.

These include pre-engineered steel structures, tanks and oil drums, truck body assemblies, steel sections and household appliances.

Currently, Saudi Arabian sheet steel imports total 2.5 million tpy, with Hadeed having ambitious growth targets in the years ahead with plans to raise annual production of flat steel to 2 million tpy through a series of phased expansions. This will include construction of an additional direct reduction module, an electric arc furnace, a steel slab casting machine, a slab reheating furnace and a finishing mill stand.

Commercial production at Hadeed II is a significant milestone in making the company one of the most competitive steel makers in the region. Its diversified portfolio of long and flat steel products is opening new opportunities to serve a wider range of downstream customers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

The integrated steel complex's total production capacity of long and flat products was more than 3 million tpy in 2000, with the bulk consumed in the local market. Hadeed adopts a principle of partnership with its domestic and regional customers, and has a sales office in Dubai, with technical and metallurgical support through R&D and also undertakes a wide range of research studies.