National Cable Industry (NCI) claims to be the first 'regional' manufacturer of cables, having been set up in the UAE in technical cooperation with a well-known international cable manufacturer and other leaders in the field.

Established in 2000, NCI is the second major UAE cable manufacturer, according to company management.

NCI was set up primarily to serve the ambitions of the UAE government and contribute to the power distribution and transmission requirements of the region. It manufactures top-quality electrical wires and cables and overhead conductors to current British and international standards such as IEC, BS, ASTM, DIN and VDE, he says.

NCI has an office in Dubai and is setting up another in Abu Dhabi. It currently supplies its products to the local market and plans to enter Oman and Africa. NCI's distribution network, whose central hub is in Sharjah, is also ideally placed for accessing some of the world's most advanced ports.

"The cable market in the region in general and the UAE, in particular, has been growing healthily in the past decade," says a company official. "Against this backdrop, increasing capacity and cheap imports have put clear and considerable pressure on the industry. NCI was established to provide customers with a wider choice."

NCI's products include electrical wires, low-medium, high-voltage cable up to 240 kV, fire-retardant cables, low smoke and halogen cables, in addition to overhead conductors used for power transmission lines up to 500 kV.

Its 100,000 sq m manufacturing facility can produce 45,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of copper conductors and 20,000 tpy of aluminium conductors.

"NCI's policy is to supply customers with products which fully satisfy their needs. We are aiming to achieve awards such as Dubai Quality Award and Deming Award. Our products perform safely, consistently and reliably for the life of their intended use. They meet their designed specifications, whether set by the customer, country or internationally. NCI testing facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories. We offer up-to-date and reliable technical support and our after-sales service is incomparable," the official claims.

"The company, equipped with the latest manufacturing and testing facilities and highly-trained and qualified staff, strives to achieve top quality by selecting the best raw materials," he states. "Products are governed by ISO 9001:2000 certification; while measures are being taken to conform to ISO 14001 for Environment Management System, OHSAS 18001 for Occupational Health and Safety and ISO 17799 for Information Security Management System."

The company's staff of around 200 are well-trained for the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system.

The official says: "National Cables has one and only one ambition. To be seen as the best by our customers. There is need for wider choice in the region which National Cables can offer customers."

NCI has installed the enterprise resource planning system "BaaN 4" to link all the company's operations for higher accuracy and faster results, he confirms.