Business Review Europe & Middle East – May 2015

w w w.bu sine s s reviewe urop e.e u

May 2015

Special R eport

CROSSRAIL

F5 Netw Saudi Ar orks abia

London’s £14.8bn MEGA PROJECT opens up the city

The impact of disruptive trends on the

d!conomy SMARTPHONES

for serious SUITS

m o d s i w g n i s u o h e r a w : N O I S S DRIVING PA

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Politics and projects in the EC T H I S M O N T H W E I N T R O D U C E one of the outstanding

strategic construction projects of this century – London’s Crossrail. At last there will be easier, quicker and more direct travel opportunities across the capital via new railway lines and tunnels.

And it will bring transport improvements that will be felt across the country; overall its payback is estimated at £42 billion.

Now that the physical infrastructure is getting closer knitted to the digital, underground or overground, connections should never break. Gartner says the number of connected things will jump to 25 billion by 2020 so welcome to the d!conomy. Never heard of it?

For enlightenment see at our article on disruptive trends.

The population of London is 154 times that of the whole of Greenland, whose slow progress to becoming a resources based economy was brought back into focus earlier this year when a large minerals group from China picked up a massive iron ore project that had succumbed to falling prices. That these investors should be prepared to take the long view will surely concentrate the minds of their counterparts in Toronto and London: we feature that Chinese company in our company reports section, and consider Greenland’s new mining era.

Enjoy the magazine and enjoy the spring weather!

John O’Hanlon Editor john.o’hanlon@wdmgroup.com 3

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CONTENTS

Features

16

TECHNOLOGY

The Impact of Disruptive Trends on the d!conomy

8

FINANCE

Crossrail anatomy of a megaproject

24 MARKETING

Smartphones for serious suits 5

CONTENTS

Company Profiles SUPPLYCHAIN

TECHNOLOGY

34 Argos

106 F5 Networks

54 Aldrees Petroleum & Transport Services Co

EXPLORATION

ENERGY 68 Landis + Gyr AG

MINING 84 Ministry of Mineral Resources, Greenland 98 General Nice Development

120 Specialist Services

FOOD 130 Heidi Chocolate

CONSTRUCTION 138 Doha Green Line Project

VIVA and Huawei committed to strategic partnership to build “no edge” LTE network by deploying AICIC solution The AICIC (Adaptive Inter-Cell Interference Coordination) solution was deployed in April of 2015.

Compared with the pre-deployment, a cell edge user’s average throughput increased 51.92% and the maximum amplitude reached up to 86%. AICIC greatly enhances the cell edge users experience and allows “no edge” LTE to become a reality.

Adaptive ICIC

www.HUAWEI.com

34 Argos

54

Aldrees Petroleum & Transport Services Co

120

Specialist Services

84

Ministry of Mineral Resources, Greenland Landis + Gyr AG

68

106

F5 Networks

7

FINANCE

CROS

ANATOMY OF A

The Crossrail project, development in Europe, across London and rema

SSRAIL

A MEGAPROJECT

the largest infrastructure , will transform rail services ains on time and on budget Written by: John O’Hanlon

9

FINANCE

Whitechapel construction site WHO HAS NOT had to get to or through central London after arriving at Heathrow Airport? It was in 1977, 37 years ago, that HM the Queen unveiled a £71 million underground link via the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow’s terminals. At the time it was the first of its kind in the world from a capital to its major airport. Not today – most capital cities have modern high speed links to the major rail termini, and the 40 minute tube journey is no longer impressive for a 15 mile trip.

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May 2015

Caption to the image Heathrow is the world’s busiest airport. When Crossrail services start in late 2018 they will connect the outer suburbs to the heart of the City and West End, as well as providing a quick route between central London and Heathrow Airport. Of course Crossrail is much more than an airport link, though the economic importance of that aspect of the project can hardly be overstated. It is a 73 mile, fast, high frequency, high capacity railway from Reading, Maidenhead and Heathrow

XXXXXXXX

Tunnel Boring machine being lowered into main shaft in the west, through central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

26 miles of tunnels had to be bored in the process of construction.

Reading is still thought of as a County Town rather than a suburb, nevertheless it is at the western extremity of the £32.5 billion economy that has grown along the Thames Valley since it became a magnet for ‘knowledge based’ industries. But the rail service to Paddington is unreliable and overcrowded. Crossrail will bring

the commuters of Reading among 1.5 million people, to within 45 minutes of central London and will link this key development area with London’s employment, leisure and business districts – Heathrow, West End, the City, Docklands – enabling further economic development.

From 2019 it is estimated that 200 million passengers a year will be using Crossrail following the opening of the £14.8 billion project and its 38 designated stations. Currently the 11

FINANCE construction work is more than half way to completion. The heavy lifting has been the tunnelling element of the scheme and that is about 90 percent of the way through: the ticket halls are fully excavated with construction making good progress.

The mayor of London Boris Johnson has understandably taken a close interest in the progress of the engineering work. At the end of March he visited one of the eight great tunnel boring machines (TBMs) 42 metres below ground at Liverpool Street Crossrail station. Victoria, and her TBM and operator

12

May 2015

sister machine Elizabeth, are being prepared for the 750 metre push to Farringdon, which will complete the mammoth tunnelling operation.

“These hardworking beasts have slowly but steadily been working their way across London underneath our feet,” enthused Johnson. “The last time I saw them they were at Canary Wharf, and now nearly six million tonnes of earth has been excavated and their work is almost complete.”

The custom made 1,000 tonne and 150 metre long machines are giant underground factories that are not just tunnelling, but removing the muck and creating a sealed concrete tunnel as they go. Each machine has a rotating cutter head at the front, and a series of trailers behind, housing all the mechanical and electrical equipment required for the excavation of material.

Almost all of the excavated material is put to good use. Threequarters of it is being delivered by rail and ship to Wallasea Island in Essex to create a new nature reserve in partnership with the RSPB. While tunnelling is the sexiest part of the engineering operation, thanks to its sheer scale and the drama when the machines break through into a

C R O S S R A I L : A N AT O M Y O F A M E G A P R O J E C T

Crossrail tunnelling: TBM Victoria breaks into Liverpool Street Station new chamber at the end of a run, the surface work, station construction and ventilation shafts form an equally large part of the scheme. For example, at the new Whitechapel station a shaft is being sunk at Durward Street will include staircases, escalators and lifts for passengers to use to and from the platforms in the new Crossrail station.

Excavation of the shaft is complete

and a two metre thick concrete base slab has been poured to form the foundation of the shaft. Work is now taking place to build the permanent structure of the shaft.

This is the kind of basic, though very large scale, work that is being undertaken all along the line. Every one of the 38 stations presents its own challenges, with major adaptation a 13

FINANCE

Custom House Station structure

minimum. More creative solutions can be introduced where a new station is created. Take the new Custom House station, the only surface station in the central section. Close to Canary wharf it will serve London’s largest conference centre ExCeL and the Royal Docks, and provide an interchange with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). Crossrail asked for “a station that is spacious and open, with a clear identity, expressing its kit of parts construction; efficient in operation, robust in use and maintainable.”

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May 2015

Kit of parts? Yes, it is a flatpack station put up in precisely a year and a day using largely prefabricated off-site components. Large sections of the station were manufactured at contractor Laing O’Rourke’s facility in Steetley, near Sheffield, then transported more than 130 miles to east London and assembled on site.

The process of manufacturing large sections of the station offsite in precast concrete significantly simplified the process of building the station, saving time, reducing disruption, improving quality and making the

C R O S S R A I L : A N AT O M Y O F A M E G A P R O J E C T

process safer. Mujahid Khalid, Crossrail Project Manager at Custom House, said: “Piecing together the 825 sections that make up the station’s structure has been a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It’s been impressive to see the building go up so quickly and efficiently and a lot of hard work has gone in from everyone on the project.

Now the structure is complete, the focus will turn to fitting out the building with escalators, lifts and everything else to turn it into a fully operating station.”

Tottenham Court Road is one of the busiest stations – more than 50 million passengers a year already pass through it, and Crossrail estimates that 37 million will use its new station. At a billion pounds the station works to enable Tottenham Court Road to cope with these huge numbers amount to

Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station

the biggest transport investment in the West End for decades. Alongside the upgrade of the existing tube station, Crossrail is building a new station over 300 yards in length and four storeys below ground. A new street level ticket hall will be constructed at Dean Street, with the station box continuing five levels below ground to a depth of around 25 metres, providing access to the new Crossrail platforms.

The first thing anyone notices when they look at the Crossrail map is that it doesn’t do much for north or south London. The end of the Crossrail tunnel is in sight, and now the case is being made for Crossrail 2, a north/south route that Boris Johnson believes is needed to cut journey times, relieve congestion on existing commuter routes into the capital, enable the development of 200,000 homes and act as “a vast economic boost for London and the UK economy”. At an estimated £20 billion the project, currently in the consultation phase, will take a bit of selling, but as Boris Johnson says: “You have got to think of London as the motor of the rest of the economy and you have to make sure you keep it firing on all cylinders.”

15

TECHNOLOGY

THE IMPACT OF DISRUPTIVE TRENDS ON THE D!CONOMY

Don’t let disruptive trends destabilise your network: the digital economy, or d!conomy, which formed the key theme at this year’s CeBIT in Hannover, represents a fundamental shift in the way business is carried out W R I T T E N B Y: A L E S S A N D R O P O R R O

FROM A TECHNOLOGICAL standpoint, digital transformation of the world economy is a natural fallout of several recent major trends such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, and Cloud.

From a business standpoint, an economy based on digital technologies means a shift in the old interdependencies and value chains.

In this world, digital technologies are 16

May 2015

actually driving and redefining old businesses. The technology sector is sometimes too quick to proclaim any and every new trend a ‘driver for business’. However, with the d!conomy the claim is justified. It is the most convincing recent example of technology as a business transformer.

By innovating processes, some of the most traditional companies are

managing exciting achievements.

Take for instance the colour-matching technology developed by the German Fashion Institute (DMI) that is enabling the textiles industry to replicate exact shades by sending a code from the designer to the factory, rather than sending fabric swatches all the way around the world. Exact matches are made and communicated in an instant

when previously sending swatches for matching took days or even weeks.

There are so many upsides to digital transformation for other organisations, such as local and national governments, hospitals and, other civic services. The possibilities are dizzying. Gartner has predicted that this year the number of connected things will reach 4.9 billion with this 17

TECHNOLOGY figure jumping to 25 billion by 2020.

That is to say, we know a big surge of connected things is coming. Piece by piece, the world we live in is being digitised, but when sweeping changes like this take place, what will happen to those that wait?

Early adopters may evangelise about the benefits of going digital but many other organisations are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach. Whatever the organisation’s strategic plans regarding digitisation, lack of preparation will almost certainly result in a drop in productivity, efficiency, and innovation.

This is where we encounter a potential problem. We all want technology to be an enabler, but if we don’t plan carefully enough it could actually become a business inhibitor? Every day I speak to people responsible for networks in their public or private sector organisations who all admit some apprehension about this new trend.

Let’s take a look at some big trends and how they will affect the network.

Invisible forces The advent of tiny computers with enormous processing power, such as the Intel Curie Module showcased earlier this year, create headaches for 18

May 2015

network administrators, IT managers, amongst other IT professionals.

Aimed at the wearables market, Intel Curie can be embedded into a variety of everyday objects like glasses, watches, clothing and jewellery, all of which can connect to the Internet,

T H E PAT E N T M I N E F I E L D B E H I N D T H E C L O U D

meaning the corporate network can potentially feel the strain from seemingly invisible forces.

Meanwhile, there is change ahead for network access points. Really fast Wi-fi is on its way with companies like D-link and its new line of superfast 802.11ac routers. Examined at the macro level, this will prove valuable at advancing the Internet of Things as more and more devices embedded in everyday objects will be able to transmit data-heavy files.

For IT managers, this means major headaches as multiple access points and more information will make the whole system both slower and more vulnerable.

‘Keeping track of all your training data is becoming easy, fun and a way of life.�

Information overload Take as an example increasingly popular fitness aids such as Fitbit. In the latest version, Fitbit Charge HR can actually monitor your heart rate.

Keeping track of all your training data is becoming easy, fun, and a way of life. Whilst this is a consumer gadget intended for personal use, the medical applications of such monitoring devices are hugely transformative, in an age where we live and work longer and chronic conditions are on 19

TECHNOLOGY

the rise. In a healthcare context, the devices can measure any number of things, from blood sugar to brain activity. They enable the patient to be monitored while maintaining their regular schedule, whether at home or work, rather than requiring costly and inconvenient hospital trips. This helps to transform the notion of the ‘patient’ as someone who is restricted from working or going about his/her normal life. Those same ‘patients’ can 20

May 2015

also be highly productive employees, managing their workload as their healthcare monitoring device manages their condition. Great, isn’t it?

Yes it is. So long as the IT department is prepared for people sending increasing amounts of data from an expanding array of devices around the corporate network. For instance, the latest advances in modelling, gaming, and graphics programs represent a legitimate, exciting opportunity,

SHORT HEADLINE

Fitbit, enables you to track your health

Apple turns iPhone 6 into mobile wallet with Apple Pay

or a big potential blockage slowing down network activity. The additional pressures on bandwidth will create a ripple effect on the network with multiple points of access and vulnerability.

Guaranteeing privacy will be harder Tim Cook recently said: “2015 will be

the year of Apple Pay.” Reflecting on the success of Apple Pay at the company’s Q1 2015 earning call, Cook unveiled that it already has 750 banks and credit unions as partners. It seems we are only a small step away from mobile payments becoming as ubiquitous as iPhones. There are many other companies working hard to simplify 21

TECHNOLOGY

Wockets smart wallet. the way we pay for things. Smart wallet companies like Wocket condense a person’s credit and debit cards into a single plastic card. Cash is in decline and contactless payments are on the rise. Similarly, many applications already keep your passwords and other sensitive information in one place.

Increasingly our personal data is being condensed and transmitted in ways that were once unimaginable.

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May 2015

‘Smart wallet companies like Wocket condense a person’s credit and debit cards into a single plastic card.’

T H E PAT E N T M I N E F I E L D B E H I N D T H E C L O U D

This runs a real security risk with the potential for customer data to be shared in placed it shouldn’t. The challenge for IT departments is going to be ensuring data sharing remains safe…and compliant.

Always ‘on’ technologies Much has been predicted about the growth of wearables and 2015 will be an important year for the sector.

Apple has announced its intent to join the increasing number of major manufacturers producing smart watches. Samsung unveiled the Gear S earlier this year, which combines the functionality of a phone with the design of a watch. Here is a device that looks like a watch but has a SIM card, makes calls and connects to the Internet. Small, portable, easy to use – smart watches and other wearable tech encourages users to keep them on all the time no matter where they are. This does not just mean a drain on the organisation’s resources. What it also signals is the line between personal and business use becoming blurred, making it harder to retain control of data. We’ve seen it happen with smartphones and tablets and now new, previously personal objects

will be helping themselves to the corporate network’s resources. In their excitement to use wearable gadgets, employees will need to be educated about their compliance and data security implications.

The tide of digitisation is coming.

For the IT managers, network administrators and other IT professionals, preparing for the sweeping changes in how people work and play will be a challeng but not an insurmountable one. As CeBIT shows, the d!conomy has so many advantages for us all. Putting in place a networking plan now is the best way to prepare for the future.

About the author Alessandro Porro is Vice President of International Sales at Ipswitch (‘We make IT simple’), He joined the company in 2004, shortly thereafter becoming director of sales for Asia Pacific and Latin America, increasing revenues from those regions by more than 300 percent in his first three years in that role, and after which he was promoted to oversee the division’s entire international interests and profitability, increasing revenues 468 percent through all channels in six years.

23

MARKETING

SMARTPHONES FOR SERIOUS SUIT Unlike your kids, you don’t need to play Clash of Clans on it (probably), but you demand at least as much of your smartphone functions as your kids do, so here we look at the best of the business bunch W R I T T E N B Y: B R A N D O N A C K R O Y D

24

December 2014

TS

25

MARKETING A DECENT SMARTPHONE is a key weapon in the businessman arsenal, from taking client calls to checking emails, working on presentations on the go, to team working apps, it is tough to imagine how much harder it would be to get stuff done without a mobile.

The real question is: which of the many, many devices on the market should you be going for? The days of PDA phones being marketed specifically towards executives are gone. These days, phones tend to be all-rounders, suitable for more market niches. But that doesn’t mean that just any mobile will do.

What Are We Looking For? What exactly is it that we’re looking for then? Well, the obvious suspects are power and speed. Basic functionality is important, no one wants lag, dropped calls or phones that crash when you try to open too many apps.

That means that CPU specs and RAM are important considerations.

But we also want solid compatibility with office software (so you can, for example, open calendar apps on both PC and phone), and good scheduling software built in.

What all this comes down to is that the mobile you choose has to 26

May 2015

An Orange Mobile shop

be right for you. Big specs are good, but your needs are what will dictate which features can be sacrificed in favour of others. If you’re not much into document editing on your mobile, then a larger screen probably isn’t top of your list. If you’re working in a Mac environment, iOS will be a must for you. Is there anything you shouldn’t skimp on?

SMARTPHONES FOR SERIOUS SUITS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Our vote goes to RAM. RAM is really what’s going to make your phone speedy and responsive, and anything less than 1 GB is a no- no.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the top contenders on the business phone market.

Cutting edge tech, huge processing speeds and awesome functionality, these models have it all.

Brandon Ackroyd is head of customer insight at mobile phone comparison site TigerMobiles. com. A self-confessed mobile junkie, he heads up TigerMobiles’ help and advice section, answering customer queries to help them make better buying decisions and get the right phone to suit their needs.

27

MARKETING iPhone 6 and 6 Plus I’ll start off with an obvious choice: the new iPhone models. And, yes, I’ve chosen both of them, since the difference between the 6 and the 6 Plus isn’t huge. iPhones have been a popular business choice for a long time, and for good reason.

Compatibility with iOS is obviously great, so if you’re in a Mac-based office, the iPhone is the clear candidate. Things like file-sharing and calendar synching options are just easier if you’re sticking to the same operating system. But iPhones are also intuitive and easy to use, and Apple’s scheduling software really is second to none.

Which of the two devices to go for? Both have the same 1.4 GHz dual core processor with quad core graphics and 1 GB of RAM, meaning performance is pretty identical. The main difference lies in the screen, the 6 has a 4.7 inch display, and the 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch screen with higher resolution.

Do a lot of editing work, reading, or need to get a look at HD pictures?

Then the 6 Plus will be for you. Not so into big screens? Then go for the portability of the smaller iPhone 6.

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May 2015

SMARTPHONES FOR SERIOUS SUITS

Galaxy Note 4 Phablets (phone-tablet hybrids) are the latest big thing on the mobile market, and business customers have probably benefited more than most. The large screen space offered by a phablet makes it the perfect device for those that need to work on presentations, letters, or projects whilst on the go. And the king of phablets has to be the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

It has certainly got plenty of power, with a 2.7 GHz quad core processor

and a massive 3 GB of RAM. There’s also an SD card slot (unlike on the iPhone), so you can add in a little extra storage. And that screen?

A full 5.7 inches, Super AMOLED, and there’s a stylus as well, making writing even easier. When it comes to compatibility, out of the box the Note isn’t great. This is an Android device, and you’re going to need to download a few apps before you can communicate with your PC or work on Word documents. But for many, the big screen and stylus make the Galaxy Note 4 the business phone of choice.

29

MARKETING

BlackBerry Passport BlackBerry has been a stalwart on the business market for a several years, and not without reason. A full physical keyboard does mean that email writing and messaging is a whole lot easier, and BlackBerry’s native business and productivity apps are great. Okay, so the past few releases from the manufacturer have been less than stellar, but the Blackberry Passport could be the model that puts the company back on top.

Power? Sure, a quad core 2.26 GHz processor and a full 3 GB of RAM. There’s that handy SD card slot too for up to 128 GB of extra memory. But the real selling point of the Passport is the combination of a 4.5 inch touchscreen as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. If you find yourself doing a lot of emailing from your mobile, then the Passport is going to end up being a time saver.

Alright, so there’s no great app store like with iOS or Android devices, but that might be a small price to pay.

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May 2015

SMARTPHONES FOR SERIOUS SUITS

HTC One M9 Last year’s HTC One M8 model was a top seller on the business market, and I fully expect the upgraded M9 version to be as well. Why? Well, because HTC just do sleek and efficient well. Yes, this is a fully featured smart phone, but what really makes the difference here is the interface that HTC use over the regular Android operating system. The user interface on the One M series is minimalistic, which makes finding info and getting notifications very simple.

The use of a “ticker tape” on the home screen, giving you constant updates on everything from the stock market

to your email inbox, simply saves time.

And it doesn’t hurt that the M9 is a looker as well.

Power wise you’re looking at a huge octa core CPU (made up of a quad core 1.5 GHz model and a quad core 2.0 GHz model) as well as 3 GB of RAM, and an SD card slot to take the memory up to 128 GB if necessary. A full 5 inch screen provides more than enough space for most users. This is one of the sleekest and fastest mobiles around, making it the perfect choice for a busy (and fashion conscious) executive.

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MARKETING Moto X 2nd Generation Business devices tend to be at the more expensive end of the spectrumparticularly if you’re looking for lots of power and speed. But the new Moto X 2nd generation from Motorola is a solid hundred or so pounds cheaper than most other models on our list. That doesn’t mean that you’re skimping on features though. The Moto X has tons of power, and Motorola has also equipped it with a stripped down Android operating system, making it easily customisable as well as fast.

You’re getting a quad core 2.5 GHz processor as well as 2 GB of RAM, so performance really isn’t an issue. The screen is 5.2 inches, so it has plenty of display space to play around with.

There’s no SD card slot though, so you’re stuck with either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory, depending on which model you go for. You’ll need to download a few apps to make your mobile compatible with your office system, but that won’t take you more than a few minutes, and might be worth it considering the lower price tag of the Moto X compared to most business phone models.

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May 2015

SMARTPHONES FOR SERIOUS SUITS

Nexus 6 The Nexus 6 is a great phone, there’s no doubt about that, but what makes this a seriously good business mobile choice is all that Google going on. As a Nexus this is a Google phone, and that means it’s already fully equipped with all those Google productivity apps that you’re so used to using.

From Google Now to Google Drive and Gmail, and the excellent Google Calendar, the Nexus 6 is a productivity machine.

Specs are very impressive too.

The Nexus 6 has a quad core 2.7 GHz processor and 3 GB of RAM, so it’s speedy and responsive. The

screen is a massive 5.96 inches, making this a phablet device, so slightly less portable than you might like. Our only real reservation is the lack of SD card slot (the Nexus 6 comes in 32 GB or 64 GB versions), but if you’re storing all your documents on Google’s Cloud then that shouldn’t be an issue.

A good business phone needs reliability, speed, compatibility, and good productivity options, which is going to mean making a fairly large investment. There are hundreds of mobiles on the market right now, but if you’re looking for a dedicated business device, then these seven models are our top choices.

33

Argos Pioneer of

modern distribution Written by: Sam Jermy Produced by: Richard Durrant

35

ARGOS

Leading digital retailer Argos has continued to move forward by coupling energy efficiency with optimum delivery frequency

One of Argos’ many loading bay areas

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May 2015

A

rgos has become a pioneer of modern distribution by being the first company in the UK and Ireland to order new gaspowered Euro 6 articulated trucks. Now the online and high street retailer, with 755 stores and more than 96 percent of the population within 10 miles of a store, is set to capitalise on being a market frontrunner.

Partly in a bid to cut down carbon emissions throughout the organisation, from the type of vehicles used to general energy consumption, five new environmentally friendly trucks were ordered from Swedish commercial automotive manufacturers, Scania.

Complying with Euro 6, Europe’s latest clean exhaust emissions standard, the vehicles can run completely off biomethane gas, and release up to 70 percent less carbon dioxide compared to their diesel counterparts.

David Landy, Argos Fleet Manager, said: “These trucks offer a glimpse into the future of the UK haulage industry, and as one the UK’s biggest retailers selling around 50,000 different products, we’re delighted to be leading the way in getting products into our stores and customers’ hands in an environmentally friendly way.”

The new gas trucks can travel up to 350 kilometres without refuelling, and are now based at Argos’ Magna Park, Lutterworth distribution centre.

The introduction into service of these vehicles also represents a major milestone in a project created by Innovate UK (formerly Technology

S U P P LY C H A I N

Key Personnel Aerial shot of Magna Park

Strategy Board) to assess the benefits of gas to the UK haulage industry.

A key aim of the project has been to introduce gas-powered vehicles into service at Magna Park in the run-up to a publiclyaccessible gas refuelling station scheduled to open on site later this year according to CNG Services, which leads the project in collaboration with Gasrec, Argos, DHL Supply Chain, Culina Logistics and Eddie Stobart.

It is reported that the introduction of Argos’s new gas-powered Scania trucks will be transformational in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and their impact upon air quality in the coming years. Many other companies in the supply chain industry are expected to

Phil Hull Distribution Director

David Landy Argos Fleet Manager

w w w. a r g o s . c o . u k

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ARGOS

3:30am Moscow

3:00pm London

the sense of logistics 5:00am Amsterdam

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That’s why it makes sense to choose P&O Ferrymasters for

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38

May 2015 enquiries@pofm.com

ARGOS

S U P P LY C H A I N

follow suit for instance.

Remaining agile In the financial year to February 2015, Argos sales were £4.1 billion and it employed some 29,000 people across the business.The company is part of Home Retail Group, the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer, which also owns popular firms Homebase and Habitat.

The nature of the Argos business means demand is driven by seasonal events such as Mother’s Day, Easter, Spring bank holiday and of course Christmas. Product popularity also fluctuates dramatically due to weather so in summer, BBQs and garden furniture naturally need to be available in high volumes. Whereas leading up to the festive season, technology

SUPPLIER PROFILE

4.1bn Turnover made by Argos in its last financial year

P&O FERRYMASTERS

The Contract Logistics division at P&O Ferrymasters is a European leader in tailor-made transport management solutions. Purposedeveloped software supports a team with vast multi-industry 3PL/4PL experience – a unique formula for sustainable supply chain improvements. Argos has been a customer ever since moving to Ireland in 1996. The dedicated P&OFM service provided by Dublin-based personnel includes a transhipment facility at Dublin port – ensuring rapid turnaround of trailers for onward delivery or shipping – and optimised multi-drop scheduling with minimum cage handling. Service back-up is available from the company’s own-assets fleet, while continual improvement is fostered by a knowledge-sharing partnership.

w w w. a r g o s . c o . u k

39

ARGOS

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May 2015

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ARGOS

S U P P LY C H A I N

products such as HD Televisions, smartphones and iPads prove popular with customers.

Phil Hull, Distribution Director at Argos, said: “Our agility as a business is crucial and key to our ongoing success in the UK retail space. We are very much working on a seven day, 24/7, shortest lead time possible basis to successfully and swiftly complete store replenishment.

“Essentially, the things we are working on are geared towards improving product availability to ensure we are giving the best experience possible to our customers. Having said that, we are also cleverly managing our inventory level to preempt seasonal demand peaks, so that we are not tying up excess capital in unused stock in the warehouses and distribution centres.”

“We are very much working on a seven day, 24/7, shortest lead time possible basis to successfully and swiftly complete store replenishment.”

SUPPLIER PROFILE

- Phil Hull, Distribution Director at Argos

NORBERT DENTRESSANGLE

Description of your Services: Norbert Dentressangle is an international player in logistics, transport and air & sea freight with 42,500 staff and a presence in 25 countries. Norbert Dentressangle develops high added value solutions in its three sectors of activity on the European, American, African and Asian continents and places sustainable development at the core of its business. The company offers a complete range of supply chain services to retailers and manufacturers, including dedicated and shared-user warehousing and transport, reverse logistics and asset management, temperature controlled logistics, e-fulfilment solutions and freight forwarding.

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41

ARGOS

A new Euro 6 gas-truck at the nearby filling station

“Our initiative is to carry on reducing the CO2 footprint over the kilometres, so that means using bigger trailers to fit more products in” – Phil Hull 42

May 2015

Lean and green Landy recognised how the prominence of green, environmentally friendly projects could affect the industry as a whole. Although he stated as far as gas mileage with the new Euro 6 trucks goes, it is not just about reducing kilometres on the motorway but rather reducing the overall carbon footprint of the organisation.

He said: “With the fleet, our initiative is to carry on reducing the CO2 footprint over the kilometres, so that means using bigger trailers to fit more products

S U P P LY C H A I N

in, and they are generally light in weight so therefore the payload is not an issue. Subsequently we went for as many of the new semi-trailers as we can as that particular vehicle type, at 15.65 metres, is able to accommodate our needs.

“We can now start to deliver more product per litre of fuel used and that’s what the aim of the game is. That’s what makes you more efficient, filling the cube up as much as you can with more and more product and less fuel to do it.”

The firm is also looking at utilising a range of

One of the new models

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43

ARGOS

passionate about providing quality services www.ismclean.co.uk/cleaning

ISM is a nationwide facilities services company providing a “new approach” to Industrial Cleaning, Facilities Cleaning, Security, Landscaping and Maintenance. We are passionate about providing well managed support services and multi skilled operators at the right cost.

Our Services ISM provide nationwide services to the UK’s largest warehouse, production, car park and retail sites, including Argos At ISM we understand that first impressions last and we make sure that your site is well maintained, clean, safe and secure Our philosophy is simple we provide high quality services at the right cost so our customers can concentrate on their core business From Industrial Cleaning Services, Waste Management/Recycling, Security, Building Maintenance and Grounds Maintenance to reception and help desk operation contact us today for a free site services quotation

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Provider of cleaning solutions to

enquiries@ismclean.co.uk www.ismclean.co.uk 44

May 2015

Unit 6 & 7 Mere Farm Business Complex, Red House Lane, Hannington, Northampton NN6 9FP

ARGOS

S U P P LY C H A I N

urban double-deckers going forward, because where it has restrictions on delivery access, especially with older stores, the company can usually run the same length of stock on another deck, so again Argos can go out with more products and therefore reduce stem mileage.

Scania has stated its delight that Argos has become the first UK operator to put its dedicated gas-powered trucks into operation. This, together with an ever-developing fuel-supply infrastructure, represents a major step forward in terms of combating emissions of greenhouse gas, the truck manufacturer said in a statement.

Thinking smart Another major decision that has been implemented recently is the way product

SUPPLIER PROFILE

ISM CLEAN

Management: Angus McFadzean (Managing Director) Address: Units 6&7 Mere Farm Business Complex, Red House Lane, Hannington, Northampton, NN6 9FP Tel: 01604 844439 Email: enquiries@ismclean.co.uk Website: www.ismclean.co.uk

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45

ARGOS

Argos have a return and refurb space of 70,000 sqf

46

May 2015

repair and refurbishment is handled. Prior to summer 2014 Argos operated a refurbishment and repair service for technology products through a network of third parties. This network was serviced from the organisation’s central returns operation near Burton-upon-Trent, with movements between the operations before finally being shipped to the eBay/Clearance Outlets which Argos has in place for sale.

Following an assessment of the whole operation Argos management concluded that refurbishing products, including non-technology, within its own returns site would have significant benefits, given the scale of the operation and economies of scale this would give the company.

The key Argos benefits being the leverage of

S U P P LY C H A I N

the returns site space with 70,000 square foot made available and a better returns management operation; handling is minimised with stock only handled once before despatching for sale too.

Inherent efficiencies are taken advantage of which reduces potential damage or loss in transit, and inventory levels are managed well by mobbing to a weekly production model as opposed to batch processing at remote locations.

Control also improved with stock on site and on core inventory systems with enhanced visibility; and finally product quality feedback gives Argos an opportunity to improve insight on customer/ product issues and relay this information back into Quality Assurance and buying teams.

Phil Hull said: “In deciding how to implement our new onsite refurbishment service we recognised we would require expert support and selected Servicecare, part of Clipper Logistics, as our refurbishment partner. Working together Servicecare we established a trial ‘implant’ operation within our returns operation commencing in August 2014. This initial pilot has exceeded our expectations and has given us the confidence to accelerate our plans, and roll this out further this year.

“In summary we believe developing a centre of excellence for refurbishment and repair is a key component to our digital technology strategy and at the same time it will drive out costs and give us an opportunity to enhance our customer’s experience.”

“In summary we believe developing a centre of excellence for refurbishment and repair is a key component to our digital technology strategy and at the same time it will drive out costs and give us an opportunity to enhance our customer’s experience.”

- Phil Hull

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47

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May 2015 Parcelforce Worldwide and the Parcelforce Worldwide Globe Logo are trade marks of Royal Mail Group Ltd. © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2015. All rights reserved.

ARGOS

S U P P LY C H A I N

Landy added: “Our previous operating model meant products would go out to third parties, who would re-service it, bring it back into our supply chain and resell that through an eBay channel or other clearance channels.

“Now we’ve changed that. Where it is totally onsite refurbishment it has taken out the cost of working with third parties and moving products around the country, and the time that that product is spent out of circulation in that repair route.

So when coupled with our latest plans with Sainsbury’s it means product availability and customer convenience could not be better.”

Digital-led future Alongside the partnership with eBay, another business relationship has been put in place

SUPPLIER PROFILE

Ebay collection point in Argos

PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE

As a leading provider of express delivery services, we are proud to have worked with Argos for over two years delivering items to thousands of their customers. Our extensive range of services ensures we can provide flexible secure express deliveries to meet all of their customers’ needs. Parcelforce Select offers tailored delivery and returns services, enabling customers to manage their parcels after they order and even change their mind on the day of delivery. This is backed by our reputation for Great British Delivery and exceptional quality of service.

Website: parcelforce.com

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ARGOS

Argos is partnering with both ebay and Sainsburys to bring extra choice and covenience to its customers

“Our new distribution model allows us to provide customers in any Argos location with a choice of around 20,000 lines within hours, regardless of the size or stocking capacity of the store.”

- John Walden, Chief Executive of Home Retail Group 50

May 2015

with Sainsbury’s supermarket. Argos, as the UK’s leading general merchandise retailer and Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second largest grocer, have teamed up to open 10 new Argos digital stores within existing Sainsbury’s supermarkets this year. This will bring extra choice and convenience to Sainsbury’s and Argos’ customers who will have access to the combined ranges in the convenience of a Sainsbury’s supermarket.

These new format digital stores will provide customers with a choice of over 20,000 nongrocery products which they can either buy instantly in store via tablets, or reserve online for easy collection within hours, the same or the following day. An extended range of around 40,000 products can also be ordered in store for home delivery.

Upon announcing this new way to reach the end user, John Walden, Chief Executive of Home Retail Group, said: “Our new distribution model allows us to provide customers in any Argos location with a choice of around 20,000 lines within hours, regardless of the size or stocking capacity of the store. This strategic capability has opened up options for a variety of new Argos stores and formats, and the possibility that we can now cost-effectively reach more customers and neighbourhoods with an Argos presence. I look forward to the results of the 10 store programme with Sainsbury’s and to understanding the full potential of this exciting opportunity.”

Argos continues to be the UK’s largest high

As the world’s leading independent container

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feeder network, nine regional ports of call and a dedicated landside fleet of road and rail resource, all offering our customers greater choice, flexibility and efficiency.

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YOUR SUCCESS DHL are global logistics leader and in the UK are provider of choice to 50 retailers. We have significant infrastructure and operational presence in the retail market, with a portfolio of services that spans everything from supply chain strategy and network design to in-store logistics. We work for a wide variety of retailers, from large grocers to convenience stores, e-retailers to department stores; DIY, electrical and furniture retailers.

No wonder so many leading retailers choose us as a trusted logistics provider.

Website: For more information about our business please visit www.dhl.com or scan our QR code

ARGOS

Aerial view of Argos site

52

May 2015

street retailer online with around 121 million customer transactions a year through its stores and over 900 million website and app visits in the 12 months to February 2015. Customers can take advantage of Argos’ convenient Check & Reserve service available through its network of 755 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

It is clear to see that Argos is not standing still and waiting for the future to come to it; rather it is embracing a new strategy that keeps the ongoing global digital revolution as a core consideration.

The company is also providing the opportunity for all levels of staff to build on their existing skills on the job, through initiating training in a form where employees are able to achieve an NVQ in lean or

S U P P LY C H A I N

continuous improvement.

Commenting on the organisation’s reasoning behind the move to invest in gas powered transportation, Landy pointed out it was important to be aware of the manufacturer’s own plans. He said: “Up until now you couldn’t buy a manufacturer-made gas lorry off of the production line: you would buy a normal diesel lorry and it would be converted by an after-market firm. For us, that suggested that if manufacturers aren’t behind it, should we really be doing it? Now Scania have this 100 percent gas truck coming off their production line. If they are supporting us in our green initiatives this way, it is probably the right thing to do now.” said Landy.

“This is the beginning of a sea-change I think, and a lot of fleet operators will start to take it much more seriously as people follow the lead.

But without people purchasing them Scania won’t produce the trucks. It has been a move together but I think it is the right one.”

Hull concluded: “As we see the volume of these environmentally-friendly vehicles start to come into the industry, the price changes, the market changes and it becomes more viable and realistic to many operators. We are proud to be pioneering this new form of distribution and we hope to continue to innovate for the benefit of our customers.”

It is clear to see Argos is set to stay ahead of the industry curve as it is closer to the end user than ever before.

Company Information INDUSTRY

SUPPLY CHAIN HEADQUARTERS

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK FOUNDED

1972 EMPLOYEES

29,000 REVENUE

£4.1billion PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Retail

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DRIVING PASSION: warehousing wisdom Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Craig Daniels

55

A L D R E E S P E T R O L E U M & T R A N S P O RT S E R V I C E S C O .

Aldrees is organized in two major divisions; the Petroleum Services Division and the Transport Services Division. The former owns and operates 478 petrol stations right across the kingdom, and is the retail arm of the business.

T

he Transport Services Division is one of the major customers as well as one of the principal service providers to the retail side, but operates as an independent company. It is one of the largest logistics provider in the country – and currently very much in expansion mode.

Mohamed Yousri Hanno is Assistant General Manager of Aldrees Transport Services. The company is involved with local freight deliveries, as well as deliveries to GCC & Middle East countries, he explains. With 1,340 tractor units and more than 2,700 road trailers in a huge array of different specifications, its primary concern is the movement of bulk cargoes between the kingdom’s industrial and petrochemical complexes, and its ports on the Red Sea to the Mercedes tractor units

56

May 2015

S U P P LY C H A I N

west and the Arabian Gulf to the east. “ To give a flavour of the size of the operation it is worth looking at some of the major contracts Aldrees services. The largest customers include Saudi Arabia’s leading petrochemical company SABIC, for which Aldrees transports liquid chemicals in stainless steel tanks and solid petrochemicals like polypropylene, polyethylene and PVC in bulk and bags, and the minerals group Maaden whose product includes sulphuric acid at 98 percent concentration as well as phosphoric acid and caustic soda – hazardous chemicals that require stainless steel and rubber coated tanks. Aldrees also undertakes transportation of Maaden’s oil supplies and moves minerals like copper, gold and zinc in containers to Jeddah port for export.

A new product line for Aldrees recently has been the transportation in tipper units of the refinery SATORP’s by-product of pet coke to Jubail Industrial Port, part of an ongoing expansion of the relationship between these two companies. For the National Industrialization Company Tasnee, a demanding new departure is transporting butyl acrylate in special insulated stainless steel tanks, again to Jubail Port.

Cement is an important export commodity for Saudi Arabia, and Aldrees is involved in moving Northern Cement Company’s product in bulk to their customers all over the kingdom as well as keeping the cement plant supplied with petrol, diesel and HFO, which calls for specialised

CEO Engr. Abdulilah Saad Aldrees

Assistant General Manager Eng. Mohamed Yousri Hanno

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www.petromin.com

S U P P LY C H A I N

insulated and heated tanks.

Other tasks include moving ilmenite and coke in bulk from Jazan Port to the National Titanium Dioxide Company’s plant 100 kilometres from the coast and bulk sugar, liquid sugar and molasses to customers of United Sugar Company (Savola) in Jeddah & Riyadh. For the Grain Silo & Flour Mill Organization imported wheat is moved from Dammam Port to the silos in Dammam, Madinah & Tabuk. And let’s not forget the product that built modern Saudi Arabia - for Petromin and Shell Aldrees is trucking base oil from Jeddah, Yanbu & Dubai to blending plants in Jeddah & Riyadh, and finished product in bulk and drums to these customers’ clients.

As we mentioned earlier, a really important customer is Aldrees Petroleum Services

SUPPLIER PROFILE

Finance Manager, Mr. Roberto Rasco

PETROMIN

Aldrees group & Petromin has a long-standing partnership in different fronts. In logistics division, the efficient fleet of vehicles operated by Aldrees are powered up by High Performance Petromin Engine oils. Petromin lubricants provide ultimate protection, reliability and top tear performance on long routes and in most stringent of environmental conditions. www.petromin.com

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A L D R E E S P E T R O L E U M & T R A N S P O RT S E R V I C E S C O .

Dispatch yard

“At the click of a mouse we can tell the wear condition of that tyre, the mileage it has covered and which axles it has been fitted to.”

– Mohamed Yousri Hanno, Assistant General Manager

60

May 2015

Division, for which the Transport Division delivers petrol and diesel to every one of the 478 filling stations in 200 dedicated tankers in Aldrees livery. “We make almost 12,000 trips monthly for the fuel stations! They are one of our biggest customers, and of course we are one of theirs because we buy our diesel from them.

We win both ways. We buy the fuel from them and they buy the transport service from us.

The entire fleet consists mainly of Mercedes units, though 24 percent are supplied by Volvo and six percent by MAN. These operate out of six strategically situated depots Riyadh (the head

S U P P LY C H A I N

office with a 100,000 square metre warehouse); Jeddah, Dammam, Yanbu, Jazan, Haditha on the Jordan border; and Jubail. “Each of the facilities is run by a branch manager with full autonomy, and has its own maintenance facility for the trucks. Naturally they all have their own dispatch facility, plus accommodation for the operations, administration and maintenance staff and drivers.

And they are all stocked with the spares needed to keep the trucks on the road.�

While the trucks are regularly updated with the latest fuel efficient models, diesel in Saudi Arabia is cheaper than anywhere in the world

Volvo tractor unit

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S U P P LY C H A I N

except Venezuela. Unlike freight companies in Europe for example Aldrees does not see fuel as a major cost. Tyres are another matter. A little over two years ago, says Mohamed Hanno, the company contracted with Michelin to run its Tyre Management System. “We now have control of every tyre on every truck at any time. At the click of a mouse we can tell the wear condition of that tyre, the mileage it has covered and which axles it has been fitted to.” This is an effective way of ensuring safety while keeping tyre costs down – since the implementation of the system in 2012, he says, average running mileage has increased by around ten percent, and overall tyre costs reduced by a similar factor.

To keep its network working seamlessly, and to manage the complex truck movements, Aldrees

“Each of the facilities is run by a branch manager with full autonomy, and has its own maintenance facility for the trucks.”

– Mohamed Yousri Hanno

Volvo Tractor unit and HFO trailer

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ALDREES PETROLEUM & TRANSPORT SERVICES CO.

Truck maintenance facility

developed its own enterprise system together with a sophisticated Transport Management System (TMS), says Hanno. “Right across company all our operations are linked together and all the data is transmitted on line – the orders from the customer either coming to head office or to the branches are constantly tracked and because we have GPS satellite tracking throughout our fleet, from the Riyadh control room we can monitor the trucks wherever they are operating, even outside the kingdom.”

Thus, with key costs under control and truck maintenance controlled by Aldrees’ own software a couple of key best practice boxes have been

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ticked. A third, vital to satisfying the OEMs and maintaining warranties, is the question of which oil to use in Saudi Arabia’s harsh conditions. After a long period of trialling approval was obtained from all three for engine oils developed by Petromin Corporation. This is consistent with Aldrees’ benchmarking policy, Hanno emphasises, which also dictates that all spare parts are sourced from the OEMs’ approved agents, in a market flooded by cheap replicated parts.

Just a year ago, there was a major change in the company’s centre of gravity when Aldrees opened its state of the art new depot in the fast expanding industrial city of Jubail. Because of its key location near to major clients, this is now

Aldrees can track its fleet anywhere in the world

Insulated mild steel tanker with heating burner for transporting Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO)

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A L D R E E S P E T R O L E U M & T R A N S P O RT S E R V I C E S C O .

Alumium Tipping Bulker for transporting bulk polymers

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May 2015

the most important depot for the division, but there are more reasons for that investment. “We have two terminals there, each 100,000 square metres in area,” he says. “One is for the Transport Division operations and the other for the joint venture we have set up with our Swiss partner Bertschi group. The company is called Aldrees Bertschi Logistics Services Company.”

Bertschi AG is a specialist in logistics and the transport of chemicals by ISO tanks on road, sea and trains in Europe, China and Singapore.

It should perhaps be explained that an ISO tank is a container built to the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) standard and designed to carry liquids in bulk. The frame which the tank sits in measures about 6 metres long,

S U P P LY C H A I N

2.4 metres wide and between 2.4-2.5 metres high. The tanks vary in size and type and can carry between 21,000 and 40,000 litres of liquid.

The new company will be engaged in providing chemical logistics, transport management, warehousing management, cleaning of chemical tanks and related services: it will be managed by a joined team from Aldrees and Bertschi.

Another partnership will see intensive development this year of a completely new line of business for Aldrees – outsourced warehouse management. One major contract already secured

by Aldrees together with South African logistics specialist Barloworld is to manage the warehouse operations of existing customer SATORP. “We hired the people and we’ve done thorough inhouse training in conjunction with Barloworld. We have a trained multinational workforce.”

This is just the beginning says Mohamed Hanno. “We have also started the quotations and tendering process for several offsite logistics challenges, such as hosting bagging lines and drumming lines in our facilities because many of the new companies moving into Jubail, like Sadara Chemical Company for example, which is constructing the world’s largest chemical complex ever built in a single phase in Jubail Industrial City, and Sipchem simply don’t have the warehousing space and are keen to outsource non-core logistics.” It is a great opportunity for Aldrees as Jubail and other industrial complexes in the kingdom continue to expand, he emphasises.

Company Information INDUSTRY

SUPPLY CHAIN HEADQUARTERS

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia FOUNDED

1962 EMPLOYEES

5284 REVENUE

2,144,322,070 Saudi Riyal PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Retail Petrol sales & Transport Services

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Landis + Gyr AG

makes smart moves in the Middle East Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Craig Daniels

69

The Company is leveraging decades of experience to rollout a calculated smart metering plan across the GCC and Iraq

L

andis+Gyr began its operations in the Middle East in 2007 but the company itself has a much longer history; founded in Switzerland in 1896 as a manufacturer of high quality, state of the art electricity, water, gas and district cooling meters. The company has grown to cover 30 countries across five continents, employing in excess of 5,500 people. Over the decades Landis+Gyr has been pioneering various innovations including launching the world’s first digital meter in the late 1970s. Today it serves approximately 3,500 utilities customers around the globe and is involved in the world’s largest smart metering and smart grid projects. In Japan, Landis+Gyr is providing communication networks for 27 million metering points; in Brazil the company is deploying South America’s largest Advanced Metering Infrastructure solution.

Versatile & Modular Grid Metering applications

70

May 2015

ENERGY

British Gas has chosen Landis+Gyr for delivering more than 10 million multi fuel gas and electricity meters, and in the US and in Canada the company has completed several of the biggest Smart Metering roll-outs.

Since 2011 Landis+Gyr has been jointly owned by Toshiba and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). The business is managed as an independent growth platform of Toshiba Corporation.

Rajiv Sawhney, Managing Director of its operations in the Middle East, was present at the foundation of the company’s growth into the Middle East and has been responsible for developing the business into an organization matching the particularities of the Gulf market in line with Landis+Gyr’s global norms. Before his Directorship at Landis, he was involved in setting up two other technology startups in the Middle East over the last 15 years.

The power of Landis+Gyr: The company provides a variety of technological solutions to utilities and it is notable for its innovative smart metering systems that formed the basis for its reputation as an industry leader.

Landis+Gyr AG Middle East also provides advanced metering and pioneers end-toend (AMI/AMR) smart metering solutions, in addition to load management, and smart grid enabled technology.

Key Personnel

Rajiv Sawhney Managing Director Rajiv Sawhney took on the role of Landis+Gyr Managing Director for the Middle East office in October 2007, and is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, being responsible for its Middle East operations from conception.

Before joining Landis+Gyr, Rajiv has been involved in setting up two technology startups in the region having previously worked in the Oil, Gas & Petrochemical industry.

He has worked in the power generation, transmission and distribution sectors under several management responsibilities including business head, strategy, product management and business development.

w w w. l a n d i s g y r. c o m

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Saudi Masar High-Tech & Marketing Co.

High Tech Solution

About Us Saudi Masar High-Tech. &

performed by our office located

meters, under license f

Marketing Co. is a multi - faceted,

in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

+ Gyr AG Switzerland,

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is the Sole Exclusive Ag

was established in 1996 with a

been based on the principles

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prime goal to actively represent

of excellence and integrity.

In 2009, in a bid to furt

international reputable companies

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its scope of activities S

eager to properly serve the Saudi

is directly attributed to our

established business re

Arabian Market, by jointly studying

commitment towards both our

with various Water Trea

the local market profile and

associates and clients. To expand

Waste Management and

requirements and implementing

its scope of activities in the

Energy Companies. In d

the most suitable marketing and

electrical field, Saudi Masar

sales policies & procedures.

in 1997 acquired Saudi Swiss

Marketing, promotions, sales,

Electricity Meters Co. (SSEMCO) a

after sales services, warranty and

manufacturing facility established

product support are functions

in 1987 to produce Swiss electricity

Masar became an envir

friendly company and a for renewable energy a management services.

Our Product

Saudi Masar High-Tech. & Marketing Co. • Office No. 16, Dinar Center • North of Hera Street Int

ns for your business What we offer

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gent in Saudi

r products.

ther expand

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elationships

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• Metering products • Advanced Metering Infrastructure (smart metering) • Electric meter test equipment systems • Demand response (smart grid) • Relays • Waste Transfer Solutions • Pneumatic Waste Systems • Cable Systems

Contact Us T +966 92 000 5711 F +966 12 652 0718 info@saudi-masar.com.sa www.saudi-masar.com.sa

tersection beside Riyad Bank • King Abdulaziz Road (Al Malek Road) • Jeddah • Saudi Arabia

SUPPLIER PROFILE

SAUDI MASAR Head Office Saudi Masar High-Tech. & Marketing Co. Office No. 16, Dinar Center North of Hera Street Intersection Beside : Riyad Bank (Private Banking) King Abdulaziz Road (Al Malek Road) Jeddah Saudi Arabia CR No. 4030118442 Capital 1,000,000 SAR Tel 00966 92 000 5711 Fax 00966 2 652 0718 E-mail info@saudi-masar.com.sa P. O. Box 990 Jeddah 21421 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Masar High-Tech & Marketing Co.

ENERGY

Landis+Gyr launched its activities with a portfolio around electromechanical and high accuracy electronic meters for the transmission sector and district cooling ‘cold’ meters back in 2007.

Since then, the company has supplied close to 2 Million electromechanical meters to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, half a million meters to Iraq and 200,000 meters to Bahrain’s distribution segment. Landis+Gyr rules the transmission metering segments in the UAE and Qatar with a 60 percent market share. The cold meters supporting the district cooling applications on sub-metering have also been a major success with continuously growing market share on par with the region’s infrastructural development.

Leading the way with its introduction of smart devices through local adaptation into the residential market, Landis+Gyr has been a key meter supplier to the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), UAE’s Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA), Bahrain’s Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) Kahramaa, Qatar, and the MEW of Iraq. Key alliances and partnerships in the region have led to successfully implemented projects that have bolstered its

2MIO Meters supplied in Saudi Arabia

Trusted partner

‘The company has supplied close to 2 Million electromechanical meters to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, half a million meters to Iraq and 200,000 meters to Bahrain’s distribution segment.’ w w w. l a n d i s g y r. c o m

75

LANDIS + GYR

Remember internet access with dial-up modems?

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Qatar is currently deploying Corinex’s Broadband over Powerline (BPL) solution with Landis + Gyr meters.

Why is BPL the Advanced Metering Infrastructure choice of one of the fastest growing economies in the world?

Speed. So much is possible with Broadband AMI....

200Mbps* allows realtime event reporting, meter reading and Time-of-Use, with all the bandwidth you need for current and future data encryption.

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*physical layer speed

Multiple independent relays in each home allow for demand load management, synergizing with home automation technologies (HAN) and smart appliances such as air conditioners.

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Find your SmartGrid Solution Today www.corinex.com

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reputation around its core values of Customer Focus, being a Trusted Partner, having an Innovative Spirit and Commitment to Quality.

After developing its software, sales and support capabilities in the region using a strongly developed back office and project management team, Landis+Gyr moved into end-to-end solutions, offering businesses state-of-the-art electricity and district cooling applications.

Its largest software assignments outside Saudi Arabia include work for the UAE armed forces, substation solutions in Kurdistan, a Regulatory and Supervisory Board in Abu Dhabi, and residential complexes for ADNOC, alongside multiple housing projects in Bahrain. The worldfamous man-made archipelago at Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, UAE also uses Landis+Gyr technology

SUPPLIER PROFILE

ULTRACOLD 2WR6 A cold meter designed for residential needs and easy billing

CORINEX

We provide technologies and business consultancy services for the energy sector. We develop and manufacture complex solutions for Smart Metering and Smart Grid infrastructure projects, with a primary focus on BPL (Broadband over Powerline) communications. From inception Corinex has been the leader in design and development of powerline products. Our technological expertise enables us to offer state-of-the-art solutions for a wide range of global clients, whom we work with to ensure seamless integration with existing infrastructure assets. Using our BPL meter communication modules, gateways and concentrators, Corinex can deploy communication capabilities with meters from any industry-leading manufacturers.

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T (+974) 44124375 F (+974) 44124376 • sales@innovation-re.com

• Energy/Water/Renewable Energy • Advanced Metering Infrastructure • Project Mangement/Installation/Support

Innovation Renewable Energy

Our mission is to provide our clients with the knowledge they require to optimise the delivery and use of Energy and Water We are part of Alsraiya Holding Group (Qatar).

Our AMI system integrates data acquisition, remote meter reading and load control.

Supplying the Head End System (HES), RF communications modules, large scale product and the meter data management system (MDMS), makes innovation and development on the aspects of AMI Systems, Energy quality analysis and customer services of metering device, working with the the global leaders in smart meter technology like Landis+Gyr, Corinex, GWF and other worldwide providers, playing the Key Role in Smart Metering and renewable Energy systems in Qatar.

Our guiding purpose at Innovation is to deliver genuine value to our customers in the energy and water industries. We will do this by providing innovative solutions in a manner that rewards our customers, our employees, our investors and other stakeholders.

Innovation Renewable Energy 7 Lusail 8 Energy M a yCity2 •0P.O. 1 5Box 24526 • Doha • Qatar

E350 Modular Residential meter

ENERGY

in the form of cold meters which use Automatic Meter Reading (AMR). Other successfully implemented projects include the Shams Gate Towers in Abu Dhabi, Discovery Gardens in Dubai, Barwa City and Commercial Avenue, Qatar, as well as the Clock Tower and Makkah and Headquarters Business Park in Saudi Arabia.

Teamwork powering the company: Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Landis+Gyr’s operations in the area is the crucial role played by its regional headquarters in Dubai serving the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and beyond, namely Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

Its small but competent team of eight oversees pre and post-sales support, pre-sales business management, and logistics, as well as the first

“His team are more like a family in its holistic dedication to the success of Landis+Gyr and to their wellbeing as a unit.”

- Rajiv Sawhney Managing Director

Xxxxxxxx

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Landis + Gyr S650 Smart Grid Terminal

level of project management for its clients.

Rajiv Sawhney said: “We formulated the structure of the organization to focus on the right implementation, so we don’t have over enthusiastic sales guys picking up every project and then getting into a mess when it comes to implementation. In addition we have selected the right partners – the best in the region - and inculcated the same ideology by closely networking and supporting them.”

Having a small team tasked with such a broad remit requires an innovative approach to operations, Sawhney said: “We do not create corridors within our organization

Smart Energy Management Rising Landis+Gyr ’s Gridstream Solution for the Middle East •

A complete smart metering solution to address all of your energy management needs

•

Unlimited scalability and unique integration with your existing systems

To learn more about our Landis+Gyr portfolio, contact Landis+Gyr Middle East (Dubai):

•

An adaptable and flexible answer to your interoperability and multi-energy challenges

•

More than 50 million smart meters deployed in over 100 AMI solutions worldwide

www.landisgyr.eu Rajiv.Sawhney@landisgyr.com

your pathway to the smart grid

ENERGY

and say ‘this is my responsibility and that is not’- there is always interaction between our employees which makes work very exciting.”

He reinforced the notion that his team are more like a family in its holistic dedication to the success of Landis+Gyr and to their wellbeing as a unit. Not only do they share the workload, they enjoy joint remuneration benefits through innovative but challenging KPIs. Moving forward on the road to success, the company not only invests in technology and new products but also in people. The company provides appropriate employee training in house, alongside intensive partner training programs; it does however recognize the importance of the latest managerial and productivity insights, providing outsourced training to keep its team up to speed with the conditions of the market as well as changing customer requirements.

Being part of a company with a global reach has enabled the team in Dubai to dip into a seemingly bottomless talent pool which allows management to cherry pick the right person for the job, giving the company a unique edge over its local competition. Rajiv said, “We get great support – legal, management, project implementation from Landis+Gyr global – from the US, Czech, UK and headquarter resources in Switzerland.”

This strategic approach of selecting the most workable project is part of a broad initiative by the firm focusing on building a strong reputation and partnerships in the Gulf. The small and medium-

‘Moving forward on the road to success, the company not only invests in technology and new products but also in people.’

E450 IDIS Residential meters

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sized projects that Landis+Gyr has been working on now anticipate strongly growing demand, as the GCC countries increasingly realise the crucial importance of rolling out smart metering solutions across its utilities and distribution networks. Rajiv added, with no small measure of pride: “It’s about being very clear when choosing which projects we want to do and we have been very successful.

Today I would say that we have a very clean slate, perhaps the only metering company in the region that has a major list of successful projects.”

Leading the way with superior technology: Being part of a company that has set the trend in electrical metering from the start has enabled Landis+Gyr to remain one step ahead of its competition, and none more so than in the Middle East. Rajiv said: “We always

ENERGY

keep our customers up to date with our latest developments and industry trends. We are proud of the industry’s largest R&D forces – over 1,100 engineers – and our significant R&D investments – close to 10 percent of the company’s turnover.

This explains why we believe that we provide technology that is at least one communication generation ahead of what our competition has.”

This technological advantage combined with its bespoke partnership process has enabled the company to rollout the latest technology into its target market. By forming a partnership with Ericsson (a world leader in communication technology) Landis+Gyr can support utilities across the region by providing key data to enable utilities to foster relationships with end-consumers.

This allows for the creation of data-managed smart energy networks which enable efficient grid and energy consumption management, as well as integration of micro-generated, renewable energy.

Conclusion: Landis+Gyr has proven itself through its unceasing attention to quality, strong partnerships, innovation, and through its dedication to the needs and nuances of its Middle Eastern customers. It is becoming increasingly clear why it holds such large market shares across many of its territories.

Furthermore, the fastidious groundwork the company is laying down provides a resounding reason as to why this company will certainly be one to watch in the Middle East in coming decades.

Company Information INDUSTRY

ENERGY HEADQUARTERS

Dubai FOUNDED

1896 EMPLOYEES

5’500 REVENUE

US $1.5 billion PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Smart energy solutions

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MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES, GREENLAND Elements from the Arctic Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: James Pepper

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Greenland is on the brink of a new era as it seeks to diversify its economy, traditionally dependent on fishing, and build a mining industry for the benefit of all its 56,000 inhabitants

A glacier in Greenland

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reenland is a country the size of Western Australia and though 80 percent of its area is locked under the Greenland ice sheet, up to three kilometres deep, more than 400,000 square kilometres of ice free coastal land has the great advantage of accessibility by sea, and in the south, proximity to established transatlantic shipping routes. Deep fjords create ideal natural harbours.

The world’s largest island has basically the same geology as Canada – if you look at the map it is easy to see how they were once a single land mass – and contains the same minerals. Iron and its alloys (iron, nickel, molybdenum, titanium, vanadium) and base metals such as copper, lead and zinc are present in commercial deposits, as is uranium and rare earth elements (REEs), gemstones and gold. Investors can be sure of a positive response from the government. Neither

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Bjoerneoen

should they be put off by preconceptions about Greenland’s accessibility and infrastructure.

With a total business volume of DKK 2.74 billion, The BANK of Greenland is only a small financial institution internationally. In Greenland, however, it is the largest bank and the only physically available full service bank. With more than 45 years of close cooperation with Greenlandic industries and public institutions it’s the leading partner for the Greenland mineral resources industry.

And when it comes to accessibility and logistics they will find Royal Arctic Line, which uniquely has a market share of 100 percent within the core service of freight to, from and within Greenland, and Air Greenland with its

CITRONEN FJORD The Citronen Zinc-Lead Project in northern Greenland represents one of the world’s largest undeveloped zinc-lead resources with a resource in excess of 13 billion pounds of contained zinc and lead metal.

Australian company Ironbark could begin construction in 2016 with first production two years later. However Citronen Fjord is at the northernmost tip of Greenland and deep within the Arctic Circle so shipping access will be seasonal.

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ISUKASIA The Isukasia iron ore project is located at Isua approximately 90 miles to the north-east of Nuuk. In 2013 UKbased London Mining was granted a 30-year licence to build and run a giant iron ore mine. At the time the company said the mine was expected to yield 15 million tonnes a year of “very high quality iron ore concentrate to the global steel industry.” In January the Greenland government approved the sale of London Mining Greenland, the owner of the Isukasia project, to General Nice Development, a Hong Kong-based company with its main operational centre in Tianjin City, China.

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comprehensive scheduled and charter capability, are geared up to support them Last year’s elections in Greenland resulted in the re-election of the left-of-centre Siumut Party which went on to form a coalition government under with the Demokraatit and Atassut Parties. The new Prime Minister Kim Kielsen was quick to emphasise the government’s commitment to resource extraction and creation of a stable investment environment in Greenland: “The coalition will ensure a more stable and continuous mining policy to attract foreign investors,” he promised.

The Prime Minister also pledged not to return to the policy of ‘zero tolerance’ of mining radioactive elements, which was abandoned in October 2013. That was a landmark decision, placing Greenland on the path to becoming a uranium producer like Canada and, and thereby opens up coincident resources of rare earths and other elements to exploitation.

The zero tolerance policy was associated with the stance taken by Denmark on nuclear power generation before Greenland attained self-government status in 2009. Denmark still doesn’t want to contemplate nuclear power, and Greenland has not had to because it has abundant potential for hydro-electric generation.

However thinking has shifted over the last couple of decades, said Henrik Stendal who has headed up the MMR’s Geology Department for the last seven years and now assists the new Ministry of Mineral Resources (MMR) led by Minister Andreas

MINING

Uldum. “We needed to come to terms with the presence of rare earth elements (REE), for which demand has been increasing rapidly. Often REE are associated with uranium and in Greenland one of the big deposits is Kvanefjeld and that is associated with uranium.”

The Ilimaussaq intrusive complex at the southernmost extremity of Greenland, contains huge REE deposits, big enough to end China’s near monopoly in the world market for rare earths that are essential to making cellphones, wind turbines, hybrid cars and many other products. However the problem there has been the presence of uranium and another radioactive

“We needed to come to terms with the presence of rare earth elements (REEs), for which demand has been increasing rapidly.”

– Henrik Stendal

Evighedsfjorden

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“The largest uranium deposits in the world are in Canada where the geological environment is exactly the same as in the Thule region of Greenland.”

– Henrik Stendal

Finkenaesset

Rubies in rock

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element, thorium, in the same deposits these sought-after elements – you can’t separate them without processing the uranium as well, and that was not allowed.

Greenland has 58 percent of the world’s REE outside of China and 65 percent of the ‘heavy’ rare earths, which are in shorter supply. GME’s Kvanefjeld resource and the adjacent Tanbreez project, which is not associated with uranium,

MINING

TANBREEZ This private Australian company has spent $5 million developing its kakortokite-hosted REE resource on the southern edge of the Ilimaussaq intrusion, probably the largest rare earth deposit in the world especially of the heavy rare earths such as dysprosium. The mining project consists of: an open mine pit; a processing plant; a port (including a helipad); a mine camp; a tailings deposit; and internally connecting roads. It is estimated to have a production life of several generations.

make up the world’s largest deposit of rare earth minerals. Now that the ban has been lifted GME can proceed with obtaining an exploitation licence and permission to process both rare earths and uranium, selling the latter into the many markets where nuclear power stations are being built. Uranium will be a by-product of Kvanefjeld, though an important one.

Greenland’s uranium can now be exploited

Finkenaesset

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airgreenland.com

GREENLAND MINING & MINERALS

We know the drill

With decades of experience acquired from Arctic operations, Air Greenland is your reliable and dynamic partner for exploration.

You will benefit from the fact that we are part of the Greenlandic society. We have the advantage of a broad network. We know the local requirements and we have an infrastructure in the form of hangars and aircraft all over the country.

We aim to provide a high level of service and this means that every single job is specifically tailored to suit the customer’s requirements.

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Our twelve robust AS-350 helicopters are versatile and sturdy helicopters – perfect for Greenland’s harsh environment. It is the ideal helicopter for sling operations, with our experienced and competent long-line sling pilots.

Our eight Bell 212s with their versatile and spacious cabins, are effective in mobilizing your exploration camp.

We are simply your sustainable choice in Greenland.

You just have to ask.

Air Greenland Charter, Tel. +299 34 34 34, e-mail: glcharter@airgreenland.gl, www.airgreenland.com/charter

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for its own sake and, with 70 new plants under construction round the world and 183 planned within the next decade, it will be needed. The country is centrally located between North America and Europe, both home to important uranium importers. “We know more about the geology of southern Greenland than about the north-west, in the area around the American air base at Thule for example, where more work needs to be done,” said Stendal, “but the largest uranium deposits in the world are in Canada where the geological environment is exactly the same as in the Thule region of Greenland.”

Stendal is emphatic that Greenland has the ability to make a significant mark on the global market for critical minerals. The presence of uranium stood in the way of other minerals than

SUPPLIER PROFILE

TRUE NORTH GEMS Likely to be the first producing mine of Greenland’s new mining era, True North Gems’ Aappaluttoq Ruby Project is coming on stream at the right time for the ruby market, which is worth $2.1 billion annually. The mine is now fully permitted.

True North was awarded an exclusive 30 year exploitation (mining) licence effective March 10 2014. The mine is currently under construction.

AIR GREENLAND

Air Greenland has over 50 years of experience in flying in the Arctic. We operate a versatile fleet from the large Airbus-A330 to the small AS350 helicopter.

For us, it is routine to work in remote regions where there is a sketchy infrastructure and a challenging climate. When you charter from Air Greenland, you not only get aircraft that are optimized for Arctic conditions, and pilots that know every corner of this vast country. You get more. As an Air Greenland customer you will also benefit from the fact that we are part of the Greenlandic society. www.airgreenland.com/charter

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GREENLAND MINING & MINERALS

NORTH AMERICAN NICKEL The Maniitsoq nickelcopper-PGE property in Greenland hosts numerous high-grade nickel-copper sulphide occurrences and initially was the largest exploration property ever granted in Greenland.

Drilling has identified very high grade deposits.

The drill programme will continue throughout 2015. In April 2015 the company announced an agreement with Minelco AS, a subsidiary of Swedish iron producer LKAB Minerals that will allow it to proceed with the acquisition of the Seqi Port on the southwest coast of Greenland.

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rare earths, he points out. “The Motzfeldt deposit, also in the south, contains significant quantities of niobium and tantalum. Both are critical minerals for world industry, but these deposits do contain uranium so the lifting of the ban will positively help them as well.” And there’s a high grade niobium deposit at Sarfartoq near the international airport at Kangerlussuaq in west Greenland.

This deposit, which also contains rare earths, has been stalled since its discovery in the 1980s by the presence of uranium but could now be developed he says.

Conversely, uranium is not the only radioactive

MINING

element in the periodic table. The south-west Greenland carbonatite intrusions nearly all contain thorium which, though not as highly radioactive as uranium, would have influenced rare earth development within these areas, says Stendal. “When people talk about the ban they always think of uranium but no one takes thorium into account. Yet it is associated with nearly all these deposits.”

The decision to raise the ban did not mean mining could go ahead from that date. Greenland has current regulations for exploitation of minerals within the Minerals Act. The regulatory framework to cover the mining, storage, transportation or exportation of radioactive material needs to be in place before exploitation of radioactive minerals can launch. It will take a couple of years to get it in place. There is plenty of best practice on which to benchmark, notably in Canada and Australia, however the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) in Vienna will have to be given oversight of the new regime. There will be a lot of red tape in the process of establishing a new industry, and if only to reassure its own population Greenland is determined to see that all activities are certified safe.

Finally, the change in legislation regarding uranium and other radioactive elements should be seen in the context of the large-scale mining act, passed in December 2012 and amended earlier in 2013. The act aims to ease the path for large projects the bill set the threshold for a project to qualify as “large-scale” at DKK 5 billion,

GREENLAND MINERALS & ENERGY (GMEL) Focused on delivering a world-class production centre for speciality metals from the Ilimaussaq complex in south Greenland the company is setting up a pilot plant and beneficiation circuit.

Kvanefjeld is recognised as one of the world’s largest resources of rare earth elements, as well as containing substantial resources of uranium and zinc. The company has signed MoUs with Chinese industrial conglomerate NFC, whose subsidiary Guangdong Zhujiang Rare Earths Company is recognised globally as a leader in rare earth separation technology.

Nuuk Lake

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WHITE MOUNTAIN Hudson Resources is a Canadian based mining company focused on the Naajat (White Mountain) anorthosite (calcium feldspar) project in Greenland.

The White Mountain resource is unique in its size and purity.

Processing is simple and no chemicals are involved. Hudson plans to start construction this year and start producing by the end of 2016, targeting initially the e-glass market (optic fibre) for which anorthosite is a better and more economic option than kaolin.

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($724,000,000), and the project’s need for labour in carrying out the construction activities must exceed the suitable, available and accessible workforce in Greenland.

To the debate on the need to mine nuclear materials in the first place will be added a fear that the country will be flooded by Chinese and other low cost foreign workers. These fears are nowhere near as well grounded as people fear, Henrik Stendal believes. The revision of the bill tightens the regulation of minimum wages considerably. No legal basis for nonfixed minimum hourly wages pursuant to foreign collective bargaining agreements is now to be

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found in the act. “Before a company is allowed in it has to offer a certain level of Greenlandic jobs, suppliers and subcontractors. They can’t come in if they are not competitive, and able to bring with them the necessary skills.” Naturally, Greenland wants to secure as many jobs for its own people as it can, and establish an indigenous skills base to support its new industries. However with a population a little over 56,000 it will need help, especially if it is to preserve its traditional fishingbased way of life. Its great opportunities are attended by equally great challenges.

The government of Greenland’s objective is to license the opening of three to five mines on an environmentally and socially sustainable basis over the next five years. This is a realistic goal. The first mine to open will be the ruby-sap¬phire mine on the south-west coast of Greenland, about 160 kilometres south of the capital Nuuk. Permitting has been a good process as the government attempts to balance the economic, environmental and social imperatives.

For many years, there has been broad political agreement in Greenland to grow the mineral sector into a principal industry and diversify the economy.

Now with the new government in place and the global mining industry preparing for recovery Greenland will be increasingly seen as a good place to invest in. The commitment of General Nice Group may well prompt the cautious institutional and corporate investors in London, Vancouver and Toronto to look afresh at Greenland.

Government Information INDUSTRY

Mining HEADQUARTERS

Nuuk, Greenland FOUNDED

1998 EMPLOYEES

30 REVENUE

Not Disclosed PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Government

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GENERAL NICE DEVELOPMENT

Northern minerals for eastern applications

Written by: John O’Hanlon • Produced by: James Pepper

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GENERAL NICE DEVELOPMENT

General Nice Development Ltd, the new owner of the Isua iron ore project in Greenland is on a mission to move forward the country’s mineral resources to meet future demand from China and other rapidly urbanising world markets

B

ack in October 2013 the Greenland government awarded UK-based company London Mining a 30 year licence to build and run a giant iron ore mine at Isukasia in Western Greenland. At the time it was described

by Greenland’s Industry Minister as the largest commercial project in the island nation’s history.

Greenland is an autonomous territory still administered by Denmark, however it is moving towards greater independence, and sees the development of a strong mining industry as the strategy that will give it the economic clout to do so.

That ambition has been clouded somewhat over the last few years by the weakening of commodity prices on the international exchanges, however the fundamentals remain strong. In particular global steel demand is expected to recover as China’s economy continues to grow.

A team from Sichuan Xinye Investment Corporation of Mining & Exploration, and Sichuan Bureau of Metallurgical Geology & Exploration visit Isua site.

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General Nice headquarters at Tianjin

The Isua deposit, as it is known, is wellplaced for exploitation. Just 150 kilometres north west of the capital Nuuk, it is a similar distance from international airport at Kangerlussuaq, and lies 110 kilometres from the coast where the construction of a deepwater port is proposed which will pipe the ore as slurry. The deposit holds a banded iron formation (BIF) measuring between 180 metres and 440 metres in thickness and extends over a strike length of more than two kilometres.

It is open at both sides and outcrops at the centre of deposit. Towards the north and south of the deposit, the BIF is overlain by a sheet of ice that ranges in thickness up to 130m, however the ore can be extracted using open pit methods.

“We are reviewing the potential of other projects in the Nordic region generally, Greenland included” – Jenny Yang , Vice President of General Nice Development

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GENERAL NICE DEVELOPMENT

The exploration site

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Just before the election of a new government in November 2014 London Mining went bankrupt and was placed into receivership after incurring heavy losses at its Sierra Leone mine due to the Ebola crisis. However its Greenland subsidiary, London Mining Greenland AS, was bought

by General Nice Development Ltd, a major commodity trader and investment company incorporated in Hong Kong in 1992 and headquartered at Tianjin, China.

MINING

The project has attracted intense interest and a level of participation from major Chinese companies since it was launched in 2011. Under London Mining’s ownership, SNC-Lavalin completed a bankable feasibility report (BFS), with the support of major Chinese companies including China Communication and Construction Corporation and Sinosteel Corporation. In addition Sichuan Xinye Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of Sichuan Metallurgical Bureau

Mr. Cai Sui Xin - The Chairman of General Nice Group

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GENERAL NICE DEVELOPMENT

Loading a tipper

“We are reviewing the potential of other projects in the Nordic region generally, Greenland included” – Jenny Yang

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carried out a detailed study on the Isua project toward a capital investment of $2.35 billion and Mr. Liu Yikang, the senior advisor with China Mining Association has discussed Greenland’s natural resources, including Isua, at various events. These included presentations to the Ministry of Land and Resources during a high level official visit to Greenland in 2013 and to Chinese investors and mining companies during the past few years.

Now the Chairman of General Nice Development Mr. Cai Suixin is keen to set up the Nordic Development fund (NDF) to promote long term development in the region, as a way of sharing various infrastructure demands. “We very much believe in the potential that exists to open up

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the natural resources that are locked up in these unexplored areas. This will be of real benefit to all the stakeholders of course, but most particularly to the people and communities of Greenland,” he said.

Vice President Jenny Yang explained the state of play following the acquisition: “We are working on an optimisation plan for the Isua project, and a thorough review its economic value. Meanwhile we are reviewing the potential of other projects in the Nordic region generally, Greenland included. We will consider joint ventures as well as acquisitions as a way to build a portfolio, and have already entered discussions with investors and EPC contracting firms that specialise in mine construction from a number of countries including China, Canada and Denmark. In addition, we are working closely with the Danish and Greenlandic governments and a number of banks.”

The Ministry of Mineral Resources is bullish about the involvement of General Nice Development. The work related to the project can now continue, it has said, though before construction and operation of a mine can begin, a number of licensing issues need to be addressed. Details of the exploitation and closure plans as well as technical approvals are currently being finalised and London Mining Greenland AS, the government and the municipalities Qeqqata Kommunia and Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq are negotiating an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA), to be concluded before any new development in Greenland can go ahead. These procedures are all expected to be finalised soon, the Ministry says.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Exploration HEADQUARTERS

Hong Kong, China FOUNDED

1992 EMPLOYEES

12,000 (group figure for General Nice Resources (GNR)) REVENUE

$10 billion (GNR group) PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Mining, minerals

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F5 Networks Saudi Arabia

Innovate, Expand, Deliver Written by: Abigail Phillips Produced by: Craig Daniels

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F5 NETWORKS SAUDI ARABIA

F5 Networks on the importance of delivering the applications that matter without constraints – anywhere, anytime and on any device

F

5 Networks - originally called F5 Labs - was established in 1996 and was inspired by the movie Twister, which referenced the fastest and most powerful tornado on the Fujita Scale. The company made a name for itself early on with its first product, a load balancer called BIG-IP. In essence, when a server went down or became overloaded, BIG-IP directed traffic to other servers that could handle the load. After just three years, in June 1999, the company went public and assumed the title of F5 Networks – it was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

“Our corporate focus centres on providing network intelligence that enables customers to respond quickly to change, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and provide differentiated offerings that help increase revenue,” explains Mamduh Allam, General Manager for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Through internal development and acquisition, F5 Networks has gone on to extend its reach beyond load-balancing, producing a range of integrated products for Application Delivery Networking. These seek to improve the delivery of web-based applications by attempting to make them run faster and more securely.

Core competencies Whether it is security, availability, performance or other critical services, F5 helps deliver the most secure, fast and reliable applications to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The company is

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TECHNOLOGY

Key Personnel

Mamduh Allam Saudi Arabia General Manager, F5 Networks F5 helps deliver the most secure, fast and reliable applications to anyone, anywhere, at any time

dedicated to providing its clients with worldclass, innovative tech solutions, whether that is in the form of security, cloud management or server upgrades. It is also passionate about developing mutually beneficial partnerships with large organisations to provide an allencompassing technology offering.

F5 has always been focused on providing key services to applications. In 2004, it launched an application delivery controller solution focusing on a full-proxy architecture delivered

by F5’s Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS). This led to significant partnerships with most of the leading software providers.

F5 continued its evolution by organic investment and acquisitions, developing market-leading add-on solutions in areas such

Mamduh is General Manager for F5 Networks in Saudi Arabia.

He has significant international industry experience, joining F5 from Intigral, where he was KSA General Manager.

Mamduh has also held senior roles at Microsoft and Cisco, as well as several leadership positions at technology companies in the USA. He has a bachelor degree in Mechanical CAD deisgn, and programming engineering from Eastern Michigan Universerity, USA.

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F5 NETWORKS SAUDI ARABIA

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F5 NETWORKS SAUDI ARABIA as web application security, access management, DDoS mitigation and many others. All leverage the full proxy architecture of BIG-IP and TMOS for massive scalability and performance.

The company has also put a large emphasis on ensuring its technologies are cloud-ready by enabling Virtual Edition solutions across all hypervisors, increasing their performance and density. Being at the forefront of technology and innovation is critical to the company’s vision and objectives, not to mention its long term success.

To this end, in recent times, F5’s key move was the 2013 launch of Synthesis, an architectural vision that promotes the delivery and orchestration of Software Defined Application Services™ throughout data centre, cloud, and hybrid environments. As the company

TECHNOLOGY

F5 Corporate video

PARTNER PROFILE

IS

Innovative Solutions (IS) is a specialized information security professional services company establish in 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. IS is managed by competent IT professionals with extensive local IT experience in Financial, Public, Defense, Education, Health, Oil & Gas, Utilities and IT services industries. Our strategy is to engage our customers with a consultative approach to address their business requirements while maintaining an assuring level of information security. IS’s highly certified engineers provide information security solutions, consulting services and in-house developed products for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.

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F5 NETWORKS SAUDI ARABIA

F5 Networks has strong coverage in all key Middle East markets

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explains: “Powered by an elastic, multi-tenant and high-performance services fabric, F5 Synthesis enables customers to rapidly and cost-effectively provision layer 4-7 services, complementing existing layer 2-3 network and compute-focused efforts. A comprehensive set of management and control plane APIs ensures integration and interoperability with SDN and virtualization systems, as well as in the cloud.”

As a part of its Synthesis vision, F5 Networks has been developing its flourishing partnership with Cisco over the past year. Integrating F5 SDAS into Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI™) enables customers to benefit from a virtualized architecture with an application fabric integrated onto a network fabric. The joint

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solution facilitates virtual workload mobility and policy-driven application delivery to significantly reduce operating costs without compromising on consistent, scalable network and L4-L7 services.

F5 Networks has also benefited from a strong partnership with VMware, which includes interoperable solutions around technologies such as End User Computing, network virtualization, data centre and cloud management, and VMware vCloud® Air™ hybrid cloud platform.

Security has been high on the agenda for the past year, as highlighted by the company’s acquisition of Defense.Net in May 2014. The cloud-based security services company gives F5 a competitive edge in providing solutions to defend against application-layer, networklayer, and data center threats delivered via the Internet such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.The acquisition of Defense.

Net complements existing F5 solutions such as its Advanced Firewall Manager.

In November 2014, F5 announced new hybrid service capabilities to help organizations scale IT resources across dynamic cloud and data center deployments. Under the company’s new Silverline™ banner, F5 will offer extended security, optimization, and availability services from hosted and managed infrastructure, marking F5’s entrance into the cloud services delivery space.

The F5 Silverline services delivery platform expands the company’s F5 Synthesis™ architecture to enable application services

‘Powered by an elastic multi-tenant and high performance services fabric, F5 Synthesis enables customers to rapidly and cost effectively provision layer 4-7 services. customers’

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F5 NETWORKS SAUDI ARABIA within customers’ deployment model of choice: on-premises and/or as-a-service.

Beginning with DDoS protection and security intelligence services, the Silverline platform will support additional application delivery capabilities as-a-service in the future.

Heartbleed: An example of F5 security prowess and innovation F5 takes great pride in its security solutions and was an industry leader in response to the Heartbleed bug. Companies using F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ to terminate SSL connections already had the necessary protections in place to secure their applications against the Heartbleed bug.

This is just one example of the company’s commitment to providing its customers with leading, of-the-moment, reactive technology and security solutions.

Trends impacting business Today however, technology is not limited to servers, PCs and business; it is everywhere, in everything we do, daily. From handheld devices, cars and watches; everything even thermostats and refrigerators are connected.

So what does this mean for applications?

According to Allam they have had to become more sophisticated and need more services to make them available, faster and secure.

“The challenges we have to contend with are a mixture of both applications and infrastructure,

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F5 Synthesis

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F5 Networks wins Network Optimisation Vendor category at Network World Middle E

and are based on business requirements that push IT to be more agile and responsive. For example, mobile apps and BYOD tax both applications and network infrastructure. However, organisations and solutions are typically siloed, focusing on solving their specific issues without addressing the larger problems as a whole. These technology shifts are creating market transitions and a great opportunity for 116

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“One of the key drivers for us is that the traditional network borders are collapsing.

In their place are seemingly disparate clusters of cloud and mobility, as well as the ever-present generation of new sources of data and higher streams of traffic”

East Awards

– Mamduh Allam Saudi Arabia General Manager, F5 Networks

solutions providers that understand how to bring everything together and unlock value and new routes to innovation,” he says.

“One of the key drivers for us is that the traditional network borders are collapsing. In their place are seemingly disparate clusters of cloud and mobility, as well as the everpresent generation of new sources of data and higher streams of traffic. For companies w w w. f 5 . c o m

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“We are growing fast, and in the past four years we have increased our headcount more than five times over.”

– Mamduh Allam Saudi Arabia General Manager, F5 Networks

navigating this new terrain, management and planning of infrastructure is essential, as is understanding how to get ‘social intelligence’ in the connectivity fabric.”

This has led to the emergence of Software Defined Application Services (SDAS), the next phase in the evolution of application delivery.

SDAS is the result of delivering highly flexible and programmatic application services from a unified, high-performance application service fabric and serves to solve the significant challenges created by the Internet of Things (IoT).

Middle East presence F5 Networks has strong coverage in all key Middle East markets based out of Saudi Arabia and United Arab of Emirates. This is supported by an extensive network of partners and account and sales managers. The company also has a professional services team entirely dedicated to the region, and second engineers to customers when major project work demands.

“We are growing fast, and in the past four years we have increased our headcount more than five times over. We have a good sense of where we’re going in the region and are ready and able to scale to meet growing demand for our services,” explains Allam.

Middle East successes The company has already had many successes in the region and is providing critical services

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to enable growth and innovation for major clients in sectors such as finance and banking, telecommunications, government, construction, energy and retail. As the region continues to grow at a breath-taking pace, F5 services are becoming ever more appealing. For example, it is already involved in several Software Defined Network projects with telecom and other enterprise customers - projects and initiatives that will rely on fast, secure and reliable applications.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Technology HEADQUARTERS

Seattle FOUNDED

Looking ahead So what next for the company and its Middle East operations?

“As ever, we are planning to grow and invest in the region. We are driven by our customercentricity, and we will continue to scale and deliver services on their doorstep. As we increasingly move towards an applicationdriven world, F5 will be at the forefront of better enabling IT and business stakeholders to align technology to meet today’s most pressing challenges - cloud enablement, security and the mobility of devices. In particular, we expect our security offerings to experience strong uptake in the coming year,” concludes Allam.

With a clear vision and path to success, backed up by a strong and knowledgeable team of experts, F5 Networks is sure to flourish in 2015 and beyond. When a company’s gameplan is so centred on the future, it is hard to imagine it not achieving success at that time.

1996 EMPLOYEES

4,000 + REVENUE

Fiscal year 2014: $1.73 billion PRODUCTS/ SERVICES F5 helps enterprises deliver the fastest, most secure, and most reliable applications to any user, anywhere, on any device, at any time.

F5 solutions provide the flexibility enterprises need to embrace innovative deployment models (public, private, hybrid clouds; software-defined data centers), enable mobility, and protect and optimize all applications all of the time.

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A Global Perspective ensures success for SPECIALIST SERVICES Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Heykel Ouni

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MWD units for Oceaneering

The supplier to the oil and gas industry has cemented its place in the Middle East through a careful, multifaceted strategy

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pecialist Services was founded in 1982 to supply the Middle Eastern oil and gas industries with modular buildings and equipment packaging solutions. Since then it has grown to a truly international level, with operations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Aberdeen, Singapore and Perth, and has a greatly increased portfolio of specialist products and services. CEO Ian Rogers has been with the firm for over 5 years and has extensive experience working in its key operational territories.

Alongside the offshore building solutions that helped Specialist Services make its name, the company also provides drilling, testing and production products, service and maintenance, spare parts, and modular buildings for hire. Understandably, the company

E X P L O R AT I O N

provides services to organisations in oil-rich countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The strategic acquisition of Aberdeenbased Labtech Services Limited three years ago endowed Specialist Services with a subsidiary that not only had long-standing experience supplying modular buildings to the oil and gas sector, but one that has a Western hub capable of servicing the UK, much of Europe, and Scandinavia.

From its acquisition of Labtech, to starting from scratch in Singapore, Specialist Services has built a solid network that now covers Europe, the Middle and Far East. Rogers summed up his company’s deceptively simple strategy: “If we are going to meet and exceed the expectations of our

New 33ft accommodation module for hire

Early production facility for FODE

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SPECIALIST SERVICES clients we need to be present in those markets, and we have a geographic strategy such that we can deliver on our client’s requirements.”

Ian Rogers, CEO

Safety in numbers Ensuring the wellbeing of its staff is not simply an HR issue for Specialist Services; it can actually be a matter of life or death due to the nature of the oil and gas industry. In addition to its compliance with the ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 initiatives, the company has its own unique methods for ensuring employee safety. Rogers said: “I regularly visit our workers’ accommodation to check food quality, cleanliness, whether people have hot water, and generally that people are being well looked after.

We know from experience that if an employee is well fed and well rested they are much less likely to have an accident.”

Rogers said that very soon the company will have gone 500,000 man hours without the occurrence of a lost-time incident on an EPC project for Petrofac/Zadco in Abu Dhabi, which goes to show that management’s personal involvement in safety measures is

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E X P L O R AT I O N

Power skids for SIEMENS

certainly paying off. Furthermore, the Dubai Municipality for Health and Safety recognised the company’s approach to safety in 2014, awarding it with role model status specifically for its management of occupational health and safety. Rogers received an award on behalf of the company for their participation in a Health, Safety and Environment Week hosted by Yokogawa Middle East and Africa.

Aside from making sure its workers are safe and well catered for, Specialist Services makes sure that employees who champion safety are trumpeted throughout the business. Furthermore it provides long term loyalty packages, in addition to awarding competency-based bonus payments to its employees to ensure a motivated team.

500k The number of man hours without lost-time incident on the Petrofac/ Zadco project

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Specialists in Combined Pressurisation, Fire & Gas Control Systems (CPFG) Supply, Manufacture & Installation of ATEX and IECEx Control Systems

PDC Systems Limited

PDC Systems Limited

PDC Systems Limited

PDC Systems Limited

PDC Systems Limited

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Crude oil custody transfer metering system for Emerson

Investing in the future Specialist Services has made major changes to its operational capabilities, leveraging new developments in software to improve efficiency across multiple levels of the business. Recently the company rolled out Microsoft Dynamics AX across the whole company in order to provide a single, centralised port of call for resource planning, Rogers said: “We are finding that’s enabled us to scale up the organisation and get away from multiple excel spreadsheets that other businesses use.”

The company is also in the process of deploying a competency-based HR management

“We’ve got a significant number of engineers so we can design and engineer solutions for our clients; we aren’t just a fabricator” – Ian Rogers, CEO

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Specialist Services’ service and maintenance Team

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software system, Rogers commented: “We use competencies for performance enhancement, learning development, to drive recruitment and selection, and for strategic HR planning.

This will help us develop our employees, as well as manage employee resources.”

Specialist Services has a willingness to use new technology which does not stop at a single operation within the business – it is a company willing to roll out the best solutions to cover as much as the company as possible.

This attitude has also influenced the company’s approach to its products, specifically with the creation of its new G4 modular buildings that are currently the only modules that comply with the four major certifications, in accordance with oil industry standards, European law, North

E X P L O R AT I O N

American regulations, and global directives.

This innovation allows a Specialist Services client to manage its offshore pressurised building fleet at a truly international level, without having to make any modifications or navigate through layers of red tape. Rogers was keen to highlight the successes of his team, he said: “We’ve got a significant number of engineers so we can design and engineer solutions for our clients, so we aren’t just a fabricator.”

Spending money is not a taboo subject for Ian Rogers; investing in the operational capacity of his company is a source of much pride. He said: “We’ve invested very heavily in yard facilities, particularly in the Middle East; we now have six yards in Dubai and Abu Dhabi combined.

We are building greater numbers of office, workshop and accommodation units and are investing in geographic expansion to support our clients. The Modular Hire fleet will have around $5 million invested in this calendar year.”

Specialist Services survived the 2008-9 financial crisis and came out fighting, which is how Ian Rogers predicts the company will weather the current oil price slump, he even admitted, “Our EPC yards, they are so busy it’s hard to find how we can do more work.” It is therefore becoming clear that dedication to employee wellbeing and having the courage to invest across the board is proving to be an equation for a sustained, successful performance for Specialist Services.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Oil and Gas HEADQUARTERS

Dubai FOUNDED

1982 EMPLOYEES

1250 REVENUE

Undisclosed PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Exploration Services, Modular Buildings, International Carrying, EPC containers, Health and Safety

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HEIDI CHOCOLATE replicating its success to a wider audience Written by: Sam Jermy Produced by: James Pepper

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The premium chocolate brand is looking to enhance its presence in all of its export countries, especially the territories where it has experienced substantial success upon recent market entry

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eidi Chocolate is looking forward to the next growth phase of its history, as the brand begins to strengthen its relationships with new and existing retailers across the globe.

The company was originally set up as a non profit in 1994 by Swiss chocolatier and entrepreneur Jurg Läderach, whose family founded Confiseur Läderach, the famous producer of premium chocolate and confiserie products in Switzerland. Now the Heidi Chocolate brand is coming of age on its 21st anniversary since operations began, having a presence in nearly 50 countries across the world from Canada to China, with the bulk of business coming from within Europe.

Testament to the success of the organisation is the fact Läderach decided to sell the business in 2013 as he had decided his mission for Heidi had been accomplished. The firm was bought out and is now owned by parent company KEX Confectionary, also owner of the Kandia and Niemetz Schwedenbomben brands.

Franco Del Fabbro, Managing Director of Heidi Chocolate, said: “It has taken a lot of hard work over the years, where Heidi started out modestly with some old equipment from Switzerland. But today we have a turnover of approximately €18 million, 420 staff, and sales in nearly 50 countries with half of that turnover now coming from outside of Romania. It is

FOOD

significant progress and an achievement to be proud of. “We continue to be an end-to-end business, where we purchase ingredients, manufacture and sell directly. We have a sales force that calls on the key customers and we distribute from our own warehouses to them inside Romania. For some countries we have exclusive deals with specific customers, so we deliver and manage the relationship directly through an export group team.

Other countries we have an appointed exclusive distributor who deals with the local retail chain. “We are number two in the Romanian chocolate bar segment after Milka, which is a good position.

However, you can only grow single digits a year depending on category and market condition.

With exports, even though we are at a relatively

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H E I D I C H O C O L AT E early stage in our presence, we are experiencing growth in the region of 10-20 percent. So that is the driver of our overall growth and naturally impacts our strategy.”

Heidi chocolate line

Position and strategy Not satisfied with resting on its laurels, Heidi Chocolate foresees double digit growth in the next five years.

“We are not talking about 10.1 percent either.” del Fabbro said. “That growth is going to be achieved through holding and growing our position in Romania and most importantly establishing ourselves as a clearly recognised

Grüner Winkel 7/9 · D-52070 Aachen Tel. +49 241 158-066 · info@bsa-schneider.de

For 25 years now we‘re determined to realize your ideas: development, design and production of plants and machinery for the chocolate, cocoa and sweets industry.

www.bsa-solutions.de

FOOD

international brand. The focus of the past few years was conquering new countries, now our focus is to solidify that presence to get a better foothold in order to thrive.

“Overall business is solid, go to any big retail chain in Hungary or Poland and you will see our products properly displayed on the shelf. Other countries we have just entered; for example in the UK we started doing business with Asda at Christmas.

“The cost of cocoa has sky-rocketed and with the British pound getting stronger, it compounds the problem and remains one of our challenges.

We source cocoa from the Altimarkas and Barry Callebauts of this world as we are still too small to have a direct link with the actual bean production, but we are looking to implement a more direct supply chain from Africa in the future.”

Heidi recognises that international expansion requires a more world-focused mind-set, but relationships such as the ones it has with Turkish hazelnut farmers and Moldovan walnut producers has already been in place for many years.

Investment in future The future development of the company is clearly more towards the export market. Central to this is the intention to retain a high percentage of hand craftsmanship for its chocolate product. Bespoke hollow figurines and personalised chocolate bars are tailored for retailers and consumers, and Del Fabbro claims this is something their mass producing, multinational competitors have more

“The focus of the past few years was conquering new countries, now our focus is to solidify that presence to get a better foothold in order to thrive” – Franco del Fabbro, MD

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trouble to achieve, if nothing because of the relatively small scale of each order.

But expansion has necessitated cutting edge technology too. Del Fabbro said: “I was tasked by the board with creating a 2020 vision for the

FOOD

company, outlining where we want to go in the next five years and what we need in order to get there. Part of our strategic plan was a big boost in technology and machinery investment.

“Our capital expenditure this year is equal to that over the past three years. The single biggest investment has been the conching equipment, to further improve how the chocolate is made.

The second was increasing capacity on specific product lines and the third was to upgrade certain areas and equipment facilities in order to obtain IFS certification by the middle of 2016.”

Of course, in production especially there is constant training and there will be a need for that as Heidi receives newer technology.

Many employees have served more than ten years, and retention is high. Alongside this, the company recently finalised the creation of the Heidi foundation which serves to help employees in need and offers a helping hand to worthy community projects.

Looking forward, Del Fabbro believes the last challenge he faces every day is selecting what projects to pursue. “Enforcing some basic discipline is essential; we need to say for 2016 ‘these are the ten things we will be able to deliver and will make the difference,’ let’s not get distracted by appealing side projects or we may diverge from our strategic journey.”

It is a nice situation to have, and Heidi Chocolate looks primed for more success in the years to come as it continues to grow internationally.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Food HEADQUARTERS

Romania FOUNDED

1994 EMPLOYEES

420 REVENUE

€18 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Confectionery

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DOHA GREEN LINE UNDERGROUND Signals A New Era Of Construction in Qatar Written by: Abigail Phillips Produced by: Richard Durrant

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DOHA GREEN LINE

From design through to safety initiatives, sustainability concerns to traffic management, the Doha Green Line Underground Project has been a resounding success to date

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he Doha Metro is a rapid transit system currently under construction in Doha, Qatar and a number of its neighbouring municipalities. Upon completion, it is expected to comprise of 211.9km of route across four railway lines serving 85 stations. It will be an integral component of the larger Qatar Rail network, which will include long-distance high-speed rail across Qatar, and local light rail and people mover services within Doha.

Construction of the Doha Metro officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of Msheireb station, which will act as the hub for not only the Metro but also entire Qatar Rail network. Throughout early 2013, Qatar Rail submitted tenders to various international firms to construct sections of phase one, corresponding

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A visualization of a Doha Metro station

to the Red and Green Lines. In mid-May, Italian firm Impregilo was awarded a $2 billion contract to manage the construction of the Red Line North segment, running from Msheireb to Al Khor North. In June, it was revealed that QDVC and Porr were successful in their bids to lead the building of the Red Line South segment and Green Line, respectively. Fifteen tunnel boring machines will be used for the project from the German company Herrenknecht.

The Doha Metro will ultimately consist of four lines opening in phases beginning in 2019 with an eventual completion date of 2026. The Red, Green and Gold Lines will radiate out from a central interchange at Msheireb in Downtown Doha, with the Blue Line providing a semi-orbital service.

The Metro network will cover the Greater

211.9km The total distance of the four railway lines serving 85 stations

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DOHA GREEN LINE Doha area and will include connections to town centers and main commercial and residential areas throughout the city. In central Doha, the Metro will be underground, whilst at the outskirts; it will mainly be at ground level or elevated.

Crane delivering segments from storage yard at Mesilla Station.

T F

+974 3307 2901 +974 5586 9159 +974 4442 3519

Aljazeera Arabia Power Engineering PO Box: 23892 Doha-Qatar

www.jazeeraeng.com oways@jazeeraeng.com aeq@jazeeraeng.com

The Green Line Underground Project The Green Line Underground Project is one of seven packages included in phase one of the wider Doha Metro, which will be operational before the FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022. There are six different packages in addition to the Green Line Underground, forming the network in its entirety.

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As Eng Jassim Al Ansari, Project Director of Qatar Rail explains, “The Green Line Project is part of the whole network and should be considered as such. It will serve many people. The network will bring direct benefits from a social, environmental, economic and human perspective. The project truly encompasses the main vision of Qatar 2022.�

The Green Line Underground Project will consist of 52km of track, including six stations, two switch boxes and additional structures such as evacuation shafts. The project also consists of 16.6km of twin-bored tunnels built at a depth of 20 meters. The line spans from Msheireb (Central Station) through to Education City and on to Al Rayyan and in total approximately 18.5km of track will run underground. The Green Line Project is

Architects impression SUPPLIER PROFILE of the metro

Guenther Heilmayer, Project Director at Doha Green Line.

VME MATERIALS HANDLING

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Doha Green Line -Breaking Through

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also known as the Education Line due to the fact it will run through the Cattar Educational Institute.

According to the project directors, the Doha Green Line Underground Project is essential to the delivery of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and is a key contributor to Qatar’s 2030 vision.

The project has been broken down into a civil phase and a system phase. Currently the project is in the civil phase and has been since construction began in June 2013. This phase

CONSTRUCTION

of development is due for completion in August 2018, at which point the system phase will get underway. The Green Line in its entirety will be completed two years ahead of the World Cup in 2020 and will cost in the region of €2 billion.

A Fully Integrated Joint Venture The Doha Green Line Underground is a fully integrated joint venture between Austrian contractor, Porr, HBK Contracting Co., and Saudi Binladin Group. The beauty of such a set up comes from the fact that all partners are working towards a common goal, rather than trying to secure individual interests. Furthermore, as a joint venture there is minimal need to sub-contract.

As Guenther Heilmayer, Project Director of PSH JV explains, “We are not splitting the venture into different verticals, meaning we do not need to sub-contract. As a venture we execute most of the work internally and only sub-contract a few specialized elements of the project. This means that managing contractors is not a problem.

The overall advantage is all three partners have the same interest for all elements of the project.

“We have a very integrated and collaborative approach to managing the project,” he says.

“The network will bring direct benefits from a social, environmental, economic and human perspective.

The project truly encompasses the main vision of Qatar 2022” – Jassim Al Ansari, Qatar Rail Project Director

The project will consist of 52km of track including six stations

A Passion For Quality From day one, quality has always been a priority for the joint partnership. The Green Line Underground is a self-certifying project, which means it manages its own quality control, as w w w. q r. c o m . q a

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DOHA GREEN LINE per the contract. “Quality is within our scope of work,” explains Heilmayer “To ensure we are meeting our stringent requirements, we have established a Quality Control department, which schedules regular internal and external audits.” Since the project got underway it has been audited at least once a week.

As well as its own quality control checks and measures, the Green Line Underground Project has had to adhere to a number of requirements from the Doha government.

“We are following the full requirements in regards to waste management, noise pollution, traffic management and more.

“We knew from day one that we would have to

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Conveyor Belt System at Trough Station (Copyrighted Avi Viljoen)

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Project HSE and Technical control in Qatar LUSAIL Al Jasra twin towers & Al baraha tower HSE Audits and HSE Engineers

2 Pedestrian Bridges that interconnect the South Qetaifan Islands Quality and HSE Audits and Technical control for IDI

NEW DOHA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

MUSHEIREB AREA

Client: CAT INTERNATIONAL MULTIPLEX Project HSE and Qatar QA / QC Technical control in Building Survey

Signaling Safety Review

Rolling Stock Procurement Control Certification

Construction Material Testing Structural Design Review, QA/QC

Client: CCIC IDI

LUSAIL

DAR AL ROKHAM Worlwide imported materials inspection

Al Jasra twin towers & Al baraha tower HSE Audits and HSE Engineers

2 Pedestrian Bridges that interconnect the South Qetaifan Islands Quality and HSE Audits and Technical control for IDI

Ataturk International Airport

NEW INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL AND MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK Location: Istanbul, Turkey 380,000 sqm total area THE PEARL, DOHA Supervision Project period: 1998-2000

Geotechnical Investigation

Qatar Foundation SIDRA medicl research center Technical control for IDI UDC- Qanat Quartie The Pearl Technical control for IDI Concrete and steel works Structural Stability

Technical control for IDI HSE Services SERVICES

Signaling Safety Review National Safety Agency Accredited

Rolling /Stock IRIS Certification ISO Certification Procurement Control Certification

Construction Material Testing Structural Design Review, QA/QC

E: pedro.teixeira@ae.bureauveritas.com• Tel. +974 40 329 729 Geotechnical Investigation Ground floor, KG Building C-Ring Road PO Box 22157

Control Quality Control on Site Design Review for Fire Safety Witnessing Commissioning of Mechanical and Electrical Works

Ataturk International Airport

NEW INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL AND MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK Location: Istanbul, Turkey 380,000 sqm total area Project period: 1998-2000

www.bureauveritas.com.qa SERVICES

National Safety Agency Accredited

Concrete and steel works Structural Stability Control Quality Control on Site Design Review for Fire Safety Witnessing Commissioning of Mechanical and Electrical Works

IRIS Certification / ISO Certification

AUSTRIA

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QATAR

www.keckeis-systems.at

CONSTRUCTION

deal with these concerns, so we put processes and systems in place to ensure they were dealt with properly. As an example, we monitor the movement of all our trucks and analyze how they affect the flow of traffic in surrounding areas.

All this information is shared with our directors, shareholders and government bodies. We have also limited the noise on site to the comfort of local residents and businesses,” explains Ansari.

The main contractors are acutely aware that quality starts from the very beginning of a project.

As such, the choice of designer was critical. “To ensure the quality of the design and build project we chose very renowned and experienced designers. The project is developed with state-

“We have worked hard to achieve a four star rating and are committed in terms of design and construction to ensure we are building to green standards” – Jassim Al Ansari, Qatar Rail Project Director

15 tunnel-boring machines for the Doha Metro (Copyright Herrenknecht) w w w. q r. c o m . q a

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WORLDS LARGEST LIFTING BRIDGE Botlekbrug, Netherlands / © A-Lanes A15

Vienna Consulting Engineers ZT GmbH

Supports Your Project VCE operates in following lines of business: // the transportation sector (roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, metro) // the building and industrial sector // the development sector // the structural health identification (BRIMOS®) and Life Cycle Engineering // BIM Experts in all lines of business

Doha Green Line Underground – VCE Services: Design Coordination VCE Vienna Consulting Engineers ZT GmbH / Hadikgasse 60, 1140 Vienna / T +43 1 897 53 39 / schedler@vce.at / www.vce.at

PKE is a leading international service enterprise in the field of highly complex extra low current projects.

For more than three decades, PKE has been carrying out complex, large-scale projects all over the world – ranging from safeguarding state-run central banks and penitentiaries to wiring Formula-1 tracks and monitoring underground railway networks.

Our projects prioritize reliability and safeguard the future.

To find out more about us please visit www.pke-me.com

PKE – PSS WLL QATAR T: +974 4431 7122 F: +974 4487 9970 qatar@pke-me.com

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PKE GULF WLL BAHRAIN T: +973 178 139 11 F: +973 178 139 22 bahrain@pke-me.com

May 2015

PKE GULF WLL - UAE T: +971 2 6433 396 F: +971 2 6433 894 abudhabi@pke-me.com

DOHA GREEN LINE

CONSTRUCTION

of-the-art planning in mind,� says Heilmayer. This level of design quality has made environmental planning and considerations easier.

Sustainable Development Solutions As well as monitoring waste, water usage and noise and light pollution on site, the Green Line Underground is also committed to obtaining a four star level of certification from the Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS).

QSAS is a green building certification system developed for the State of Qatar, its primary objective being to create a sustainable built environment that minimizes ecological impact while addressing the specific regional needs and

The Green Line is commited to obtaining the QSAS certification

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DOHA GREEN LINE

AI Mesilla Station - conveyor belt with storage yard.

“We have given priority to local contractors and suppliers to boost the economy and resident businesses” – Gunther Heilmayer, Project Director

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environment of Qatar. “We have worked hard to achieve a four star rating and are committed in terms of design and construction to ensure we are building to green standards,” says Ansari.

Supporting The Local Economy A large part of the Doha Green Line Underground centers on local development and progression, and the project has supported this initiative in many ways. For example, it is committed to using local suppliers and labourers where possible.

As Heilmayer explains, “We have given priority to local contractors and suppliers to boost the economy and resident businesses.

We have had to import some material, but we always look for local solutions when we can.”

CONSTRUCTION

A World-Class Safety Record Employee safety is a key concern and the Doha Green Line Underground Project is proud of its world-class safety record to date. During project peaks, there can be up to 4,500 people working on site and yet the project has clocked up an impressive 7.5 million hours major incident free; no mean feat in a construction environment.

“We are achieving a very unprecedented record and have been awarded several times for it. This is a big point for us and we are very proud of this,” says Heilmayer. “Labour accommodation and welfare is an ongoing

Green Line through Education City timelapse.

ADVERTORIAL

Byrne Looby Partners contracted as Utility Designers for the Green Line Metro

B

yrne Looby Partners was awarded one of the initial contracts for Qatar Rail’s Green Line Metro back in early 2014. The scope of works included the design of both wet and dry utilities to enable the stations to be constructed.

The work required close liaison with the design engine engineering team and the utility owners to locate, assess and design appropriate permanent diversions of utilities with tight timescales. These utilities included water, electricity, telecommunications, military and security, police utilities, medical utilities, sewage and storm water.

During the course of our brief Byrne Looby Partners were invited to undertake civil and structural designs to assist the Contractor, Porr/ Saudi Bin Laden/HBK (PBH), in the design of temporary works to expedite the permanent design. This element of work is ongoing.

As part of the overall project Byrne Looby delivered: Utility diversion concept design to accommodate station construction (telecoms, HV, MV, LV cables, foul sewerage and storm drainage in diameter from 300mm to 1500mm, TSE) • Utility diversion detailed design • Temporary works for main contractor

•

BIM 3D modelling for utility diversion associated with the Station Box Utilities.

Byrne Looby are currently undertaking similar utility design work on Line 6 of the Riyadh Metro in the RSA. Byrne Looby Partners was established in 2001, and is an international engineering service provider, delivering solutions for the water, marine, infrastructure and energy sectors. It is now well established as specialist engineering consultant with particular expertise in geotechnical, civil, structural and water engineering services in Europe and Middle East. Offices locations include Bahrain, Libya, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, UK and Ireland.

For more information on Byrne Looby Partners or to view recent projects visit www.blpge.com.

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DOHA GREEN LINE

Breaking through the concrete wall and tunnelling department Members with Mr.Christian Genschel, Tunnelling Director

“We are achieving a very unprecedented safety record” – Gunther Heilmayer, Project Director

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campaign for us and we recently had a visit of union representatives and the feedback is very positive. The level of welfare is well about European standards both on and off site.”

In order to maintain superior standards of health and safety, the project managers have employed the use of sophisticated technology and software.

Real-time cameras watch the site 24/7 to monitor safety processes. This software is also

CONSTRUCTION

Company Information INDUSTRY

Railway Construction HEADQUARTERS

Qatar Rail Tower, Doha FOUNDED

2013 EMPLOYEES

4,500 REVENUE

N/A PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

used to record the site so senior management can see progress even when not on site.

To date, the Doha Green Line Underground Project has been a resounding success.

Everything from design through to safety initiatives, sustainability concerns to traffic management and movement of trucks, and supplier management signals a new era of construction in Qatar.

The end-to-end management for the design, build and implementation of the Doha Green line undergroundw.

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Quality service like no other.

Based in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, JMF is a major sub-contractor to the manufacturing business throughout UK and Ireland.

Investment over the years on high technology equipment has kept JMF at the front as a sub contractor. JMF’s ability to finish product and deliver to your door using our own transport fleet makes us your best choice.

Plasma Cutting • Laser Cutting • Press Brakes • Welding • Punching • Fabricating • Powder Coating • Delivery

T: +44 (0)28 2766 5817 F: +44 (0)28 2766 5887 sales@jmf-ltd.co.uk

www.jmf-ltd.co.uk

69 Frosses Road, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, BT53 7HN, UK

METAL FABRICATIONS