Alutec – a leading aluminium facade and curtain-walling company in Qatar – has embarked on a massive expansion in a bid to emerging among the top three players in its field by the year-end.

“Alutec’s forte has been in early adoption of manufacturing technology and management techniques suitable for its business,” says a spokesman for the Doha-based company. “It has the largest manufacturing capacity for cladding and curtain-walling in Qatar and is only company in the country with tempering facilities. It was also the first in the field to achieve ISO 9001 certification.”
The fact that many of the landmark buildings in Doha were executed by Alutec is testimony to the capability and capacity of the company, he adds.
“Having carried out a number of prestigious projects in Qatar and in Bahrain, Alutec is not resting on its laurels. It is actively expanding and inducting the latest technology in the field to Qatar to emerge as one of the top three players in the field by the end of 2005,” he comments.
“Our strength is in our production base and the systems we have,” observes Thampi Narayanan, who founded the company in 1985 with the guidance and support of Shaikh Ali bin Hamad Al Thani. “We invest in production capacity well ahead, poised to meet demands as the market develops,” he adds.
As part of the expansion programme, new CNC machines for cladding and curtain-walling are being added to its facilities over the next two months. In addition, a powder and liquid coating plant is being installed to provide future buildings with a superior protection of liquid coating systems (PVdF). 
Also to be included later this year is a fully robotic double-glazing unit capable of producing glazed units at the rate of 400 per day. 
“This expansion will more than double the capacity of the company and pave the way for offering ‘unitised’ curtain wall systems in Qatar – and schedules with lesser manpower on site.  This system also has the advantage of performing all critical operations in controlled factory conditions to ensure the integrity and performance in the buildings of tomorrow,” he adds.
Alutec has long realised that human resources are vital to the overall performance of the company.  A multinational pool of professional talent has been carefully assembled to work in a cohesive way, Narayanan points out. 
“With growth, management systems and techniques are continually reviewed and revamped to ensure that the company retains its quintessential entrepreneurship even while growing and ensuring compliance to standards.
“As Qatar prepares for the Asian Games, there is a flurry of building activity.  New standards are being demanded by the builders and clients, who are determined to complete their projects on time.  This calls for strong support from subcontractors and in Alutec, one can finds a company raring to rise to the big challenge – and even go beyond,” he concludes.