One of Saudi Arabia’s major business success stories began in the mid-1950s when Sheikh Ahmed Attieh established a steel fabrication workshop in Jeddah.

Today, Attieh Steel has grown into one of the largest players in the region’s steel industry, comprising a number of companies that offer a complete range of steel-related products and services. These include Attieh Steel Company Limited (ASL), Attieh Steel Factory (ASF), Arabian International Company for Steel Structures (AIC), SIDC Metal Coating Company (SMC) and Saudi Allied Metal Industries, as well as host of a non-steel-related business.
Having established a well-integrated steel-manufacturing conglomerate in the kingdom, the 50-year-old group now believes that the time is ripe to spread its wings to other parts in the region, and thus achieve a threefold increase in its turnover.

 Reminiscing about the company’s early years, the founder and president of the Attieh Group Ahmed Attieh says: “They were years that need the courage of pioneers. Every experience was new, not only for us but also for the kingdom at large. We were learning to produce for a nation that was itself learning to build. We believed in youth as our key to success and 50 years of success has made us even more youthful and aggressive.”
Tracing the growth of the company, vice chairman and CEO of the Attieh Group Walid Attieh says: “The beginnings of the company are a story reminiscent of the start up of giant corporations that had their beginnings in humble sheds which, in a relatively short period of time, exploded into a multi billion-Saudi-riyal steel conglomerate.
“The burgeoning construction boom in the kingdom in the sixties and seventies provided the company with opportunities which it amply availed of: It grew in leaps and bounds and today boasts a conglomeration of companies that encompass all forms of steel production, services and applications.”
“The success of the firm can be attributed to the fact that Attieh is fully family-owned which was conducive to sharing a common family view of the business and to the provision of a continuing stream of new blood to inject fresh ideas to ensure the growth and evolvement of the company,” continues Walid.
“With the continuously changing markets, the group kept abreast with the increasing demand for flat products made from steel coils satisfying the requirements for customised sizes and faster delivery.
Another overriding aspect of Attieh Group’s success was its realisation that the company should at all times couple its downstream effort with its upstream activity.
Attieh Group could, therefore, be involved with power plants, desalination plants and steel building as a manufacturing company and, simultaneously, be a provider of raw materials. Growth was also linked to the needs of the burgeoning market. This, together with the general Saudi boom in the early sixties and the seventies enabled it to increase its market share of the company while kindling its interest in non steel businesses.
All the group’s companies shared in this success. Attieh Steel Company was in the lead.

Well stocked ... ASL maintains an impressive inventory at its warehouse, which is located in Jeddah along with its headquarters.

Attieh Steel Company Limited (ASL)
Founded in the early 1950s as a small steel trading and fabrication business, this flagship of the Attieh Group contributes some 60 per cent of the group’s annual turnover of over SR2 billion ($534 million). ASL, the country’s major steel and metals stockist, currently has 23 branches around the region and caters to the needs of traders, stockists, fabricators and manufacturers, locally in Saudi Arabia, in the Gulf countries, Yemen and in parts of East Africa.
According to Mohammad Zameli, managing director of the Attieh Group, the company is the largest buyer of steel products from Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed).
Attieh Steel Factory (ASF) has recently been merged into ASL, providing the company with a state-of-the-art steel service centre with a design capacity of 200,000 tonnes.
This year, the factory has processed 170,000 tonnes of steel products and an expansion programme currently under way will see service centres established in Riyadh and Dubai during 2006 and cut-and-bend facilities in Dubai and Jeddah (mid-2006).
ASL’s head office and 140,000 sq m central warehouse is located in Jeddah where the company maintains an inventory of over a 4,000-item stock line and different sizes of steel. The company provides world-class quality products and services to its clientele, which includes most of the heavy engineering industries, contractors and other sectors.
The company is backed by top international steel manufacturers including Hadeed, Thyssen, Corus, UGS, Al Ettefaq, Arcelor, Iscor, Ugine and Nippon.
The range of products supplied includes metal sheets, beams, bars, deformed bars, pipes, tubes as well as fire bricks, and clay crucibles, electrodes, industrial tools, steel flanges, cutting discs, timber and other related items.
ASF’s product range includes hot and cold-rolled steel sheets, checkered steel sheets, galvanised and electro-galvanised steel sheets and pre-painted steel sheets.

Its commitment to quality standards has resulted in the company being accredited with ISO 9001 certification.
ASL’s in-house fabrication shops undertake all challenging minor jobs including bending, cutting, notching and slitting.

Wassim ... AIC to expand.

Arabian International Company for Steel Structures (AIC)
Another company within the group is AIC, a structural steel engineering, manufacturing and erection firm which was acquired in 1994 as part of the group’s expansion into downstream activities. 
The facility, which was under German management for over 15 years was modernised and expanded to include the fabrication of specialised products  – doubling its output in the first two years.
As one of the region’s leading design and fabrication companies, AIC fabricates steel items for a range of projects including refineries and petrochemical plants, power stations and desalination plants, fertiliser and cement plants, steel rolling mills, power transmission lines, lighting poles and a number of other key sectors such as airports and seaports, high-rise buildings, industrial complexes and factories and defence and security installations.
AIC has recently taken over the group’s galvanising facility in Bahrah in the kingdom, which has a capacity of over 50,000 tonnes per year. The plant was awarded ISO 9002 certification in recognition of its high levels of quality control procedures.
According to Wasim Attiyeh, president of AIC, the company is operating at full capacity, which is why plans are in place for a new state-of-the-art facility in Ras Al Khaimah, which will be built on an 80,000 sq m area and will produce 36,000 tonnes per year.
“Our main reason for building the Ras Al Khaimah plant is to cater for demand in the other GCC countries,” says Wasim Attiyeh. “Here in Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Aramco expanding capacity in a number of fields, we are fully committed to supplying the domestic market. Our production for the kingdom will increase from 24,000 tonnes last year to a projected 75,000 tonnes in 2006.”
AIC’s facilities in Jeddah cover an area of 100,000 sq m with a covered area of more than 20,000 sq m. The workshop consists of several bays handling light, medium and heavy fabrication. It is equipped with automated production lines for cutting, drilling, punching and stamping of profiles and plates. Welding is done by SAW (submerged arc welding), CO2  (automatic and semi-automatic), TIG (gas tungsten arc welding), MIG (gas metal arc welding) as well as manual. Welders are all certified and highly skilled craftsmen.
The AIC machine shop is equipped with a wide range of presses, lathes and boring machines for the production of mechanical components. The company also has in-house automated sand-blasting and painting lines. It assigns a project manager for each project in hand to co-ordinate customer requirements with the various departments of the organisation.
AIC has an engineering office based in Egypt with a planned complement of 80 engineers.

A-Metal ... vital service.

SIDC Metal Coating Company (SMC)
SMC is a joint venture between ASL and Saudi Industrial Development Company. It operates a colour-coating line, which produces pre-coated metal through a continuous high-speed process, utilising polyester coatings. The company’s products, which trade under the brand name Madhoon, are typically applied to building components, cladding, roofing, sandwich panels, appliances and fences and sheds.
The process is highly controlled for quality through a number of laboratory tests, which cover colour-matching, curing, flexibility and hardness. The 150-m coating line can operate at a speed of 75 m per minute.
The testing of prepainted steel is carried out to the test methods of the European Coil Coating Association of which SMC is a member.
Galvanised steel and paint are purchased from the world’s leading suppliers utilising detailed specifications.  ASTM A653 is the basis of SMC’s steel specifications but its purchases specify many extra stipulations, ensuring that its clients receive premium quality products.

Saudi Allied Metal Industries (A-Metal)
The final steel-related group company is Saudi Allied Metal Industries, which operates under the name “A-Metal”.
A-Metal  – a British brand registered in 1991 which captured a significant share of the market in Europe, Middle and Far East – was jointly acquired by the Attieh Group and Saudi Binladin Group, who set up the production facility in Saudi Arabia in June 2000 as Saudi Allied Metal Industries.
This venture represents a step forward in the Attieh Group’s long-term downstream strategy in the steel industry.
A-Metal provides a vital service to the construction and industrial unit through design and the development of a comprehensive and innovative range of products manufactured to the most stringent British and international standards, says Zameli.
This firm provides total solutions in respect of a range of product lines which includes ceiling systems and tiles, drywall partitions, studs, trucks and ceiling profiles, fixing systems for cladding, fasteners, steel construction accessories and a complete range of black steel, galvanised and stainless steel bolts.

Other group companies
At a later stage, Attieh Group diversified into a wide range of brand new fields such as electromechanical contracting. It acquired Al Muruj Electromechanical Company, which has years of experience in the field, having carried out the electro mechanical works in several public, residential, commercial and industrial complexes.
December 2001 saw the establishment of the joint venture, Peaks Construction and Maintenance Company, a specialised contracting company involved in infrastructure projects and speciality maintenance jobs in the oil and gas industries. The joint venture partners with Attieh Steel are Al Muruj, Al Zamil Heavy Industries and a group of foreign investors with vast experience in the targeted fields.
Attieh Group’s non-construction related companies include Attieh Medico and Al-Mawaed for Food Supply and Catering Services Company. 
However, 90 per cent of the group’s turnover currently emanates from the steel-related companies.

Future
With a total staff of 1,800 and offices in the Gulf region and Africa, Attieh’s future is now geared towards massive growth. On the trading side, the company plans to grow its current turnover of over SR1 billion ($266 million) to SR3 billion ($800 million) by growing regionally in what is considered to be a booming market. The fabrication side of the business is also gearing up for growth, fuelled by the huge growth in oil, petrochemicals and power infrastructure in the region.
The company’s Ras Al Khaimah plant will be the catalyst for the future development of AIC. For the future, Attieh is also looking at the possibility of developing into upstream industries such as producing and galvanising coils.
More exciting plans are ahead for this family-owned business, which was launched 50 years ago with the vision of one man. The company philosophy is based on teamwork, autonomy and empowerment, which coupled with a reputation for integrity and honesty has helped catapult the Attieh Group to its current prominent position in the industry.
The Attieh family remains in charge and it shows great promise for taking its company to high pinnacles. The group today can well be called the House of Steel.