Spanish sanitary ware manufacturer Roca, which is celebrating its 50-year-old business relationship with the Middle East market, says that it intends to maintain its leadership in the sanitary ware market, in terms of quantity as well as in quality and design.

Roca has also unveiled plans of establishing a sales subsidiary in Dubai – Roca Middle East – which will allow it to be closer to the Middle East market and help the development of its product portfolio and revenues.
“Our current focus is to strengthen the brand’s awareness in the region, which we will try to achieve by upgrading our showrooms and also by having a higher rotation of displays that will enable us to showcase the latest we have to offer,” says Victor Schoone, export area manager, Middle East.
“The Middle East has been very important for Roca especially as regards exports. The size of each and every market in the region largely determines the volume of our trade with that country; the important thing is that for Roca, each and every market in the Middle East is important. We have a special relationship with all the countries in the region and we intend to continue and strengthen it,” he says.

Technology savvy
“In the near future, Roca expects to make considerable investments that will allow the penetration of new markets and also increase the company’s share in existing markets.
“Our investment target of spending two per cent of our annual turnover in research and development and innovation (R+D+I) is an integral part of our strategy and ensure our competitive edge,” says Schoone.
“Our objective is to improve the levels of innovation and in the process, attain greater technological independence. Research has always been regarded a strategic factor that ensures competitiveness.
“Our advances in R&D can be gauged in terms of new products and also the improvement of existing products. This year, we intend to promote fully automatic shower toilets (with an automatic bidet function), the latest technology in hydromassage baths with touch-screen functions, and water and energy-saving devices, which are standard in all our cisterns and mixers.
The company has also introduced modern cogeneration technology for saving energy during production in Roca Ceramica in Barcelona, the robotisation of factories, and the automation of logistics and storage.
“Investment in newer technologies has also allowed Roca to double its capacity of producing prototypes utilising robots and 3D model design systems,” says Schoone.
Established in 1917, in Barcelona, Spain, Roca Sanitario – part of the Roca Corporación Empresarial – operates in four continents and has 35 production centres in 16 countries and a sales network in more than 80 countries. The company has fully-owned production centres and sales subsidiaries in: Germany, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, France, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, UK, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Turkey and the US.
Over the years, the company has established itself as a European leader in bathroom products. In 2004, the group had a consolidated turnover of $2.0 billion.
“The growth of Roca has been in parallel to and inseparable from the evolution of the concept of the contemporary bathroom, which comprises an essential component of a house, as well as having an important bearing on aspects such as hygiene, aesthetics, leisure and the lifestyle of the residents,” says Schoone.
The ISO 9001 and ISO 14001-certified company provides direct employment for 15,000 people across the globe.
The parent company, Roca Corporación Empresarial, engages in the design, production and marketing of products for architecture, construction and interior design, grouped into 2 areas: bathrooms (Roca Sanitario) and ceramic tiles (Roca Ceramica). “The heating division (Roca Calefacción) and the air-conditioning division (Clima Roca York) were sold in 2005 to create even more growth opportunities for our core business, the bathroom market,” he points out.

Innovative design
“Roca is a pioneer in the systematic application of design in all product lines. In 1960, the company had set up a team for undertaking design works and it has grown over the years to currently include more than 100 specialised professionals. Today, we have large facilities in different countries that work exclusively on the design aspect.
“The technical design offices, patent and trademarks section, test laboratory and model and prototype workshops, many of them equipped with CAD/CAM, are also located in these facilities.
“The design committee identifies new solutions for each of the brands, conceptualises specific products for different markets and cultures, and introduces improvements in already existing products. For such purposes, they are responsible for preparing plans for the product, as well as review and updating,” says Schoone.
The company has also received several awards over the years for its designs. In 2002 Roca was granted with the National Design award, which is granted each year by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and the BCD (Barcelona Design Centre) Foundation. “The jury of the contest distinguished Roca for its capacity to incorporate design culture in the management and development of all elements generated in a company with such complexity, linking innovation and quality,” says Schoone.
Roca has worked with external designers for the past decades (the Roca Design Department was created in 1960 by Ramón Sanfeliu, well known in the European design world for bathrooms) including David Chipperfield (UK), Schmidt-Lackner (Germany), Giugiaro (Italy), Ramón Benedito and Rafael Moneo (Spain), R. Oberson (Switzerland), L Lepoix (Germany) and BCF (Italy).
The latest models of Roca – and the most spectacular in terms of design and therefore extremely difficult to produce, according to Schoone – are the Happening series designed by David Chipperfield, UK) and the Element designed by Rafael Moneo (Pritzker prize 1996 for the Auditorium Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain).

Environment friendly
The company follows a strong environmental policy and has received certificates, such as the ISO 14001 and EMAS.
“This guarantees that all production processes comply strictly with environmental conservation standards,” says Schoone.
“We believe that Roca’s greatest contribution to the sustainability and conservation of natural resources is the ongoing development of technology for water and energy savings. We take pride in having designed, produced and marketed millions of units of products, which several times a day, prevent enormous amounts of litres of water from being wasted,” Schoone points out.
Listing out the company’s recently completed projects, he says: “An important project in Dubai was the 21st Century Tower completed in 2004 to which we have supplied 1,000 complete sets of our most luxury model Veranda. We are now hoping to be selected as one of preferred suppliers for the project The World in Dubai, and The Pearl in Qatar, among other important projects.
In addition, the company has been associated with many luxury hotels all over the world that include the Four Seasons, Hilton, Le Royal Meridien, Sheraton, Carlton, Intercontinental, Radisson, Sofitel, Novotel, Holiday Inn, Palm Beach, Hyatt Regency, Melia and Royal, Grand and Crown Prince Hotels, as well as many tower buildings and villas.