Expansion of workshop facilities and bringing in new equipment to enhance production capabilities are the key short-term goals for Eastern Province-based concrete batching plant manufacturer Al Kifah Batching Plant.

So says general manager Abdul Rahman S Al Katheer, who adds that the booming construction industry in the Kingdom looks set to continue.

"Demand from readymix companies has increased," he explains. "And our sister company Al Kifah Construction has been executing projects around the Kingdom worth hundreds of millions of riyals," he adds. "Compared to last year, we have recorded a doubling of production and our expectation for the coming year is for even more output," says Al Katheer.

Operating to ISO standards, Al Kifah Batching Plant claims to be the only company in the Middle East to design, manufacture, supply and install mobile, portable and static concrete batching and mixing plants, as well as accessories such as washing plants, cement silos, hoppers, radial and static converters and electric control panels. The company also performs mechanical and electrical work in the batching plants. Al Kifah recently expanded the scope of its activities to cover the production of pan mixers and transit mixer drums, says Al Katheer.

To meet customer requirements, Al Kifah has an engineering and design office in the UK - Al Kifah Design and Export - where these requirements are studied by specialist engineers and machines designed accordingly.

The company has played an important role in the rapid growth of Saudi Arabia's construction sector, providing its competitively-priced products and services to some major projects in the Kingdom and the UAE since its establishment in 1993. For example, Al Kifah recently supplied equipment to Tremix and Transgulf in the UAE, which will be used to manufacture concrete for The Palm project in Dubai. A recent contract signed with Saudi Readymix, meanwhile, is for the manufacture, supply and commissioning of the company's two 120 cu m per hour, fully computerised batching plants. These plants will be used to supply concrete to huge projects in the Kingdom's Eastern Province.

Al Kifah Batching Plant backs up its operations by representing leading international companies such as Command Data Incorporated of the US (Eagle Computer batching systems); Rapid International Limited of the UK (high-speed rotary pan mixers and concrete reclaimer units); and WAM of Italy (cement screw conveyors, silo filter units, silo pressure relief valves, silo level indicators, silo aeration systems, butterfly and slide valves, and electric and pneumatic vibrators.

With more than 100 employees - including workshop and administration departments - Al Kifah is a well established player in the market and, as a result of the large number of orders received from the UAE, it has opened a Dubai office to provide support and after-sales service. Indeed, service is a vital part of Al Kifah's business, and resident technicians are available with all spare parts to carry out repairs anywhere within the GCC to minimise customers' losses and breakdown times, according to the company.