Mammut Building Systems of the UAE has expanded and hired veteran executives in a bid to further boost its profile in the Gulf.

The company is also looking at entering the Saudi market by early next year, according to its new general manager Muayyad Khudairi.

The manufacturer of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEBs) has just relocated its manufacturing operations to its new state-of-the-art factory in Sharjah, UAE, which according to Khudairi, is considered to be the most automated PEB factory in the GCC.

Khudairi, who was recruited in January this year, was one of four top executives from the PEB industry recently hired by Mammut, with the aim of positioning itself to become the preferred steel buildings supplier in the lower Gulf region, primarily Qatar and the UAE.

The new general manager comes with 21 years experience in the PEB industry, both in the US and the GCC. His last position was vice president of Zamil Steel's PEB division, where during his 10 years tenure, Zamil Steel was transformed from a Saudi-focused organisation to the largest PEB manufacturer outside the US.

Mammut has also appointed Alaa Jarrar as its products and systems manager, Muhammad Khudhairi as operations manager and Fawaz Haraki as regional sales manager for the UAE.

Jarrar spent seven years as a design engineer at Kirby Building Systems, Kuwait, and 10 years at Zamil Steel during which he served as engineering manager and products and systems manager and was responsible for the total computerisation of its engineering systems.

Muhammad Khudhairi, who will be in charge of all factory operations, served for two years as plant manager at Kirby Building Systems Kuwait, in the early 1980s, five years as area sales manager for Zamil Steel in Sri Lanka and four years as general manager of Zamil Steel Vietnam.

Haraki has over 10 years experience in the design and engineering of pre-engineered steel buildings at Kirby Building Systems, Kuwait and eight years as Zamil Steel's area sales manager for Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

Mammut Building Systems entered the pre-engineered steel buildings five years ago when it was founded in Dubai as Gulf-NorBuild. Last year, it secured the two largest contracts in the Middle East for pre-engineered steel buildings, one located in Abu Dhabi and the other in Dubai, according to the general manager.

"Our aim is to become the leading PEB manufacturer in the lower Gulf by producing higher quality products and offering higher standards of before and after-sales service than is currently offered in this industry," the general manager says. "Our goal is to capture 50 per cent of the market share for PEBs in the lower Gulf region (UAE and Qatar) by greatly surpassing our competitors in the areas of quality, delivery time and price in these markets."

He continues: "Our new factory has a monthly production capacity of 3,500 tonnes of pre-engineered steel buildings which is equivalent to a footprint of 100,000 sq m of finished building, making us one of the large players in the PEB industry.

"An important advantage we have over our competitors in the UAE and Qatar is that we do not market our products through exclusive certified builders: contractors who buy and resell or construct PEBs on behalf of PEB manufacturers. We sell directly to contractors and owners and are able to offer our customers lower prices as they save the markup often applied by exclusive builders of PEB manufacturers."

Mammut Building Systems, he says, welcomes all contractors and owners in the GCC especially in the UAE and Qatar to give it an opportunity to quote for their projects by sending their enquiries to sales@mammut.ae

Mammut's response will be fast and most competitive, he adds.