German Gulf Enterprises (GGE) – is a pioneer in the supply of concrete pumps, plaster machines and other mortar pumps in the UAE and a year older than Conmix – says it was instrumental in the establishment of the readymix giant.

“The seventies were the boom years in the UAE when Rudi Eller from Germany, who had been earlier in the UAE for six years, joined hands with the prominent businessman Abdul Rahman Bukhatir in 1974 to fill a gap in the market by setting up a company to import and introduce modern construction equipment, meeting the demands of the fast expanding construction sector,” says Richard Eller, general manager of the trading and engineering company, which has its head office in Sharjah.
“GGE started with the import of Putzmeister concrete pumps. However, in those days, the required quantity of batched concrete for the pump output configuration was not ideally available – hence the decision to form a readymix company with sufficient batching capacity. With this came the necessity to find an ideal know-how partner. The German company Karl Epple fit the bill and in November 1975 Conmix, the first modern ready-mix concrete and dry mix plaster manufacturer in the UAE, was established as a joint venture comprising Bukhatir Investments, German Gulf Enterprises and Karl Epple (Germany).
“Over the years, both GGE and Conmix have grown in parallel. Today, Conmix is a major player in the industry and is expanding and setting up further factories to meet the ever-growing demand. GGE has also diversified and today offers products not only for the construction industry but also for other related sectors.
“Over the past few years, our business has grown significantly with the immense construction boom going on.
Starting in 1974 with concrete pumps from Putzmeister, excavators and truck-mounted cranes from Atlas Weyhausen, Germany, GGE later took on the agency for Liebherr AG (Bad Schussenried) of Germany, a leader in the field of concrete batching plants and truck mixers, enabling GGE to offer a complete range of concrete machinery for ready-mix companies and contractors.
With the backbone of its main construction equipment and workshop division firmly in place, GGE decided to diversify by adding more products. Today GGE has four main divisions.
The construction equipment sales and workshop division is the largest and contributes 50 to 60 per cent of the company’s annual turnover. Supporting its sales activities is a very well-equipped workshop under the supervision of a qualified German engineer and his team of 60 experienced personnel, enabling the company carry out repairs/servicing of all kinds of construction-related machinery and the fabrication of various types of steel structures such as steel bodies for trucks, garbage skips, containers for sand and aggregate bins for concrete batching plants.
“Thanks to our reputed after-sales services, even customers from adjacent countries such as Oman, Bahrain and Qatar – where agencies might not be equally-equipped – turn to us as we have comprehensive facilities and can meet their special requirements,” says Eller.
Another strong division is the Hydraulic Engineering division, which represents renowned hydraulic companies such as Bosch Rexroth, Hydromatik, Brueninghaus and offers specialised services, repair and high-capacity testing facilities.
GGE also has an Excavators Hire division, which offers Atlas and Liebherr excavators in capacities ranging from 13 to 60 tonnes along with all types of attachments/accessories.
“We have supplied our products/services to several major projects such as the Burj Al Arab, Emirates Towers and the Burj Dubai, major shopping mall developments, infrastructural projects, marine, oil and gas, offshore, ship repairs and other industrial projects/sectors,” Eller says.
GGE also leases out Putzmeister stationary concrete pumps and special pumps for mixing and conveying/spraying materials such as plasters and renders, floor screed, dry materials (sand and gravel) and foam concrete.
The fourth division specialises in the supply of welding equipment, special welding electrodes and thermal spray equipment and consumables such as wires, powders and compounds.
“We had diversified our product range to tide us over the lean years. Since their inception, all four divisions have developed and today we are one of the leading players in the market with a workforce of around 260 people,” he asserts.
Elaborating on the company’s plans for the future, Eller says: “Over the next year, we are expanding with a branch establishment in Dubai, a sales office in Al Ain equipped with an emergency service workshop and a Qatar branch sales office. We are also in the process of extending our existing facilities in Abu Dhabi.
“We want to grow with the market. We continuously add more products/services to our portfolio and are on the look out for suitable suppliers seeking partners here.
“We also aim to extend our product range to ensure that we stay ahead in the market. Competition is tough but we are able to distinguish ourselves through our quality products and after-sales service, which we constantly strive to improve. We have a huge inventory of spare parts and we make sure we keep all the necessary stocks at hand to safeguard minimum downtime for our clients.
“The market is changing and new equipment is coming in, like high capacity dredgers for huge island projects – so we are keeping a constant watch on market developments in order to be of greater service.
“To get new equipment to where it is wanted promptly and reliably is a big challenge as is the recruitment of qualified people for the job but we have been successful in this regard.”
“Given our assets and the strategies we have in place, we are well poised to meet the challenges of the future,” he adds.
GGE’s main product range covers:
• Putzmeister concrete pumps, plastera and mortar machines, concrete distributor booms, pipeline systems and accessories;
• Putzmeister Dynajet high pressure cleaners;
• Liebherr concrete batching plants, concrete recycling plants and truck mixers;
• Atlas Terex excavators and cranes;
• Kaelble Terex wheel loaders;
• Kinshofer hydraulic block loading grabs;
• Probst building material handling and laying systems;
• Vogel lubricating systems;
• Hydraulic systems/services, repair and testing facilities, pneumatics from Rexroth Bosch Group, Hydromatik, and Brueninghaus;
• Hydac electronics, filters and accumulators;
• Meiller hydraulic services and tippers;
• Gri-Tec (Lincoln Group) special welding electrodes, rods and wires;
• Messer cutting and welding metal cutting machines – manual and automatic and oxy-fuel products;
• Sulzer Metco thermal coating technologies;
• Welding Alloys automatic welding machines and consumables;
• Kemppi Oy welding machines;
• Multimetall chemical metallurgical products;
• Haynes International high performance alloys;
• Deloro Stellite cobalt alloys and plasma transferred arc machines;
• Felder solders and fluxes;
• Ampco metal group (US) non-ferrous welding consumables;
• Bug ‘O’ Systems (US) automation in welding and cutting;
• Polysoude orbital tig welding machines;
• Abicor Binzel tig and mig torches;
• Mosa diesel welders;
• Aliko waterjet cutting machines;
• Hypertherm plasma cutting machines;
• Indalco aluminium rods and wires; and
• Other products: Solida rock breaker chisels, HBU load cells, Behr temperature switches, Wam butterfly valves and hanger bearings, Euchner joysticks, Eurodur wear plates for batching plants, Esser twin layer concrete delivery pipes, Liebherr excavator parts, Komet cutting tools, Lake Monitor flow meters, Tyrolux machining tools.