Mammut Building Systems, a leading manufacturer of pre-engineered steel buildings (PEBs) and polyurethane-injected sandwich panels, is on the path of expansion and diversification and is now making a sizeable investment in setting up a precast production facility in Dubai.

The company, with an annual turnover of $50 million and an employee strength of 600, will continue its participation at the Big 5 show this year, and put on display a range of products that include PEBs, injected sandwich panel and precast panels at its stand 6A288.
The UAE-based company has acquired the new technology for insulated precast panels from Canada and will be introducing this new product line at this year’s Big 5 show. Mammut is setting up a new state-of-the-art precast panel production facility at Technopark in Dubai and has already finalised a deal for the equipment to be installed at the factory.  Production is expected to start next July.
“We have been exhibiting at the Big 5 Show for a few years now,” says vice president Muayyad Al Khudairi. “Last year’s exhibition was very useful and we got a lot of contracts and sales. Events such as the Big 5 make it easier to promote the company and our products, since they allow us to meet all the decision makers from around the world at one place.”
Mammut’s recent expansion involved the opening up of a new sales office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and this will be followed by the opening of another sales office in Kuwait later this year.
These new areas will be served by Mammut’s second PEB plant – set up at Dubai – plans for which are being finalised.
Says Khudairi: “In recent months, Mammut’s sales have exceeded its production capacity and the need for a second PEB factory became imminent.
“Our new plant – to be built on a 120,000 sq m plot – will have a production capacity of 4,000 tonnes of built-up sections, a primary component of PEBs, and will be fully dedicated to GCC customers.
“Our existing plant in Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone will be fully allocated to exports outside the GCC, including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.”
Once complete, the expansions will see the company increase its production capacity from 3,000 tonne per month to 4,000 tonne per month, and finally to 5,500 tonnes per month by next year, says Khudairi.
He continues: “Over 50 per cent of the production capacity of the new plant will be targeted at the Saudi and Kuwait market where Mammut is relatively a newcomer and its market share is still marginal in comparison to the size of the PEB market there.”
Engineering for the second PEB plant will be provided from India where Mammut is currently selecting a location for a large engineering presence. Mammut’s current engineering capacity is sufficient to handle the second plant’s requirements during 2005.
“The purchase of machinery (which includes four automated submerged arc welding machines, known in the industry as Conrac’s) was finalised last month. Construction will begin next January and production of built-up sections will begin in April 2005. The plant will also produce secondary galvanised members (purlins, girts, eave struts, etc.) and single skin cladding. A sandwich panel line will be added in December 2005.”
Mammut claims to have captured 65 per cent of the UAE market for PEBs and its meteoric rise is attributed to several factors.
“The first is our ability to recruit and retain top performers in the PEB industry in this region. The second is our error free detailing software that has made Mammut the only PEB company in the region that can manufacture components devoid of the fabrication errors that could result from engineering errors. The third is attributed to its huge and highly automated existing factory. The fourth is Mammut’s huge production capacity of polyurethane injected sandwich panels, a capacity that exceeds the combined sandwich panel production capacity of all the other PEB manufacturers in this region,” lists out Khudairi.
Established in 1997, Mammut has acquired a sizeable market share in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Yemen and Sudan. The new plant will enable it to gain substantial market share in Saudi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran.
The company has supplied PEBs for the following clients in the UAE: Adipco pipe manufacturing factory in Abu Dhabi, Dubai Textile City, System Construct, RAK Ceramics and Silver Coast.
Elsewhere, Mammut PEBs have been erected for Arabian Pipes Company, Rajhi Steel, and Middle East Insulation in Saudi Arabia; National Petrochemical and Arya Sasol Polymer Company in Iran; United Construction in Pakistan and Georgia Contracting, among others.