Business Review Europe and Middle East - October 2015

October 2015

www.businessrevieweurope.eu

10 Things You Need To Consider When

Deciding Where To Work

How To Motivate A GLOBAL WORKFORCE Special Reports: KONTRON GROUP & AQABA CONTAINER TERMINAL

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Burden or Benefit?

ON SEPTEMBER 17 TH I posted a news

story, ‘Refugee-camp entrepreneurship’, which proposes an alternative view of a matter that profoundly affects the EMEA region.

Who has more motivation to make a success of the rest of their lives and secure a decent future for their family than people who have been driven from their homes by a tide of predatory violence? Such people will undoubtedly repay, were the deed not its own reward, the communities that welcome them. Every nation in Europe, the Middle East and beyond should compete with the likes of Sweden and Germany to welcome refugees. We’ll be the richer for it.

This month we feature no fewer than eight stellar Middle East companies, so we may be forgiven for singling out the Finnish company Containerships and the UK’s BT for special mention. Gartner, the gnomic IT industry guru, says that any major company without an IT strategy will be dead in five years: our interview with BT’s CIO Clive Selley looks at a major telco’s response to this challenge.

John O’Hanlon Managing Editor John@wdmgroup.com 3

Bosgraaf Group offers a total package

Bosgraaf Group’s state-of-the-art systems and service for the production of semihard and hard cheeses, is a result of the company’s extensive experience and innovative technical solutions.

With an unrelenting focus on performance, hygiene and sustainability, Bosgraaf’s bespoke production facilities ensure that an optimal solution is found across the organisation to suit the clients’ needs, including the use of robotics in mould handling and treatment lines.

Bosgraaf specialises in cheese moulding, handling and pressing systems as well as rack brining, treatment and maturation installations.

info@bosgraaf-group.nl www

www.bosgraaf-group.nl

CONTENTS

Features

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MARKETING How To Motivate A Global Workforce LEADERSHIP Managing Innovation

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26 TOP10 Things You Must Consider At When Deciding Where To Work 5

CONTENTS

Company Profiles TECHNOLOGY 34 The City & Guilds Group 50 Kontron 64 Nour Communications 72 JT Group

SUPPLY CHAIN

34

The City & Guilds Group

98 QVC 108 Aqaba Container Terminal 122 Containerships 132 RSA Logistics

ENERGY 142 ADC Energy Systems 150 Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) 162 Oman Electricity Transmission Company

MINING 176 Mines Rescue Service Ltd

MANUFACTURING 186 Aluminium Products Company (ALUPCO)

CONSTRUCTION 194 Hadeed Emirates Contracting Company 6

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50

Kontron

72 JT Group

64

Nour Communications

108

132

122

qaba Container A Terminal

Containerships

RSA Logistics

142

ADC Energy Systems

186

luminium Products A Company (ALUPCO)

176

ines Rescue M Service Ltd

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MARKETING

How To Motivate A Global Workforce Jan Geldmacher, CEO of Vodafone Global Enterprise since 2012, shares with Business Review EME his experience of working in a multi-national, multicultural environment.

E d i t e d b y: J O H N O ’ H A N LO N

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MARKETING GELDMACHER IS A former Chief Executive of BT Germany who joined Vodafone Germany in 2008. Under his leadership, enterprise has grown to account for one-third of revenues in Vodafone Group’s largest local market, with multinational client contracts won in co-operation with Vodafone Global Enterprise, including BMW, Siemens, Allianz and the Volkswagen Group.

Introduce me to Vodafone’s employee base - how global is it?

Vodafone has an employee base of 92,800 employees across the globe.

We have established strong local roots in a number of key markets and have 24 operating companies with operations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. What principal challenges would you say are associated with managing a global workforce?

Ensuring that each and every one of our employees, wherever they are in the world, understands their role in achieving your corporate goals, are passionate about customer experience, and feels included is critical. We want our people to feel valued and motivated to achieve local 10 October 2015

and corporate goals, to collaborate and work together regardless of location, and we pride ourselves on giving all of our employees a voice.

It can often be hard to achieve these goals when working across a broad range of locations and cultures.

Each market operates differently, and different cultures and individuals are often motivated in different ways. It is up to both the corporate and local management teams to consider cultural and geographical differences, and enable everyone to work together, ensuring that all employees feel part of the bigger team.

Technological advancements can often make global businesses feel more local. Employees can meet face-to-face with colleagues around the world through video and unified communications, or can be contacted when not at their desk.

The ability to connect instantly has made a significant positive impact in transforming the way that businesses around the world can collaborate wherever they are.

Business leaders also need to observe local legislation when managing a global workforce. Things like maternity and paternity leave,

H O W T O M O T I V AT E A G L O B A L W O R K F O R C E

Vodafone Global Enterprise: A view of their world in 2015

“Ensuring that each and every employee understands their role in achieving your corporate goals, are passionate about customer experience, and feels included is critical” – Jan Geldmacher, CEO of Vodafone Global Enterprise minimum wage and maximum working hours can significantly differ from country to country.

Vodafone just introduced a 16-week, fully-paid global maternity policy across the company, and is the first global organisation to do so.

Implementing a global policy like this

can simplify management processes, increase employee satisfaction and has significant cost saving implications.

KPMG research, commissioned

by Vodafone, has estimated that global businesses can save up to an estimated $19 billion annually through the provision of a 16-week 11

MARKETING

“Good pay, competitive benefits and training at all levels are important, but so is providing a really great place to work” – Jan Geldmacher, CEO of Vodafone Global Enterprise

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H O W T O M O T I V AT E A G L O B A L W O R K F O R C E

fully paid maternity leave [Weblink1].

In addition to complying with local legislation, business leaders must ensure that employees across the globe are involved in shaping the company. At Vodafone, we want to make sure that our employees feel engaged and are passionate about their jobs. We also want to make sure that we have the right tools in place to help our employees feel connected and motivated in their roles.

As part of our mission to provide employees with a voice, we have an Employee Consultative Council: a group of elected employee representatives who meet quarterly.

Senior leaders within Vodafone attend all of these meetings as they provide a chance for employees across the globe to give insight into what they think would make Vodafone a better place to work. This includes sharing opinions on the latest technology they would like us to adopt in order to better support their day-to-day work, as well as suggesting ideas for motivational incentives and employee benefits.

Can you give us an example of a specific initiative that Vodafone has adopted?

A good example is our espousal of

flexible working. The success and career progress of employees is determined by what they achieve, not how often they are in the office.

A recent survey found that three out of four employees say that flexible working boosts their job satisfaction, and 54 per cent claim that flexible working makes them more productive [Weblink2].

Six years ago, Vodafone in the UK made the decision to move to flexible working, we wanted to get rid of the rigid 9-5 culture and free up our employees to take advantage of the benefits presented by mobile technology. We changed the setup of our office to reflect the new culture, doing away with executive offices and personal desk space, and creating an open, collaborative environment for employees to come and go as needed. We actively promote creativity and flexibility, empowering employees to work beyond traditionally restrictive office walls.

Our people survey results show that our flexible working approach has led to happier and more connected employees. We have also seen cost savings and carbon reductions from reduced travel. Changing 13

MARKETING our office plan to hot desking has also allowed us to accommodate almost 2,000 additional employees at our headquarters without having to invest in extra office space.

What then constitutes a motivated workforce? What is your end goal for Vodafone in this respect?

A motivated employee should feel fulfilled in their day-to-day role and empowered to suggest new ideas that can benefit the organisation. Happy, motivated employees set themselves higher goals, and are more creative and ambitious. People working within this positive environment are far more likely to drive success for the business and, as such, it is vital that this environment is nurtured across the entire workforce.

At Vodafone, we encourage every one of our employees to bring their ideas to the table and actively contribute to the growth of our business.

Ultimately, every employee must feel valued by the company and included in its future. Successful organisations recognise that people are their most important resource. At Vodafone, we believe that each and every employee should recognise and understand their value, and we 14

October 2015

strive to ensure that this is the case.

So what advice would you give to businesses with employees across the globe?

It is vital that businesses of any size promote a feeling of inclusion. This can be difficult when employees are spread across the globe, so senior leaders of multinational corporations must work hard to ensure that their employees feel that they have an open dialogue and that their input matters.

Part of this is ensuring that everyone within the business from the IT team, to the sales leads, to the leadership team understands the corporate goals. It is also vital that employees are aware of the pivotal business decisions that are being made, and how these will affect the business.

It is important to ensure that teams don’t feel siloed. The best CEOs communicate, communicate and communicate more. They ensure that remote workers such as the sales force and home-based workers have access to tools, content and decision making that corporate HQ employees have. It can be as simple as holding a company meeting, to which everyone is invited, when visiting a local office. Finally, and,

Successful organisations recognise that people are their most important resource most importantly, make time for every office, regardless of whether it is your HQ or a small sub-team in a remote location. Inclusion is the key to a happy, united and motivated workforce.

Any further comment on talent management in a global arena?

Good pay, competitive benefits and training at all levels are important, but so is providing a really great place to work. Talented people come from all backgrounds. We promote diversity at Vodafone so that we can benefit

from the largest possible pool of creativity and innovation serving customers across 130 countries in 70 different languages. We all work differently and we all have different calls on our time, so we strive to make sure that our employees have the tools needed to work flexibly and remotely when they need or want to. And above all, we strive to make sure every single employee, regardless of location, feels part of the bigger Vodafone picture: included, heard, valued‌ and motivated.

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MANAGING INNOVATION

How are you measuring performance in new product development? If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it Writ ten by: JÖRG PUTZER & DARRAGH MACNEILL

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (NPD) a key aspect of innovation, is one of the most important strategic and operational levers an organisation can use to sustain growth and profitability. It is an increasingly complex activity, posing multiple challenges for companies trying to build a competitive advantage through newly developed products.

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From our experience, there appears to be a disconnect between what organisations are hoping for and what they are getting from their investments in innovation. In many cases, a sense of “eternal optimism” seems to prevail regarding NPD. According to a report published in 2013 by the Product Development and Management Association, only

LEADERSHIP

61 percent of launched products succeeded in the market. So how can a company improve this measure?

This business insight aims to share best practices on how to manage NPD projects. In doing so, we hope to dispel the following widely held beliefs: NPD, due to its inherent ambiguous and chaotic nature, cannot be controlled; and, since the

core innovation activities reside in engineering, the success of NPD depends solely on the capability of an organisation’s R&D department.

Performance of NPD is often both under-measured and under-managed.

Having correct and clear metrics is a real challenge, and those aiming 17

LEADERSHIP to manage the performance of NPD typically apply conventional key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time to market, percent sales from new projects or return on investment.

While important, these KPIs measure success only after a new product or service has been launched and come too late in the process to influence performance.

In other words, they just reflect the outcome of performance.

in the integrated NPD process.

2.PROCESS: A streamlined process managed by a balanced combination of KPIs that evaluate not just final project outcomes but also input and supporting factors that influence the success of NPD. 3.DATA: Capability to use Business Intelligence (BI) as an important enabler to support the management of NPD and drive correct behaviours across the value chain

We believe that successful performance management of NPD needs to involve three key aspects: 1.ORGANISATION: A holistic value chain approach to align the performance of all the interdependent functions involved

Organisation: Managing performance along the value chain The development of new products is a highly cross-functional activity characterised by an interdependence across an organisation’s value

Figure 1.

Integrated Performance Management Framework 18

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M A N A G I N G I N N O V AT I O N

chain. In reality the required collaboration rarely happens as effectively as it should.

As a result, new product development projects fail to achieve their target objectives. Some examples of this include voice of the customer (VOC) issues, where product specifications do not match customer needs, and design for manufacture (DFM) issues, where manufacturing implications have been insufficiently considered in product design. This is often due to contradictory objectives, ineffective collaboration and unclear roles and responsibilities among Sales, Marketing, Finance, Purchasing, Quality, Engineering or Manufacturing.

‘The development of new products is a highly crossfunctional activity characterised by an interdependence across an organisation’s value chain’

Darragh MacNeill, Director and EMEA Operational Excellence Lead at Hitachi Consulting

Jörg Putzer Manager at Hitachi Consulting

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LEADERSHIP Therefore, what is needed is a robust performance framework with an appropriate set of KPIs that will make these interdependences transparent and contribute to the effective management of each function’s performance.

Only by assigning clear, shared, cross-functional accountabilities, measured by KPIs, will an organisation manage to break down silo behaviour and foster collaborative decision making. Clear accountabilities also help to establish performance-oriented behaviours across an organisation and, as illustrated in Figure 2, the nature of these accountabilities changes throughout the lifecycle of a project.

As the example in Figure 3 illustrates, early in the project lifecycle Purchasing requires inputs from Engineering to lead the strategic supplier evaluation and selection.

Engineering can, therefore, be measured against the on-time

in-full delivery of technology specifications. If Purchasing receives these technical specifications in the correct time window, it is able to undertake a proper review of potential suppliers to make the product.

During the development phase, Purchasing requires detailed drawings from Engineering to source components, and those components must meet cost targets. Again, new components will only be available on-time and at-cost if both functions perform against their KPIs. Finally, Purchasing may have identified suppliers reaching their cost reduction targets in the short-term, but in the long-term the total cost of quality may rise due to low quality components.

There are often related costs, such as warranty claims due to a component failure, which highlight the need for Purchasing KPI that measures the total cost of quality linked to purchase components

‘Only by assigning clear, shared, cross-functional accountabilities, measured by KPIs, will an organisation manage to break down silo behaviour and foster collaborative decision making.’ 20

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M A N A G I N G I N N O V AT I O N

Figure 2. KPIs across the NPD value chain

Figure 3. Increased clarity of cross-functional interdependencies 21

LEADERSHIP to ensure correct sourcing decisions are being made Process: Getting the balance right Despite the uncertainty in NPD projects, success can, to a large extent, be predicted and performance proactively managed throughout a project’s life. Continuously assessing the performance status of a project, combined with timely implementation of the right mitigating actions, can greatly influence the success of a project. Therefore, NPD needs to be managed in a structured way by applying systematic performance management, focused on both the effectiveness and efficiency of development activities.

Effectiveness is related to the Figure 4.

Striking the right balance between effectiveness and efficiency

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outcome of projects, such as customer satisfaction or financial success. Although useful in many ways, managing “outcomes” has limited use throughout a project to define mitigating actions to influence success or failure.

Efficiency is linked to the multiplicity of inputs that influence those outputs on a day-to-day basis.

Efficiency indicators are “leading” or “input-oriented” and help predict the future outcome of NPD. As shown on Figure 4, organisations are ultimately interested in maximising the revenues from new product introduction. However, only by proactively managing the factors that influence market success can they ensure the new product will meet its revenue targets.

M A N A G I N G I N N O V AT I O N

Figure 5. Multiple dimensions of performance management

In order to deliver NPD both effectively and efficiently, we recommend managing new product development projects along four dimensions: Lagging, leading, controlling and enabling indicators.

As illustrated in Figure 5, the ultimate objective of reaching high customer satisfaction, the lagging KPI in this example, will only be achieved if the related leading, controlling and enabling aspects are managed appropriately.

Both lagging and leading indicators focus on the NPD’s performance.

Lagging indicators measure the effectiveness of NPD by evaluating success or failure once a product has been launched (e.g. customer satisfaction), whereas leading indicators measure the efficiency of NPD. They are predictive indicators, used to plan and manage critical inputs to activities in the innovation process. Leading indicators provide early warnings and allow mitigation against any developing weaknesses before problems perpetuate throughout a project’s life.

Revenue and profitability of new

‘Continuously assessing the performance status of a project, combined with timely implementation of the right mitigating actions, can greatly influence the success of a project.’

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LEADERSHIP product introduction are widely used lagging indicators across industries.

However, the approach taken to achieve those objectives will differ from industry to industry depending on the prevailing competitive situation and an organisation’s NPD objectives (Figure 6).

Enabling indicators are about driving cross-functional cooperation and are used to monitor enablers to the process. They are often linked to the people or technology aspects in NPD. For example, only if project team members are adequately trained to use the requirements management software available, will they be able to ensure requirements traceability.

It is important to remember that a single KPI will never tell you the full truth; you must use a combination of different KPIs to get the full

picture. (Figure 7). Lagging and leading indicators are like the rearview mirror and headlights of a car.

Conclusion For NPD to be a success in any business there must be a welldefined and robust process at its heart. Built around this process there needs to be a system to manage performance. KPIs are an important part of this system.

These indicators highlight performance issues, but they rarely tell you what the root cause of the problem is. However, used in conjunction with accurate data, KPIs are valuable inputs for decision making and problem resolution. Furthermore, they need to be complemented with appropriate behaviours across the value chain, to ensure that the

Figure 6. Alignment of NPD objectives and leading indicators 24

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Figure 7. A car analogy for lagging and leading indicators

correct actions and decisions are taken. These behaviours should be results-orientated and encourage effective collaboration, transparency and broad-based problem solving to ultimately influence the outcome of NPD. The performance system will bring rigour to execution.

Once in place it will: • Provide the right people with the information they need, when they need it, to base decisions on facts rather than emotion and “gut feel”.

• Ensure clear accountability for follow-through on decisions.

• Sustain strong focus, at all operating levels, on fulfilling the business strategy.

• Break down silo behaviour

and foster collaborative decision making.

• Deliver the needed insight and analytics to manage business performance and build competitive advantage.

• Role model the optimal set of behaviours required throughout the organisation to drive a culture of performance.

Integrated performance management based on KPIs aligned across the value chain, supported by a robust BI framework and performance-driven behaviours will enhance a company’s performance management culture and drive competitive advantage through successful NPD.

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TOP 10

Ten Things You Must Consider

WHEN DECIDING WHERE TO WORK Writ ten by: JASON DOWNES

Travelling to work in any large city is a bore. It is also inefficient: time spent on an iPad isn’t much use when someone’s elbow is in your eye. Ask any London commuter and they will confirm that, even if they can get past the recent tube strikes Jason Downes, Managing Director of Powwownow, a conference and flexible working tool provider that allows its employees to work from home once a week, says: “The world is gradually moving away from the 9-5 office culture, and venues are realising this and making themselves more accommodating for professionals to work from.

Employees are no longer content

battling to commute for hours every week when they could be spending that time more productively and improving their work/life balance.”

He admits that working from a remote location can prove distracting, and less productive if trying to work from somewhere loud with loads of other things going on, but providing you choose a good spot that ticks all the boxes, a lot of work can get done.

Jason, a huge advocate of remote working, has produced a list of the key things that should be considered when deciding where to work from when the office just doesn’t cut it.

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Location, location, location

Naturally, anywhere you choose should be comfortably accessible for you as the ease of travelling to the location should be high on the agenda. You don’t want to be hot and bothered by the time you arrive or worrying about your journey when you’re done. One of the huge benefits of remote working is that you save time on travelling too.

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Wi-Fi

As well as ensuring the venue has Wi-Fi, make sure it has sufficient signal strength to cope with your demands. This is not always essential if you are merely looking to write content and looking for some peace and quiet, but for web browsing and responding to emails or using more high technology collaboration tools such as iMeet, a strong Wi-Fi connection will be required to function well.

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08

Coffee

If you’re like me and need a good cup of coffee to get you going and keep you going throughout the day, then take note! If coffee is a crucial element of your working day then you need to make sure you’re drinking good quality stuff as this will enable you to be as productive as possible.

07

Clientele

This can be reflective of a place or reflective of the time of day. Ideally, you want to be surrounded by business professionals of a similar mindset as this will create minimal distractions. Some flexible working spaces may be home to creative and vibrant companies which can be fun if you’re involved but frustrating if you’re next door and approaching a deadline.

Likewise, some coffee shops can favour young families, which again are probably not going

DECIDING WHERE TO WORK

One of the huge benefits of remote working is that you save time of travelling too.

to create the best environment for you to work effectively.

06

How accommodating is the venue?

This is something that can often get overlooked but is an important factor to consider. If you have planned to be in one place to work for the entire day then you need to know if the venue is tolerant of this. Nobody wants to be asked to ‘move on’ after a

few hours or feel uncomfortable when using the Wi-Fi, so a suitable atmosphere and culture of the place you would like to work should be strongly considered.

05

Plugs

It may sound simple but ensuring there are copious amounts of plugs to accommodate your technological needs should be high on the agenda. You definitely don’t want to be a victim, unable 29

TOP 10

Having to wait for a seat or working with your elbows tucked in will only lead to frustration and a lack of productivity.

to get your hands on juice for your laptop, tablet or smartphone.

04

Seating

Ensuring there is going to be enough seating for you to have ample room to work effectively is crucial. Having to wait for a seat or working with your elbows tucked in will only lead to frustration and a lack of productivity.

This is the same with tables, if working on a laptop without a table is not for you then make sure you attend a place where you are guaranteed a table to work from. Comfortable 30

October 2015

seating can also be extremely important, especially to people who perhaps suffer from back pain, so don’t gamble on this.

03

Noise

Is it a venue that plays music? For some that will be music to their ears (sorry) and help their productivity but for others it sounds unpleasant.

If you know you may need to dial in to a conference call or have an important conversation on the phone then being able to have a bit of peace and quiet will shape your decision. Some venues have the option of hiring a private room

DECIDING WHERE TO WORK

for meetings and quiet time, so this may be something to explore should you deem necessary.

02

Food

Can you spend all day here without having to worry about where your next feed will come from? It’s only natural for us to flag if we haven’t eaten; food fuels the body and the mind so is essential for a productive day’s work. A venue which can feed you without costing an arm and a leg may also be a motivating factor if operating on a budget.

01

Lighting

If you are doing a lot of writing or creative work then natural light might be important to create the right atmosphere and help those creative juices flow, as opposed to sitting in a dark cellar of a place. You also don’t want to spend the day straining to see. It’s very much a case of horses for courses as an individual may make their decision based on the task(s) they are looking to carry out.

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Qualifying in the Cloud City & Guilds CIO Ian Turfrey is taking a great training institution global with IT Written By: John O’Hanlon Produced By: Kiron Chavda

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THE CITY & GUILDS GROUP

Though a product of the late 19th Century when the City and Guilds of London Institute (the City & Guilds Group) was founded by a group of ancient livery companies, if you think there is anything quaint about it, look again!

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I

n reality the guilds of London were well ahead of their time when they came into being in mediaeval times, overseeing skills training, wage control, labour conditions and industry standards.

When the Institute came into being it quickly established itself as the UK’s leading provider of vocational examinations and qualifications.

Today, while still run as a not-for-profit and embedded in the UK’s national consciousness the City & Guilds Group has grown its global presence to 80 countries serving two million students every year in more than 8,000 learning establishments. It employs some 1,300 people globally, and works with more than 10,000 training providers around the world. Its credentials are respected in the leading economies of the world and developing countries alike. As an example, it has recently entered an agreement with Saudi Arabia to increase participation in vocational education from 10 percent to 40 percent by 2023.

Some 400,000 students will benefit, helping the kingdom to diversify its oil-based economy and reduce its dependence on foreign labour.

But ten years ago, with monolithic and underinvested back office IT systems and a plethora of customer-facing software in place, the City & Guilds Group would have struggled to maintain its strong brand advantage much further into the 21st century. The City & Guilds Group’s IT Director Ian Turfrey was appointed to his present job in 2012. However he has been with the organisation since 2005, progressively

TECHNOLOGY

IT training is taught through over 10,000 providers

updating its software systems and implementing a company-wide SAP ERP system. It hardly needs to be said that IT has evolved exponentially in the last decade, and the path he has set since over the last three years is radically different – and, he hopes future proof, in that business critical IT can be kept up to date by third party specialists. His IT team will not be concerned, in other words, with keeping the lights on, but rather with delivering the applications and services that are core to the City & Guilds Group.

The IT transformation started some four years ago with the desktop systems. Till then the organisation ran on tightly coupled back-office systems and old-fashioned fixed desktops and telecoms, with SAP systems implemented in the 2000s. “At that time we couldn’t even

1,300 Number of staff employed by City & Guilds

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

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A Trusted IT Partnership delivering City & Guilds £ saving through consolida Managed services for critical applications Cost and operating efficiencies through consolidation Consulting engagement for SAP review and transition Guiding the journey to Hybrid IT A Long-term Business Relationship City & Guilds appointed Attenda as its single strategic IT services partner to operate and manage its critical IT applications; and to provide consulting services to help to evolve and deliver its IT transformation strategy.

It looked to Attenda as a long-term strategic partner, with the right skill set, people and capabilities to accompany City & Guilds on its journey. As Ian Turfrey, IT Director, explains: “The partnership with Attenda has enabled us to consolidate all our critical applications to a single hosting environment, achieving cost savings, gaining operating efficiencies and ensuring that the different technologies all work together.”

Attenda Consulting Services were engaged to review and assess the current SAP environment, make recommendations, and then undertake the SAP transition to the Attenda managed platform. This engagement facilitated a re-design of the platform to reduce cost and improve performance; and minimised the risk usually associated with the transfer of datacentres.

Call us today to book your no-obligation ‘Hybrid IT Readiness Asse

£2.5m ation Critical Applications City & Guilds’ core applications are critical to its users; from initial engagement via the corporate website, through to the core ERP system and e-assessment platform, with real-time transaction processing to ensure that all learners that are using online assessment can get their certificates. Attenda is monitoring and managing these business critical applications 24 x 7, ensuring that it keeps the business transactions flowing.

Cloud Services As City & Guilds look to put in new applications and engines, it is not all on premise. It is working with Attenda to look at cloudbased technologies and hybrid IT. Attenda’s location and platform independent approach can ensure that City & Guilds adopts the right mix of on premise, public and private cloud services to deliver the optimum hybrid IT environment, to meet its business needs both now and in the future.

Consulting & Professional Services Today’s business survival depends upon IT innovation.

Our consulting services are helping to guide City & Guilds on their Hybrid IT journey; advising on their strategy and roadmap development, ensuring that they make the right choices. This is enabling City & Guilds to transform legacy applications, build on-demand services, consume new cloud capabilities; managing their services portfolio across a flexible hybrid delivery model.

Ian Turfrey continues “Attenda consulting and design experts took the time to work with our internal team to understand our coÜlex environment and to provide a coÜrehensive solution for all of our managed systeÙ.”

Ian Turfrey adds, “By working closely with Attenda, as a partner, and letting them know what our strategies are, they have helped us to come up with the right solutions for our business.”

The Business Outcomes

City & Guilds has been able to make a £2.5m saving through consolidating its different hosting environments. Not only does the business now have the capacity for growth, it also has a much better SLA in terms of disaster recovery time.

City & Guilds believes that it is the open engagement that has made its relationship with Attenda so successful. It is already benefiting from the Attenda added value as it moves toward a Hybrid IT model for service delivery.

Supported by HP technologies

essment’ t: 01784 211100 e:info@attenda.com www.attenda.com

SUPPLIER PROFILE

ATTENDA LIMITED Attenda is one of the UK‘s leading managed service and cloud platform providers, specialising in running business critical applications. Our Business Critical IT approach combines business outcome focus with a structured engagement methodology and supporting services and infrastructure. With our structured Review, Design & Change engagement methodology, we help our clients to transform their business services to a hybrid IT model, offering impartial advice to facilitate the right choices.

Our clients benefit from our extensive expertise in consulting, designing, deploying and managing business critical applications.

We have built our commanding market reputation based upon the delivery of premium client experiences. Through the delivery of platform and location independent services, we can ensure better business outcomes, without compromising security and governance; supporting business innovation and IT optimisation.

With the industry’s leading accreditations, ISO9001, ISO27001, ISO20000 and ISO22301, Attenda is a Microsoft Gold Hosting Partner, VMware Premier Service Provider, a SAP Partner, SAP Certified in Cloud Services, HP Gold Service Provider Partner and a G-Cloud certified service provider. Attenda is positioned in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting, 2015.

Tel: 01784 211100 Fax: 01784 211200 Email: info@attenda.com

THE CITY & GUILDS GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

deploy a screensaver to people’s desktops without something breaking! And our contact centres were all located in central London where space is at a premium,” Ian said.

With the vision in mind of a workplace in which people could work from anywhere using a variety of devices, the first thing he did was to put in place Citrix to allow the City & Guilds Group to virtualise its desktop functions, centralise them and deliver them to users on demand, to any device, anytime, anywhere. “Work,” Ian says, “should be something you do, not a place you go!” Now the traditional model – employees working at the office on corporate devices – has undergone a dramatic transformation, and when people (yes, even at board level) come into the office they hotdesk – or use their own device. If they want to work at home, that is fine, and a virtual private network (VPN) gives them access to the information and series they need.

Citrix improved global connectivity a lot but there remained the constraint that information and people had to come through the London office – for a global business operating from Hong Kong to Chicago this was neither fast nor reliable enough. It was time to start moving the IT to the cloud. So Turfrey turned his attention to the telephones, fixed, mobile and internet based. “We started looking at telephony in terms of the devices people need, so as we started moving over towards a more MS based ecosystem we replaced all the

“Work should be something you do, not a place you go!”

– Ian Turfrey, IT Director

City And Guilds London Office

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Helping the City & Guilds Group communicate more effectively and flexibly, wherever they are.

The City & Guilds Group selected Azzurri as their strategic telecoms and unified communications partner over three years ago. The goal was to transform their legacy telecoms infrastructure to become more agile, more innovative and make their staff more productive.

An award-winning solution.

We’re proud to partner with and support the City & Guilds Group on this journey by delivering a pioneering and award-winning* managed communications service. * Winner ‘Best Enterprise Hosted Solutions’, Comms National Awards 2014.

My strategic goal was to remove all of our communications systems and servers from our physical sites. ICON Communicate has enabled me to take a major step forward in delivering on my vision of an unburdened IT team where all IT and telecoms are delivered as a service from external suppliers.

Ian Turfrey, IT Director, the City & Guilds Group

By deploying ICON Communicate, our flexible, cloud-based UC service, the City & Guilds Group’s people can work anywhere, whether in the office, on the move or on clients’ premises.

A simpler solution.

ICON Communicate integrates IP telephony, UC, mobility contact centre and audio and video conferencing into a single, seamless managed service.

Cost effective communications.

The City & Guilds Group has been able to drive down its direct communication costs by 33% on its fixed voice and 41% on its mobile estate over three years.

Find out how we can help your organisation become faster, more connected and more competitive through our unrivalled expertise and award-winning communications services. www.azzurricommunications.co.uk

0844 324 0000

Greater peace of mind.

Key SLAs and a guaranteed up-time of 99.99% ensure the City & Guilds Group receives a quality, reliable service.

More flexible, more productive, more satisfied.

Moving to the cloud allows employees to access standardised telephony features and work anytime, from anywhere. 65% of employees surveyed now claimed they had “the right tools for the job,” a rise of 8%.

TECHNOLOGY

BlackBerrys with Windows phones and started to manage all that in the cloud. We then put in our own VOIP internal telephony system.”

This was an Azzurri solution designed to consolidate the existing telecoms suppliers (covering mobility, IP telephony, audio and video conferencing, calls and lines and support) into one managed service giving all City & Guilds Group staff standardised telephony features and the ability to hotdesk from any location, as well as access to a single global directory. “All the phone numbers are now in the cloud so you can access your mailbox, or your voicemail any time, any place, anywhere,” he says. “Then we put in

Business Support Skills, City & Guilds is a global provider of vocational qualifications

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THE CITY & GUILDS GROUP

“We have moved from traditional infrastructure that we own, to a situation where up to 30 percent of our business is on the public cloud” – Ian Turfrey, IT Director

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October 2015

SharePoint Online as we moved to Office 365.”

SharePoint Online delivers the content and document management features of MS SharePoint without the associated overhead of managing the infrastructure on your own, he points out. Just over a year ago now, he added the video conferencing element of the Office 365, Skype for Business, which can cope with up to 250 participants at a time. He estimates that before the implementation the City & Guilds Group conducted about one hour of video conferencing a month. Now it is running at more than 200 hours a month, saving correspondingly significant amounts in time and travel.

“This is commoditised IT – any time, any place, anywhere,” he says. “It does not differentiate us as such. I use a set of partners, so I have all the internet capacity I need, am able to leverage the cloud, and the desktop transformation over the last three years has been enabling me to do new things going forward!”

It also means that he does not have to lie awake at night worrying whether the software will work or how he can fix it if not; all that is in capable hands, with redundancy and security aplenty. “We have moved from traditional infrastructure that we own, to a situation where up to 30 percent of our business is on the public cloud. We are a big user of Microsoft’s cloud computing platform Azure as well as Office 365. We have consolidated Amazon Web Services and Google. And for my business critical IT which is now run by a company called

TECHNOLOGY

Attenda, I am freed from operational concerns about whether the system is up or down. We can focus on the strategy of the City & Guilds Group.”

Ian Turfrey calculates that his department has saved the City & Guilds Group £1 million a year over the last four years. That £1 million has been reinvested back into the business. The board and the entire staff have started to embrace a new way of thinking, and have begun to lose their suspicion of the cloud. This has huge implications for the future of the City & Guilds Group. IT is now able to focus on doing the traditional jobs better, like creating an engine to convert marks into grades, and another to streamline marking; or introducing

The group serves two million students a year

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THE CITY & GUILDS GROUP

ABOUT Ian Turfrey IT Director Having personally saved City & Guild’s IT function from being outsourced as a mere non-core utility, Ian Turfrey has subsequently demonstrated to the company how IT can not only cut costs but deliver strategic advantage too. He has leveraged cloud, integration and SAP streamlining to unburden the business to do bigger and better things.

“IT used to be the last port of call, but now it is the first” – Ian Turfrey 46

October 2015

TECHNOLOGY

e-certificates that are impossible to counterfeit unlike the old paper ones (though students can still get a certificate to frame – something of great importance in some parts of the world.)

Bigger things are in hand. Control of its data enables the City & Guilds Group to innovate and explore new ways of delivering excellent products and services to its customers. One example is through its e-Learning arm, City & Guilds Kineo. The company developed an award-winning game for McDonald’s when it wanted to introduce a new till system.

City & Guilds Kineo created the game, which was placed on the crew website with no advertising or direction. The crew found it, played it, and then competed against each other to be at the top of the leader board. The creative use of technology completely surpassed all expectations, and the crew members were already well-trained by the time the till system was introduced. From employee relationships of this quality – and there are many - The City & Guilds Group is uniquely placed to moving on to matching qualifications with vacancies.

What we have been discussing is not just a transformation within The City & Guilds Group.

Today’s businesses need to have their CIO on the board, since IT now leads strategy. “IT used to be the last port of call, but now it is the first.” said Turfrey, and there can’t be many CEOs that would disagree with these words, which are, after all, those of a qualified accountant.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Education & training HEADQUARTERS

London FOUNDED

1878 EMPLOYEES

1,300 REVENUE

£129.85 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Enabling people and organisations to develop their skills for personal and economic growth.

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KONTRON:

Leading The Global Connected Revolution Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Danielle Harris

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KONTRON

Having restructured and centralised operations after over 50 successful years in the embedded computing technology space, the company is now poised to become a vital IoT provider

H

aving led the world’s embedded computing technology sector since 1959, Kontron is now ready to use its expertise to become the world leader for Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The German company has restructured its operations and has built dedicated facilities which will ensure that its vision to become the ‘go-to’ company for IoT technology and services is realised.

Operations ‑Reaching revenues of €456.8 million last year, the company has proven to itself, its shareholders and the industry at large that its decision to restructure to lead global IoT products and services was well considered. Michael Väth, Kontron’s Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing said that this move was backed up by a change of focus: “We walked away from being a legal entity business to an industrially focused structure.”

Kontron’s position in the embedded computing technology space is both well-established and trusted 52

October 2015

TECHNOLOGY

Kontron’s position in the embedded computing technology space is both well-established and trusted; it serves a range of international clients with its broad offering of software and systems solutions, alongside its mainstay of boards and standard form factors. Its range of systems include cloud devices, panel PCs and connectivity equipment, as well as customised, industry specific computers and monitors. It also provides services with regard to these in the form of technical and professional support alongside enhanced repair services. It is little wonder that a host of Fortune 500 companies turn to Kontron to fulfil their embedded technology needs. The company is also utilizing a global set of strong channel partners alongside system integrators to cover the mid-market and to complement its offering with industry-specific solutions.

In an increasingly connected world, the company has attracted clients from a diverse set of industries including industrial automation, energy, medical and communication. Kontron also serves clients based in the avionics, transportation and defence sectors. It has a strong presence in the US and European markets, as well as steadily growing operations in Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets.

Väth explained that the company developed its capabilities through the acquisition and merger of many smaller outfits, and that this was a trend that continues to this day, he said: “During the transformation we sold off parts of

Key Personnel

Rolf Schwirz CEO Rolf Schwirz can look back on many years of extensive experience in the IT industry. Prior to his position at Kontron, he was CEO of Fujitsu Technology Solutions, held the position of Head of Mature Markets EMEA at SAP, and spent 12 years at Oracle in a variety of international management roles including those of Senior Vice President Western Continental Europe, Managing Director Nordic-Germany, and Vice President Sales Germany. He knows the customer needs both in large and midsize businesses

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KONTRON

Key Personnel

Kontron’s position in the embedded computing technology space is both well-established and trusted

Michael Väth Executive Vice President Global Sales & Marketing Michael leads Kontron’s global sales & marketing organization. He has responsibility to grow profitable revenue, to drive market share utilizing all available channels and to build an efficient sales and marketing operation. In March 2015 he was as well appointed as Managing Director (Chairman) of Kontron Europe.

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Kontron which were not part of our core. We also acquired parts that we feel we missed from a coverage perspective. For example we bought out our JV partner in India so Kontron could have a 100 percent owned subsidiary in this area.”

Technological solutions Using the medical sector as an example, Väth explained how the company’s ability to engineer tailored solutions for connected devices not only provided peace of mind but also enabled them to focus on what the technology was created for. He said: “With a medical device,

TECHNOLOGY

“The purpose of what came to be known as its ‘tech campus’ was to manage all of its global operations from a single location, and also provide a centralised business and engineering development hub” we receive specifications from a customer, who usually has them for a range of things such as space, performance, and temperature.

They don’t want have to worry about the embedded computer; they are interested in the medical application and how it is running.”

“We start with the building blocks, typically boards and modules or preconfigured industrial PCs; we take those pieces and add additional parts on the platform side. These could be either BIOS, performance and function features, or specific operating systems like LINUX or Windows.” All these platforms can

– Michael Väth, Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing

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Whether it’s amazing or mundane, something you’ve never seen before or the things you can’t live without—you name it. If it takes a charge, chances are, it was built with Arrow.

When you think about the world of Five Years Out: • Arrow is helping design it.

• Build it.

• Source it.

• Even pay for it.

By the time a typical person has their coffee in the morning, Arrow will have touched their life five times. By the time they go to bed, at least twenty. We are an intellectual force for dreamers.

A springboard for innovators. And a practical tool for builders. Arrow is not a collection of different companies and divisions. Arrow is far more than the sum of its parts. Arrow is the shortest distance between what’s practical and what’s possible.

Arrow is Five Years Out.

#whyisit

CONTACT Arrow OEM Computing Solutions (OCS) Locations http://ocs.arrow.com/na/en/connect/contact-us/ Email ocs-emea-info@arroweurope.com Web ocs.arrow.com

SUPPLIER PROFILE

ARROW CENTRAL EUROPE

Possible…Practical: Arrow OEM Computing Solutions Whether it’s amazing or mundane, something you’ve never seen before or the things you can’t live without— you name it. If it takes a charge, chances are, it was built with Arrow Arrow Electronics has been in the business of guiding innovation forward for a long time, and in today’s market that support is more crucial than ever. Perhaps you’re trying to look five years out to future designs and push the limits of technology, or maybe you’re trying to extend the lifetime of your solutions and services with the right parts and products.

Whatever your challenge we know that it can be difficult to get it right!

You may want to push your ideas to the limits of what is possible?

But then you have to be sure that it is practical!

It has to work, and it has to be at a cost that you can afford.

At Arrow OCS we believe we can help you deliver a better solution to your customers. We understand how to get the balance right between what’s possible and what’s practical.

We’ve partnered with Kontron for many years, and that partnership has become increasingly powerful for our OEM and ISV customers.

Kontron have an unrivalled reputation for innovation, quality, and engineering excellence.

The breadth of products that Kontron have can be daunting.

Our Solution Architects receive in depth training from the Kontron Engineering teams in Germany to make sure they are ready to help you navigate to the best solution.

Whether it is during the design process, or to support you for years

to come as your project moves from design, to production, to lifecycle management, we continue to provide the support and expertise that you need.

To complement the Kontron offering we have carefully selected a portfolio of suppliers. We enable solutions from the factory floor to the business intelligence at the back end – from the IoT gateway to the server and storage, all from a single trusted source. Whether you need a visual solution, embedded software, a server or storage appliance, or indeed anything that makes an OEM computing solution possible, you’re in the right place.

So what makes Arrow OCS different?

• Broad but carefully selected range of suppliers to support the needs of key markets like industrial automation, , transportation, telecoms, energy, broadcast, digital signage, security & surveillance, and many more…

• Global logistics for OEMs and ISVs – let us take the pain away

• Global integration – 7 integration centres around the world allowing us to build your appliance within your target region, saving money on logistics and duty, and providing near-immediate global scale Arrow OCS is built with global scale in mind, and we’re here to support your innovation. Let us help with your designs and we’ll enable you to focus on the important work of developing your future solutions and services.

Whilst being global is important to many of our customers, we also recognise the value of local expertise. Across EMEA we have Solution Architects and Sales professionals who can come to where you are, listen to your needs, and propose solutions tailored to those requirements. We’re here to help.

Contact your local Arrow OCS Sales office, and let us help you to see what’s possible.

And what’s practical! http://ocs.arrow.com/eu/en/

KONTRON

Defence and avionics are growing areas of application

be enhanced with future IoT offerings including security, manageability and datability. ‑Having been in the embedded computing technology sector for over 50 years, Kontron has been able to keep abreast of the latest operational quality standards. Alongside being accredited with the ISO 9001 quality management certificate and ISO 14001 environmental guarantee, the company also holds an ISO 13485 which proves that it can consistently meet the technical requirements set down by medical organisations. It is also adheres to French and US rail and aerospace standards, as well as arms trafficking regulations in the US.

Evaluate. Engage. Evolve.

From components to cloud and design to disposal, Avnet brings products, services and solutions to customers that build, sell and use technology, globally.

Avnet and Kontron partner with customers who take their intellectual property to market, accelerating product launch and increasing profitability – ultimately enhancing competitiveness.

Avnet is more than just products, embedded components or line items. We provide support and cradle to grave services our customers need to get to market anywhere in the world efficiently, reliably and with confidence.

Get your solution to market faster with Avnet!

Contact us for more information at avnet.me/kontron

avnet.me/embedded

facebook.com/avnet

twitter.com/avnet

youtube.com/avnet

From components to cloud and design to disposal, Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) accelerates the success of customers who build, sell and use technology, globally by providing them with a comprehensive portfolio of innovative products, services and solutions. Avnet is a Fortune 500 company with revenues of $27.9 billion for the fiscal year 2015. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.

Copyright Š 2015 Avnet, Inc. AVNET and the AV logo are registered trademarks of Avnet, Inc. All other brands are the property of their respective owners. LIT # 6 0 October 2015

TECHNOLOGY Kontron adheres to French and US rail and aerospace standards, as well as arms trafficking regulations in the US.

Tech Campus Kontron recently constructed a state-ofthe-art facility in Augsburg, 40 kilometres from Munich. The purpose of what came to be known as its ‘tech campus’ was to manage all of its global operations from a single location, and also provide a centralised business and engineering development hub.

Väth said: “We took a radical decision to shut down three of our major sites and built a new tech campus around a factory; we were able to bring the majority of the people from the other facilities.”

The campus consists of a 6,100 square metre office building, 3,800 square metre production facility and 4,000 square metre warehouse. A 2,500 square metre centre

“Having been in the embedded technology sector for over 50 years, Kontron has been able to keep abreast of the latest operational quality standards” – Michael Väth, Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing

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KONTRON

Kontron Technology Campus

“We took a radical decision to shut down three of our major sites and built a new tech campus around a factory; we were able to bring the majority of people from the other facilities” – Michael Väth, Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing 62

October 2015

dedicated to research and development is also on site. Väth added: “Out of 1,500 people across the company globally, 500 are centred on the tech campus. It is very modern and has all the things we need to develop our business.”

“We have Global and European management and R&D teams here. All the business units are represented here that define strategies and support all out functions, as well as manufacturing. Finance and Global HR are all centrally managed here.”

Talent Management A great deal of technical training is carried out in the company’s new Augsburg tech hub, in addition to various facilities around the globe.

TECHNOLOGY

Väth explained how the company was cutting out complexity in order to make training both straightforward and easier to take on board, he said: “We have started to build a curriculum. The company was created by acquiring ten other companies so we have many varied job titles; it was important that employees had a clear job description so people can move through the professional and management chains.

“That has been completed and we are now starting to deliver training for young managers.

We have moved them away from technical selling to focus on value selling. We educate them on their professional capabilities, and also to make sure that we can develop their personal attributes both working as a team and as individual contributors; we assess this on a yearly basis.”

“I brought people on board who had different capabilities; moving into the IoT space, I did not just look at hiring guys who had experience in hardware. My head of Europe and head of APAC are from the software side; we need engineers to do both hardware and software.”

Kontron’s work over the past few years has demonstrated that the company and its employees not only have the foresight to keep abreast of the latest developments, but also that they have the abilities to see this thinking bear fruit. Using its experience in the embedded space, which has been honed by decades of innovation, the company is now poised to lead the global IoT revolution.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Embedded Computing Technology / IoT HEADQUARTERS

Bavaria FOUNDED

1959 EMPLOYEES

1,500 REVENUE

€456.8 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

The design and manufacture of embedded technology in the form of boards, modules and various systems and software solutions

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NOUR COMMUNICATIONS On the Cusp Of Another Growth Phase Written by: Sam Jermy Produced by: Heykel Ouni

N O U R C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

The Saudi business conglomerate offers an umbrella of services through its various divisions, and has invested in preparation for another busy period in the company’s history

N

our Communications is firmly on the road to success as the diversified conglomerate continues to grow in every direction.

The success story began in 1989 when the well-known Arab Supply & Trading Corporation (ASTRA Group) - a Saudi super conglomerate – decided to enter the Telecommunications market by adding Nour Communications to its many other fruitful ventures.

Mohammed Rousan, Business Development Director at Nour Communications, said: “Since Nour Communications’ establishment in 1989, we blazed our success in Saudi Arabia by being recognised by our clients as one of the largest Arab telecommunication contracting and system integration companies in the Middle East. Ever since then, there has been no looking back.

“We kept expanding horizons, then in 1998

Nour Energy, The group has a range of assets in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia

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October 2015

TECHNOLOGY

Nour Communications is over 25 years old

opened an ICT subsidiary called NourNet; this has been a high growth area for us and we have been a Class One telecoms contractor since 2004. “Today the different company divisions are: NourNet, Nour Fibre Optic Networks, Nour Telecom, Nour Energy, Nour Industries, Nour Civil & Engineering. We are continuing to build our standing in every one of these divisions.�

Investment and strategy Perhaps one of the prominent arms of Nour Communications at the moment is NourNet, simply because the rate of technological development in the modern world means there is a continuing and open-ended necessity for first class ICT infrastructure and capability in every business imaginable.

Nour Communications won a Cisco award for best managed service.

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N O U R C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

Preparing the ground for a fibre cable installation

Rousan said: “We are really standing out as a Class One contractor in ICT, Telecom and OSP. “We won a Cisco award for our managed service. As we are one of the best managed services companies for IT and connectivity.

We talk to all the big players because of the consistent quality of our service.”

Nour Communications is investing to achieve its targets with a brand new data centre currently being built in Riyadh, expected to be operational in December 2015.

There will also be a manufacturing facility with a company owned low and medium voltage production line on recently purchased industrial land.

CEO - Khalid Alrayyan

TECHNOLOGY

BS16 Solar Cell installation

Nour has invested recently tens of millions of dollars in expanding its power generation fleet, taking Nour Energy to over 800MW of Power Generation Capability. Furthermore, Nour Energy’s growth will continue to be one of the main focuses of its stakeholders.

“We recently build five 132Kv substations for SEC and more projects in this field are under implementation for different entities. Reliability and service quality will continue to be our main aim and we are upgrading ourselves every passing day to maintain that.” added Rousan.

Power cable

Ubiquitous future Rousan also recognises the power of Nour Communications as a diversified conglomerate, and explained how many components of a large scale telecoms projects include areas

Installation

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N O U R C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

“Due to the high level of competition in telecoms, we decided to diversify with the energy, industrial and fibre optic network subsidiaries so we were able to offer a full suite of services on a project.”

– Mohammed Rousan, Business Development Director at Nour Communications

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such as civil, power, steel and so on.

He concluded: “Due to the high level of competition in different project elements, we decided to diversify with the energy, industrial and OSP network subsidiaries so we were able to offer a full suite of services on any project.

“Now we have become one of the best Saudi companies for turnkey solutions.

“Our civil engineering department developed software in-house and they

TECHNOLOGY

Company Information INDUSTRY

Technology HEADQUARTERS

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia FOUNDED

1989 EMPLOYEES

1,800 REVENUE

Not disclosed PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

design unique steel structures which are tailored to a particular projects.

“This expertise has helped us in building the structure of pharmaceutical factories, and also with the infrastructure of major signalling and telecommunications project.”

With so much talent inside the company, Nour is well placed to continue providing a high-class, ubiquitous service and looks set for another exciting growth phase.

Telecommunications, Energy, Optical Fibres, Electrical, Electronic, Civil and Engineering.

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JT Group:

Overhauling Connectivity In The Channel Islands Written By: Nye Longman Produced By: Danielle Harris

JT GROUP

The small telco has used a unique strategy to secure investment to deliver the latest technology to its customers

J

T is a full service communications provider that has strategically deployed technology and partnered with global experts in order to offer its B2B and BTC customers innovative, competitively priced products and services. It has supported these efforts in recent years by continually investing tens of millions of pounds on upgrading and innovating infrastructure in the Channel Islands.

Notably focussing on two large-scale programmes: Rolling out a 4G LTE/A network and converting every broadband line on the island of Jersey to superfast fibre, through a project known as ‘Gigabit Isles’. This programme has attracted worldwide attention for JT and has placed Jersey 4th in the world for fibre connectivity per head of households connected.

JT provides the Channel Islands with a range of broadband, mobile and fixed telephony services for both personal and business customers

TECHNOLOGY

Operations JT provides the Channel Islands with a range of broadband, mobile and fixed telephony services for both personal and business customers. It also delivers global roaming services on a wholesale basis, as well as enterprise solutions for companies of all sizes, spanning the full range of business verticals.

The company now employs over 500 people spread across 11 offices around the world, serving nearly 1 million subscribers globally.

The company has combined shrewd foresight, with a structure that has enabled it to continuously reinvest in the business, in order to provide its modest customer-base with state-of-the art technology and fulfil its vision of being the partner of choice for global telecoms innovation. A key factor in achieving this has been JT’s commitment to and its nurturing of its strategic partnerships.

The result is that JT today has the type of global reach normally only seen in much larger global telecoms companies and services large multinational organisations. Through being lean, agile and forward thinking, JT offers a flexible and bespoke approach to communications solutions.

Gigabit Isles Currently the company has made significant progress in rolling out its Gigabit Isles fibre-tothe-home project, which will see all broadband lines for consumers and businesses in Jersey and a number in Guernsey gain access to superfast

Key Personnel

Graeme Millar Chief Executive Officer Graeme Millar has a strong track record heading up commercial and marketing across a variety of global and local roles in Western and Central Europe, Russia and the USA. He joined JT in late 2009 as its CEO after a two year stint as Chief Commercial Officer of MTC Russia. He holds a BSc and MSc in Natural Sciences from Magdalen College, Cambridge as well as a postgraduate certificate in Design, Manufacture and Management from Cambridge University’s Engineering Department.

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ZTE is a globally-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, with operations in 160 countries. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges and is China’s largest listed telecoms equipment company.

http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/

ZTE initiated M-ICT Strategy in 2014, highlighting "Connects Everything; Reshapes the World".

It includes four areas, Ubiquitous Access, Network Foundation, Services Innovation and Monetizing Business.

The key focus is to help our customers to create strategic advantages.

SUPPLIER PROFILE

ZTE CORPORATION ZTE Corporation is a globally-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions.

With operations in 160 countries, the company is a leader in technology innovation, delivering superior products and business solutions to clients all over the world. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges and is China’s largest listed telecoms equipment company. ZTE’s operating revenue for 2014 amounted to GBP 8.1 billion. Offering the industry’s most comprehensive product range and end-to-end solutions, ZTE delivers cuttingedge technology to telecommunications clients in wireless, access & bearer, value-added services, terminals, managed network services, and ICT solutions for enterprises and government agencies. ZTE’s expertise and flexibility in these areas enables our customers globally to achieve business objectives and attain increased competitiveness.

ZTE (UK) LTD, 2nd Floor, Landmark Place, Windsor Road, Slough, SL1 1JL, London, UK Tel: +44(0) 20 3428 2000 Fax: +44(0) 17 5320 6740 Email: zteuk@zte.com.cn

JT GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

fibre-optic broadband coverage. The project presented the company with a challenge; Dave Newbold, Chief Operations and Technology Officer said: “Every premise and business on these islands is different, which means the configuration is also slightly different.

“The customer may well have built a new drive, or covered up the joint box, or hidden the point of entry into the house or business through remodelling or extension. These solutions need to be designed cost effectively and in a customer friendly way; each installation has effectively become its own little project.”

The project has already won many major awards, attracting UK and global recognition; for example it was named FTTH Operator of the Year in 2013. Newbold is proud of the role his company and its partners have played since rollout began in 2012, he said: “Our partner Tilgin provides us with the end Wi-Fi router and the accompanying management system; this has proven to be a very valuable partnership to date.

“Copper wires were not designed for broadband, they are less reliable and where a fibre network enables broadband speeds of 1000 megabits per second, a copper-based network would limit speeds to just 25Mb/s.

“Our Gigabit Isles programme means that we are now in a position to deliver fibre as a standard broadband product, meaning our customers can enjoy a far superior service at the same price. Furthermore, we have injected

Key Personnel

Dave Newbold Chief Operations and Technology Officer Dave Newbold’s position within JT encompasses a wide range of roles since his knowledge and experience are both equally broad. He has worked in a variety of jobs in companies such as BT, Nortel and LIME, not to mention Energis Communications.

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SUPPLIER PROFILE

TAYANA SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS Established in 1999 and headquartered in India’s IT capital Bengaluru.

Tayana Software Solutions (TSS) prides itself in continually developing and delivering software products & solutions for Communication Service Providers globally, while building lasting relationship with all clients who have expressed faith through repeat orders on a sustained basis over years.

Forging partnerships with clients through enhanced quality of experience!

Wide Range of Products TSS enables clients to maximize ROI, improve subscriber retention and enhance offerings seamlessly in the ever-changing technology environment with off-the-shelf and customized products. With a wide range of over 30+ products and solutions including Unified Policy Control and Charging, Mobile Financial Services/Mobile Money, Consolidated Messaging - SMSC, USSD Gateway, OBD, Call Management, Roamers Steering, Telco data BI & Analytics and more.

Global Experience A customer focused, dedicated and technically competent team of engineers, over fifteen years of experience working across geographies and cultures in Africa, Middle East, APAC, Europe, SAARC, has all played a crucial role in a unique, reliable, flexible, cost effective and on-time project management and execution in client’s multi-vendor environment.

JT GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

some smart future-proofing into the network, because all we need to do to up the capacity and throughput is to change the boxes either end of the fibre. In principle we will never need to touch it again; it has a lifespan of over 50 years.”

4G Rollout In 2015 JT was the first network provider in the Channel Islands to deliver live, islandwide 4G coverage across both Jersey and Guernsey. Working in partnership with ZTE, one of the world’s largest telecoms equipment and systems manufacturers, the company has faced the dual challenge of ripping out the old network and subsequently

“Currently the company has made significant progress in rolling out its Gigabit Isles fibre-to-the-home project, which will see all broadband lines for consumers and businesses in Jersey and a number in Guernsey gain access to superfast fibreoptic broadband coverage” – Graeme Millar, CEO

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Ahead of the Market, Behind the Deal.

NET(net) is a category expert for cost reduction, optimization, and supplier performance management specializing in Information Technology. NET(net) has helped over 2,000 global clients capture in excess of $200 Billion of incremental value since 2002.

W www.netnetweb.com

E info@netnetweb.com

T @ITNegotiator

JT GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

replacing it with the new infrastructure.

Newbold said: “The result is we have a brand new state of the art network, right from the tower antennae and cabling, down to the equipment below the tower and everything back to the exchange, across 180 cell sites in the Channel Islands. Thanks to our choice of partner ZTE, and our £12 million investment we delivered superfast LTE across the islands, ahead of any other local operator, on time and on budget in less than six months from inception to delivery.”

ZTE’s contribution to the rollout cannot be understated, since it actually proved to save the company money, Newbold said: “Interestingly there is a connection between the projects allowing us to make huge cost savings by using the same equipment for both the 4G

SUPPLIER PROFILE

NET GLOBAL

As a Global IT Optimisation leader, NET(net) has the information, tools, and capabilities you need to stay ahead of the market, by working with us behind the deal. NET(net) maximises the economic and strategic value in your technology agreements, investments, and relationships.

Our team of seasoned professionals averages over 24 years of experience and has both client and supply side expertise in technology, finance, operations, procurement, legal and contract management. We have hundreds of clients around the world in virtually every industry, and we have professionally managed thousands of engagements in the field, resulting in billions of savings and benefits.

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Creation is Everlasting Vitality

Genew Technologies Co. Ltd, established in 2005, is a Next-Generation Network products and total solutions provider, headquartered China with branched offices in the Philippines, Europe (Spain, Ireland, Italy) and the Middle East.

Genew is a innovative provider of communications, access and wireless solutions with a wide range of IMS Core Voice, Messaging, IPPBX, ADSL, GPON, WiFi and Surveillance solutions focus on Telco Companies and also with a complete portfolio for industrial environments as mining and power grid and military applications.

T +86 755 36988868 F +86 755 26619963 francisco.prieto@genew.cn • www.genew.cn F-3, Dazu Creative Building C, NO. 9018, Beihuan Ave, Nanshan, Shenzhen, China. P.R. 518057

JT GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

and the fibre implementation programmes.

So building a network not just to deliver 4G now, but to serve our islands for many years to come as new technologies emerge.

Customer Focus It is no accident that JT has been able to maintain its dominance of the telecoms market in the Channel Islands. Alongside this sharp focus on innovation and superior technology, is a clear focus on placing customers’ needs and their experience at the heart of the business. It is this combination which has allowed the group to grow and prosper both on and off island.

JT is a wholly owned entity of the States of Jersey, therefore its shareholder is in fact the Island’s residents themselves. CEO, Graeme

SUPPLIER PROFILE

JT Group’s core network has capacity for up to three million customers, so we have a wholesale business that looks at exploiting our connectivity and capacity alongside our domestic market

GENEW TECHNOLOGIES CO. LTD

Genew Technologies Co., Ltd is a Next-Generation Network products and total solutions provider. Its solutions cover IMS Core Voice Emergency Dispatching, Unified Communication, Optical Networking, xDSL and WiFi Access Video Surveillance, etc. Genew provides OEM and ODM services for partners of world-class telecommunication equipment, as Genew OEM to Huawei, ZTE, Datang Mobile UTStrcom, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Fiberhome etc., and offers turnkey communication solution for Telco Carriers and industrial clients mainly in Mining, National Grid and Military. Genew Dispatch solution is NO. 1 in mining industry in China.

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I IMS

HAUD’s Intelligent Management Suite (IMS) provides network-filtering mechanisms for SS7 firewall protection and A2P SMS revenue assurance. It is a scalable solution providing a lineLorem ipsum dolorthat sit simplify amet, monitoring consectetur adipiscing up of software Modules and provide control elit. over Suspendisse the mobile network for both incoming outgoing Through the IMS HAUD supports mobile operator placerat luctus and turpis vitaetraffic. sagittis.

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felis. Integer erat justo, sollicitudin id elementum non, feugiat a dolor.

Contact HAUD for a free Demo or request a Network Profiling Service to gain insight on the SS7 activity within your network with consultation on how the IMS can benefit your business.

info@haud.com

Lorem ipsum dolor Singapore: sit amet, +65 consectetur adipiscing elit. haud.com 6836 6995 Malta: +356 9994 2342

HAU thro and

JT GROUP

TECHNOLOGY

Millar explained the importance of a return to the shareholder: “The revenues we bring back to the Channel Islands from our efforts off island, allow us to fund our continued investment in making sure that the most advanced technologies are provided to this very small, yet important market.

“When growing a global business, whether it’s wholesale or enterprise, we also have to look after the needs of our local customers first.

We continue to listen to them to understand how we can deliver the best possible service in order to meet and exceed their expectations.

“Furthermore, to our advantage, our core network has capacity for up to three million customers, so we have a wholesale business that looks at exploiting our connectivity and capacity alongside our domestic market. Through

SUPPLIER PROFILE

JT continues to listen to their customers first, to understand how they can deliver the best possible service in order to meet and exceed their expectations

HAUD

HAUD focuses on securing communication pathways for mobile network operators, mobile virtual network operators UD supports mobile operators in maximising r and mobile virtual network enablers. expertise ough timely and Its intuitive contis threefold and centres on fraud detection, d centr revenue assurance and spam filtering.

By applying HAUD’s proprietary systems, which have been developed and are maintained by our in-house development specialists, mobile network operators will have the tools to stop leakages, increase revenues from telecommunications traffic and enhance network security.

Headquartered in Malta and with an office in Singapore, HAUD offers free system trials as well as capex free pricing models. Visit www.haud. com for further information.

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In today’s era of rising customer expectations, rapid technology advancements and intensified competition, operators need a multidimensional view of customer experience in order to succeed.

With Amdocs, you can differentiate and achieve competitive advantage by: •

Inspiring your customers with innovative services in the hyper-connected world

•

Personalizing and contextualizing every customer interaction

•

Shaping quality of experience with Solutions for Software-Powered Networks™

•

Speeding time to market, optimizing business processes and reducing costs www.amdocs.com

© 2015 Amdocs. All Rights Reserved.

Service delivery and subscriber management made easy (and profitable) Tilgin´s HGA is a complete and highly flexible gateway software solution for operators and CPE brand owners.

Straight out of the box – or customized to match specific needs – HGA comes with all the features, functions and tools you will need to satisfy both residential and small business customer segments.

tGem is a comprehensive device management platform for multi-vendor device deployment. Much more than just a device provisioning software, tGem offers simplified and intelligent mass management, helpdesk and support as well as proactive and reactive monitoring tools. tGem can seamlessly interface with your OSS/BSS and CRM systems, radically reducing operational cost and boosting revenues.

www.tilgin.com

JT GROUP the work of our wholesale team our roaming agreements alone (currently exceeding 500) puts us on par with the really big companies.

“We already sell to a number of other large telcos and smaller aggregators for the likes of IOT and M2M services. We pride ourselves on being responsive and our long-standing approach to nurturing and growing our strategic partnerships is central to our evolution.”

For example, partnering with Indian software provider Tayana Software Solutions, has enabled JT to design and build a bespoke SRI platform upon which the success of its wholesale business is based. Partners like these share a flexible and adaptive approach which has been vital to JT in developing innovative products and services to take to market.

The company’s dedication to its customers alongside their input has been built directly

TECHNOLOGY

“We already sell to a number of other large telcos and smaller aggregators for the likes of IOT and M2M services. We pride ourselves on being responsive and our long-standing approach to nurturing and growing our strategic partnerships is central to our evolution” – Graeme Millar, CEO

JT GROUP

“Partnering with Indian software provider Tayana Software Solutions, has enabled JT to design and build a bespoke SRI platform”

• • • • • • •

into its business, starting with its IT technology supported by its close partnership with supply chain analysts NetNet. Millar said: “There are fundamental things NetNet bring as a partner which are hard to buy-in. It would be very unlikely to find a single individual with the skillset that we need, so working together with an organisation like NetNet, means we have access to in-depth knowledge and cost savings through benchmarking the deals we make.

“One example of these benefits is that we have worked with them to deploy a new worldclass billing and CRM system. Overhauling an ageing system with the introduction of

Stand by generators UPS uninterrupted power supplies DC power systems Battery services Load bank testing and hire BMS environmental monitoring Gas drenching systems

• • • • • • •

Fire alarms Intruder alarms CCTV Fire extinguishers and signage Room integrity testing Emergency lighting Door access

Delivering a comprehensive service to Channel Island businesses since 1989.

JERSEY

(01534) 857700 GUERNSEY

(01481) 200427 cpsenquiries@computerprotec.co.je

Total protection - complete security www.computerprotec.co.je

TECHNOLOGY

the Comverse system and thanks to our partnership with Amdocs, means we now match much bigger global telcos in terms of functionality of operations, including access to business critical analytics and MI.” Another example of JT’s lean and innovative approach is the fact it has developed its own bespoke billing App for customers, developed and created locally in the Channel Islands. This Apple approved App is an advanced tool for customers providing unrivalled functionality and control for viewing bills, making changes to their account and monitoring real-time usage.

In addition to the partners highlighted, JT’s group of other carefully chosen broad strategic

JT has its own bespoke billing App for customers, developed and created locally in the Channel Islands.

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JT GROUP

Itaque consed quam a sp ero et modite volu Aboreptia del most

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partners remains central to them growing their business and marks a fundamental business choice. Their suite of partners includes leading organisations across key areas like Property Services (using CPS), networks working with Genew as their Fixed Voice Network Provider and the key area of revenue assurance and fraud thanks to their relationship with Haud.

Overall JT’s strategic approach to reinvesting

TECHNOLOGY

Company Information INDUSTRY

Telecommunications HEADQUARTERS

St Helier, Jersey FOUNDED

1888 EMPLOYEES

500 REVENUE

Not disclosed PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

global revenues to fund local projects and leveraging partnerships to deliver them is clearly working. It has undertaken two wide-ranging but necessary projects which will bring massive benefits to the inhabitants and businesses of its main market; the company’s past work has already done so much for its customers; its ongoing and future work has the potential to do so much more. So it seems JT is one to watch.

JT Group provides the Channel Islands with a variety of telecoms and broadband services and also sells spare capacity wholesale to a roster of global customers.

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Thriving In T he n i g K d d o e m t i n U

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QVC UK

Since launching as the UK’s first TV shopping channel, QVC has come a long way, and today it is continuing to spearhead efficient multichannel retailing.

T

he leading multi-channel retailer, QVC, has implemented a range of green initiatives alongside multi-million pound investments in its UK business to achieve an efficient and sustainable supply chain.

QVC launched its UK operation in 1993, and at that time was purely visible on satellite to a relatively small audience. Now it has grown to be available in all UK homes through mass TV distribution on Freeview, Sky and cable as well as a significant online presence. Customers can order products on-air, online or on mobile devices at their convenience with 24/7 UK call centre support.

Owned by Liberty Interactive Corporation, QVC UK has been going from strength to strength and has launched additional TV channels: QVC Style, QVC Beauty and QVC Extra. The progress has been illustrated in financial

QVC launched its UK operation in 1993

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Customers can order products on-air, online or on mobile devices at their convenience

results too; in Q2 this year revenue grew by seven percent on the same period last year.

Kieran Murphy, Director of Customer Logistics UK at QVC, said: “We are a multi-channel retailer meaning our methods used to order have become more and more diverse. To place an order we have the straightforward call to speak to a customer service rep, a voice response unit where you can place an order using the item number, and we now also have extensive digital ordering options.

“You can see on our live broadcasts whether items are available, in limited stock, or almost sold out, and that’s because our sales platform systems are intrinsically linked with our warehouse management systems (WMS). It is a real-time update of our inventory levels, and of course to deliver good service you cannot sell something you haven’t got. With speedy delivery becoming

1,700

Number of staff employed by QVC

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The right solution for you and your retail supply chain Toll Global Forwarding provides a comprehensive suite of international freight forwarding and advanced supply chain management services. With a proven track record of designing, implementing and executing complex end-to-end fashion and retail logistics solutions, our team is guaranteed to add value to your business.

Our service offering includes: • Air and ocean freight services • Full in-transit, web-based visibility • Bespoke purchase and sales order management systems

• Dedicated account management team • State-of-the-art facilities for garment processing • A full range of value added services at both origin and destination

For more information Tel: +44 (0) 20 8818 7840 Email: sales.uk.tgf@tollgroup.com www.tollgroup.com/tollglobalforwarding

QVC UK

S U P P LY C H A I N

more ingrained with shoppers, customers don’t want to be kept waiting very long to receive the products they have bought.”

Efficient operations The head office for QVC’s UK operations is in Chiswick, West London, where its broadcasting facilities and buying and planning functions predominantly reside. The 31-acre operations and distribution centre is located in Knowsley, Merseyside, and most recently has seen investment to automate parts of the site, such as the technology involved with WMS, storage and retrieval systems, as well as conveyors and automated packing solutions. The centre has a 30,000-pallet automated sorting and racking system that was stage five of the facility build.

SUPPLIER PROFILE

Distribution Centre, Merseyside

TOLL GLOBAL FORWARDING

Toll Global Forwarding provides a comprehensive suite of international freight forwarding and advance supply chain management services.

Our service offerings range from complex supply chain solutions through to port-to-port freight forwarding movements.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, we have a worldwide network of more than 120 offices in 28 countries through Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America.

Toll Global Forwarding is a division within Toll Group, which has a network of 1,200 sites in over 50 countries

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Key Personnel

Kieran Murphy Director of Customer Logistics UK, QVC

Brysdales is a major QVC UK partner and supplies a wide range of shelving, racking and storage solutions to suit a variety of specialist needs. The working relationship has continued to go from strength to strength for more than seven years.

Initially the operations centre activities were outsourced to a third party logistician (3PL), and then this was insourced in 1996 upon completion of the first stage of the centre.

Imported shipments are handled by QVC UK’s freight forwarding partner, Toll Global.

In 2010 the company introduced a ‘Zero to landfill’ policy, diverting its waste to a facility where any remaining residual waste after recycling

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0333 005 0777

www.brysdales.co.uk info@brysdales.co.uk

Visit our new website

MICROPLEX Printware AG | Panzerstrasse 5 | D-26316 Varel T +49 (0) 4451-9137-0 | sales@microplex.de | www.microplex.de

S U P P LY C H A I N

is turned into energy. Waste is segregated effectively onsite on Merseyside: so far this year 74 percent of generated waste such as card, plastic, paper, batteries has been effectively segregated for recycling onsite. Through various initiatives and capital investments between 2007 and 2014 the company has also reduced its electrical consumption by 35 percent. This includes using energy efficient LED lighting around the distribution centre, and upgrading the heating system to reduce power usage.

Murphy said: “Currently 24 percent of the waste that’s disposed of as general waste is recycled at our waste contractor’s designated transfer facility. The remaining two percent goes to the heat to energy facility. In 2014 we were awarded a Carbon Trust Standard for Waste; an independent standard which certifies organisations that measure, manage and reduce their waste output, year on year. We are on target to achieve recertification for 2015 too, which is very pleasing.

“Our supply chain visibility system is designed to allow everyone to know exactly where a shipment is in its transmission from manufacturer to end customer. We are looking to define a much more detailed system by creating a concept where we can track an individual product, its size and the quantity of the shipment, and where it is being shipped from.

“We’ll normally have a series of orders that are delivered for a particular one or two hour show so it is imperative to know where that

“In 2014 we were awarded a Carbon Trust Standard for Waste; an independent standard which certifies organisations that measure, manage and reduce their waste output, year on year.

We are on target to achieve recertification for 2015 too, which is very pleasing” – Kieran Murphy Director of Customer Logistics UK, QVC

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QVC

The supply chain visibility system is designed to allow everyone to know exactly where a shipment is in its transmission from manufacturer to end customer

shipment is. By the time we put the show on TV we’ve been able to get the goods freighted, delivered, received, checked and loaded into our inventory. This is absolutely crucial because it is timed to a real-time event on TV, so we need real-time updates on the status of goods.”

Once items are sold, QVC UK uses preferred carriers such as Hermes, Whistl and Royal Mail for the last mile. DX and XDP respectively handle the secure and big and heavy express deliveries.

Once items are sold, QVC UK uses preferred carriers such as Hermes, Whistl and Royal Mail

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People Management QVC UK has 2,000 employees, 1,500 of whom are based in Knowsley, making it one of the largest employers in the area. It has built a reputation around environmentally-friendly thinking and has fostered a positive, high-performing staff culture.

Murphy said: “The most effective channel for attracting new QVC team members is through employee referrals. In 2013 we changed our

S U P P LY C H A I N

approach to ‘Talent Attraction’ by creating an in-house recruitment team to make the transition from agency based recruitment to direct sourcing and attraction. We also developed our QVC Employer identity. As a result, last year 79 percent of our new QVC team members were recruited either internally or directly by our in-house team.

“When it comes to retention, we are committed to creating the best employee experience for our people. We achieve this through continued significant investment in learning and development, supporting our people in flexible working hours and focusing on health and well-being. Staff recognition is attained through a variety of initiatives such as our peer-to-peer recognition programme ‘Making a Difference’ and other quarterly events.”

QVC UK has also launched its own career channels on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and external job websites. Its strongest areas of attraction are Media Broadcasting and TV production, Contact Centre and Distribution Centre. Outside of internal training and leadership programmes (such as Six Sigma), individuals have the opportunity for other educational training, such as NVQs, Further Education and soft skills sessions. All these components underpin an environment of continuous improvement at QVC UK, and numerous employees have progressed to advanced roles both in the UK and globally, as a result.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Supply Chain HEADQUARTERS

Merseyside, UK FOUNDED

1993 EMPLOYEES

1,700 REVENUE

$730 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Online Retail, Teleshopping

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Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT)

Logistics of the Levant Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Dennis Morales

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Politically, economically and socially speaking, Jordan has always been a hub for Middle East trade: we speak to Jeppe Nymann Jensen, CEO of Aqaba Container Terminal about investments, and the best practices being introduced by parent company APM Terminals

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A

qaba Container Terminal (ACT) is a joint venture between Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), the Jordanian Government’s central development vehicle for the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), and APM Terminals, one of the world’s largest global terminal operators.

In 2004, APM Terminals signed a Terminal Management Contract with ADC, taking over terminal management and operations.

In 2006, a 25-year Joint Development Agreement (JDA) was signed between ADC and APMT. Under the contract, APM Terminals Jordan was appointed to operate, manage and market Aqaba Container Terminal.

Operations The joint venture signed in 2006 represented the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative launched by ADC as part of its programme to rehabilitate and expand the port of Aqaba and the wider logistics and transport infrastructure within the ASEZ. This is the model that Jordan has chosen to develop its industries and take full advantage of its pivotal role in the Middle East. Its importance was emphasised by King Abdullah II when he opened the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the Dead Sea in May 2015 and presented his ‘Jordan Relaunched’ vision.

A range of investments are needed, he said, in areas from agriculture and urban development to

S U P P LY C H A I N

RTG crane operating at the container yard

energy, transportation and water. In this context it is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of the container terminal, as it is the only one in the country, so the majority of goods entering or leaving the country come through Aqaba.

“Aqaba is already a key facility in the region and the preferred gateway for the Levant; we currently serve most of the world’s top shipping lines. The investments that ACT has been making over the past years are to ensure that Jordan and the entire Levant region have a proficient, efficient and professional terminal to support the Supply Chain.” says Jeppe Jensen. “The current political circumstances in the surrounding countries has made the market unstable with the borders surrounding Jordan being repeatedly closed.”

Since the 15th July closure of the Karameh

1,000 Number of staff employed by Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT)

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A Q A B A C O N TA I N E R T E R M I N A L ( A C T )

“However you look at it, we will be a natural partner in any transportation solution for Iraq” – Jeppe Nymann Jensen, CEO of Aqaba Container Terminal 112

October 2015

crossing, 20 to 30 percent of transit traffic that used to flow into Iraq from Jordan has dried up even further, but in the longer term, as Jordan’s internal infrastructure improves and the security situation in western Iraq stabilises, the opportunities for Jordan and the region are positive. “However you look at it, we will be a natural partner in any transportation solution for Iraq.”

In the meantime, there are some comforts from the growth in Jordanian exports. With Jordan

S U P P LY C H A I N

unable to export goods directly to countries like Syria and Iraq, ACT has witnessed a significant increase in export traffic, offsetting to some extent the downturn in import volumes.

It was in 2004 that APM Terminals, the Netherlands-based company whose network of 62 operations through 38 countries took over the management of the terminal. At the time, heavy congestion meant that vessels were experiencing significant delays to operations.

The yard, and the Gulf of Aqaba

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AQABA

THE MIDDLE EAST INVESTEMENT HUB ON

ADC was launched in 2004 to be the central development arm for the ASEZ. ADC is owned by the Government of Jordan and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) and is mandated to develop ASEZ, build new infrastructure and required superstructure, expand existing utilities, create necessary business enablers for ASEZ and manage/operate its key facilities.

Tel +962 3 203 9100 • Fax +962 3 203 9110

N THE RED SEA

E-mail info@adc.jo • Website www.adc.jo

SUPPLIER PROFILE

AQABA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Management: Eng. Ghassan Ghanem (CEO) Tel: +962 3 203 9100 Fax: +962 3 203 9110 Email: info@adc.jo www.adc.jo

S U P P LY C H A I N

Jensen explains: “We made some significant investments in our assets, fine-tuned the IT systems, trained the people and revived the terminal to an acceptable level within two years.”

The 25 year build-own-transfer (BOT) joint venture was set up in 2006 and to date more than $300 million has been invested in the terminal.

Ageing equipment was replaced, and in the most recent investment of approximately $100 million, ACT has increased the quay capacity by 460 metres to 1,000 metres, along with increasing its yard capacity for further Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) stacking areas; this has resulted in a doubling of annual container capacity of the terminal. Gantry Crane Moves Per Hour (GMPH) has also risen from 20 moves an hour in 2007 to 29 in 2013.

Today the company is achieving a consistent performance of up to 32 GMPH. “We have the opportunity to extend the quay by another 200 metres to the northern side of our terminal,” says Jensen. “We can also invest further in our yards where we have some opportunities to expand.”

Turnaround through technology To manage the movement of cargo through the terminal, ACT has been using Navis technology to increase capacity, optimise operations, increase efficiency and improve productivity. “We have recently upgraded to Navis N4, a very sophisticated and modern technology platform,” he says.

“We have great hopes for that. It will fine tune our operations in many ways. It will give

Jeppe Nymann Jensen

“We have recently upgraded to Navis N4, a very sophisticated and modern technology platform” - Jeppe Jensen, CEO

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A Q A B A C O N TA I N E R T E R M I N A L ( A C T )

RTG moves have gone up 33 percent since 2007

better yard handling capabilities and reduce our truck turnaround times. A lot of efficiencies will come out of that which will result in an improvement in our productivity and of course enable us to meet our customer’s needs ” These systems pave the way for an introduction of automated gates. In 2013, over 333,000 trucks were handled through ACT’s gates, and a modern automated system would considerably shorten processing and turnaround times.

“Another investment I would like to see made would be in a trucking appointment system.”

APMT’s business does not stop at the terminal.

Aqaba Logistics Village (ALV), a subsidiary JV concerns itself with the logistics side of the business, warehousing and forwarding. In this business APM Terminals holds a 60 percent interest and Kawar Group, a local business with which APMT has been working for many years, the remaining 40 percent. “This business is also somewhat stalled by the situation in Iraq and we are anxiously awaiting some opening up of trade in that direction,” says Jeppe Jensen.

A ‘single window’ system is something he’d very

‘APMT’s business does not stop at the terminal.

Aqaba Logistics Village (ALV), a subsidiary JV concerns itself with the logistics side of the business, warehousing and forwarding.’

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much like to see from the authorities in Jordan. This allows shippers to submit regulatory documents like customs declarations, import/export permit applications, and other supporting documents such as certificates of origin and trading invoices at a single location and to a single entity. “That would hugely benefit the entire supply chain. It will also benefit us later when the Iraq trade is up and running if traders can easily transfer their containers across borders and only have one document that goes all the way through with the trucks.�

Nearly all freight traffic in Jordan is carried

ACT has increased its quay capacity from 460 metres to 1,000 metres

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A Q A B A C O N TA I N E R T E R M I N A L ( A C T )

Sunset over the container terminal

100m The amount of Revenue in JOD generated by Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT)

by trucks but rail links within the country and across its borders would be a huge step for trans-Jordanian trade, he believes. “One of the bigger investment proposals made by His Majesty King Abdullah at the WEF related to rail systems. With initial plans to implement a rail network from Aqaba to strategic service points around the country closer to Amman. With the final part of the project connecting those railways to the bordering countries.� The Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour recently met a delegation from the China Railway Oriental International Construction Company, with a view to getting this project implemented.

Talent Management ACT employs more than 1,000 people.

Terminal operation is a technical business so

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APMT’s standardised training programmes come in very useful. All new employees on the operations side are put on a comprehensive training programmes. “We are one of the biggest employers in the area,” emphasises Jensen.

“We have a high retention rate and we do well in our annual employee satisfaction surveys. On pay we are in the upper quartile in the country, and that also makes us a good place to work!”

ACT’s CSR policy stands on three pillars: education, environment and local community.

“We focus on the Aqaba free zone area. We support many of the schools and students with equipment and scholarships. Our employees volunteer on projects to clean beaches and the like, which gets us closer to the local community.

We aim to be a good corporate citizen, and a responsible investor,” Jensen insists. Projects include support for the King Hussein Cancer Centre, and the continuing annual ‘Ekfal Taleb’ campaign, now in its fourth consecutive year, providing school supplies to hundreds of students in Aqaba and the surrounding villages.

Whatever the political situation in neighbouring countries, Aqaba and Jordan will be pivotal to local trade. The investments made by ACT, the improvements and best practices introduced, are all justified by the existing volumes of traffic.

However,” ACT are here for the long term, as the business grows, our customers and supply chain partners know we will be ready to support them.”

Company Information I N D U S T RY

Logistics HEADQUARTERS

Jordan FOUNDED

2006 EMPLOYEES

1,000+ REVENUE

JOD 100 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

ACT is Jordan’s only container port and the second busiest facility on the Red Sea. Its strategic position at the crossroads of three continents and four countries makes it the preferred gateway for the Levant region

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Containerships:

Investing â‚Ź300M To Upgrade Operations Written by: Sam Jermy Produced by: Richard Durrant

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The familyowned container shipping business from Finland has decided to replace its old vessels and trucks in response to new energy consumption regulations

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ontainerships is embarking on a â‚Ź300 million journey in order to replace its land and sea vehicles over the next two years, meaning the business will achieve pleasing energy-saving results at the same time as increasing container capacity by 70 percent.

Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, since 1966, the company has gone from strength to strength in recent years and now has a presence in 21 countries, with 20 of its own offices which house its 550 employees.

It caters to service customers needing to ensure safe and rapid door-to-door container shipping between Russia and the Baltic, Europe, the UK, Ireland and the North Sea, as well as between North Africa and the Mediterranean.

With approximately 13 vessels in operation, its own truck fleet in Finland, Russia and the UK as well as 15,000 containers, Containerships offers customers a wide range of choice for all standard and special container sorts and complete coverage using sea, road, rail and river container transportation.

Antti Laukkanen, Group Land Operations Director, said: “We’re logistics specialists in Europe and parts of North Africa, we calculate how goods can best be routed in the most environmentally friendly manner. With this in mind and in the face of new regulations in the Baltic, we are in the process of a multi-million euro project to replace the entire fleet of our sea vessels. We purchased these from China, the first of which

S U P P LY C H A I N

Rapid container shipping

is set to arrive in early 2016 and they will all be powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas) fuel. “Three or four years ago logistics companies had a big challenge in Northern Europe surrounding legislation around energy consumption in the Baltic and North Seas where a sulphur emission control area (SECA) was put into force. The environmental regulations are set by the International Maritime Organisation and came into force on 1 January 2015. We did a strategic analysis of all available data, assessed all options and it was subsequently decided we would go for LNG fuel for our fleet.�

550

Number of staff employed by Containerships

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On track to environmental compliance

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Operations Considering that Containerships’ annual turnover is ₏220 million, the ₏300 million investment to possess more environmentally friendly vehicles is a substantial one to say the least. But as Baltic and North Sea vessel operators must find an energy source that contains no more than 0.1 percent sulphur against the previous target of one percent, Laukkanen sees it as one that was necessary.

S U P P LY C H A I N

He said: “This investment project improves our vessel efficiency not only by exceeding all known future environmental regulations but it has simultaneously increased the capacity meaning we maintain competitiveness in the shipping industry.

“Within that investment, we’ll also be converting the road trucks to run on LNG and purchasing additional containers in anticipation of more cargo and therefore more customers on board.

“This investment project improves our vessel efficiency not only by exceeding all known future environmental regulations but it has simultaneously increased the capacity meaning we maintain competitiveness in the shipping industry” – Antti Laukkanen, Group Land Operations Director

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The group is preparing for increased volumes

One by one we are letting go of these older conventional vessels. But at the same time this is a long-term investment that has also seen us reduce our carbon footprint by 25 percent, which we’re really pleased about.

“So now we have the capacity, we have the energy efficiency, and we have the agility.

Because we are still a fairly manageable size, we are able to offer one night deliveries which is obviously hugely beneficial to the customer.”

Some major customers and partners include consumer goods companies such as Proctor & Gamble and Unilever, as well as famous Scotch whisky brands from Diageo. Containerships

51 years serving industry

Established 1964

PROUD PARTNER ON THE IRISH SEA FOR CONTAINERSHIPS.

Kilgrange Ltd T/A

M

hon cMa

Transport & Wareh

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MARKET LEADER IN DOOR TO DOOR AND FEEDER CONTAINER SHIPPING BETWEEN IRELAND AND THE CONTINENT.

Big Enough To Cope Small Enough To Care

From Ireland to Benelux, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Eastern Europe and back.

• DUBLIN Tel: 01 607 5555 Fax: 01 855 2280

• ROTTERDAM Tel: 010 428 3700 Fax: 010 429 0607

• BELFAST Tel: 048 905 33200 Fax: 048 905 33222

• ANTWERP Tel: 03 221 2110 Fax: 03 231 1030

• CORK Tel: 021 450 4000 Fax: 021 450 4217

At Mc Mahon Transport and Warehousing we are a family run business. We are very proud to be Irelands designated haulage partner for containerships over the last 10 years.

Tel 00 353 (1) 836 4344 Fax 00 353 (1) 836 4230 michael.mcmahon71@gmail.com mark@mcmahontransport.ie Unit 205 B • Castleforbes Business Park • Dublin 1

Irish Exporters Association Short Sea Shipping Line of the Year Award 2013

www.eucon.ie

S U P P LY C H A I N

also transports a considerable amount of IKEA products within Northern European regions.

Most of these products are being exported from Western Europe into Russia, and the company is able to handle everything from customs clearance of import and export cargo and the paperwork for reimport procedures for arrival and/or departure by sea or truck. Another added benefit is the fact there are no third parties involved for any of these companies.

Strategy From a technology point of view, Containerships is investing in the vessels and the trucks, which is an imbedded investment of LNG and technology.

The technology aspect of the investment includes brand new tanks on the ships, as well as cooling systems which will make a very positive impact.

From the IT and operating systems point of view the group is developing these components all the time in such a way that allows the firm to cope in this new age of increased volumes.

But this relentless push forward is not without its challenges, and although Laukkanen acknowledges this and remains vigilant to adversity, he remains confident this will not overtly affect the business. He said: “Russia is and will continue to be an important market for us and we all know there is an ongoing crisis at the moment. But we think in terms of transporting consumer goods, automotive parts and alcohol from other European countries

“So now we have the capacity, we have the energy efficiency, and we have the agility” – Antti Laukkanen

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Containerships is a multimodal operator

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such as the UK, France and Germany; there is still a big future growth opportunity there.

“Of course the sanctions have affected us to an extent, but the direct impact hasn’t been that huge. The bigger impact has been the Russian economy slowing down and decreased spending habits. The normal levels of customer consumption are down - that is having the larger impact on us.

“Our company and owners have been working in Russia since 1990 though and we have faced crises before, with recessions and so on. It’s not a new thing for us and so

S U P P LY C H A I N

essentially so we have not run into Russia only to step out during the bad times, we have already been present in here for many years so we are not going to back away now. It’s a long-term focus and investment, and we’re confident it will continue to be fruitful in years to come.”

Looking forward, Laukkanen is planning on providing a much more tailored service to the individual customer, as there seems to be a demand for this approach. With facilities and containers in every major European port, and container depots and warehouses in the UK and Germany, Containerships is well positioned to offer a more customer-centric service.

He concluded: “We have certain core ports like Helsinki, St Petersburg, Teesport, Rotterdam, Lübeck where we call to often and depending on the situation market and customer location, we are adding some new ports to our portfolio to increase our scope of presence.

“There are a certain amount of containers in each port so when there is transportation demand from the customer we are able to answer on a fairly quick basis.

“It’s always difficult to predict the future but I think the customer-base is growing and they are wanting more reliable deliveries and pinpoint services. Instead of sending one container and saying it will be there in Russia sometime next month, you need to say the container will be in the Moscow warehouse next Tuesday by 6pm; that is the direction we are going.”

Company Information INDUSTRY

Container shipping HEADQUARTERS

Helsinki FOUNDED

1966 EMPLOYEES

550 REVENUE

€220 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Provides services to ensure safe and rapid container shipping between Russia and the Baltic, Europe, UK, Ireland and the North Sea, as well as between North Africa and the Mediterranean.

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RSA Logistics’ 55 Million Dollar Expansion Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Dennis Morales

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RSA LOGISTICS

RSA Logistics is a fast-moving company that has grown its revenues by 44 percent over the last three years: we talk to co-founder and Managing Director Abhishek Ajay Shah about his plans to capture further market share RSA Talke Facility

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ntrepreneurship requires hard work, vision, dedication. It is also useful if the entrepreneur is in the right place at the right time, and if he or she has a supportive network. Abhishek Ajay Shah certainly ticks a number of these boxes; he comes from an entrepreneurial family, which developed and leased out warehouses in the UAE and it was with their support that he came to the UK to study civil engineering and Business Management at Warwick University. It was there that he developed a fascination for supply chain management, so after a spell learning its practicalities in Singapore he returned to Dubai determined to start his own business.

He quickly perceived a gap in the market for a competent asset-based logistics services provider in the rapidly growing city state. “They were just starting to develop Dubai World Central

S U P P LY C H A I N

Fast and accurate picking

(DWC) together with Al Maktoum International Airport, which aims to be the largest airport in the world. We approached them in 2006 and the next year became the first company to sign a lease there.” Within a year construction of a 25,000 square metre facility had commenced.

Filling the gap The size of this warehouse was justified by the huge potential of DWC and the dearth of affordable space at DWC for third party logistics, or 3PL services. “We created a new brand and a new company, RSA Logistics,” says Shah, “with the objective of really differentiating ourselves and being the first mover into this newly developed zone.” However, the new company got off to a slow start, as the planned 2008 opening of Al Maktoum International Airport was affected by the recession and the

180 Number of staff employed by RSA Logistics

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SSI SCHÄFER is the world’s leading supplier and manufacturer of high quality storage and materials handling systems. Products are ranging from standard industrial racking & shelving to fully automated turnkey warehouse solutions.

www.ssi-schaefer.com

RSA LOGISTICS

S U P P LY C H A I N

first cargo flight did not land till June 2010.

Even when RSA Logistics opened its doors for business in March 2009, customers were shy of the newcomer. “There was a lot of customer education to be done and it was costly and time consuming for us to show that we could add value to their supply chain,” he reminisces.

Nevertheless, he soon made up for the fact that RSA had yet to make its name by collaborating with large multinational asset light freight forwarders. “These are global companies that do not believe in building their own facilities but prefer to work with companies like ours,” he explains. “They had the customer base, we had the operational ability on the ground and the local know how. Together we provide a unique contract logistics solution.”

SUPPLIER PROFILE

Loading Bay

SSI SCHÄFER

Matthias Höwer, GM Middle East and Africa Address: SSI Schaefer Systems International DWC LLC P.O. Box 37600 | Dubai Logistics City – Plot WB54 Dubai World Central, Dubai | United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 8048 100 Fax: +971 4 8879 305 Email: info.ae@ssi-schaefer.com

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Land Transportation and Open Yard

At the same time, to differentiate RSA from any competition, the decision was made to invest heavily in technology. “Customers today want quick, easy and agile solutions that integrate with and talk to their own systems. We developed our own software and programming, and that was a great success and a big contribution to our story.”

Focusing on the petrochemicals market, the company set out to obtain chemicals handling accreditations not widely available in the UAE, a move that brought in its first multinational customers as Dubai started to realise its investment potential and Shah’s patience paid off when the company became self sustained in 2012. Since then it has experienced three years of solid growth.”

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Shah continues, that handling chemicals would be a mainstay of the business going forward.

All chemicals require specialised treatment at every stage in the supply chain, so he employed a specialist consultant and set about adapting the facility, as a result of which a considerable volume of business was being transacted by 2012. “That’s when our biggest customer at that time put us in touch with the Alfred Talke group from Germany, which already has a presence in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. This was the start of our positioning as a specialist 3PL provider for the petrochemical industry, something that simple did not exist before.”

In May 2013 the partners created a 50/50 joint venture company RSA-Talke. In February 2014, a state-of-the-art warehouse, specifically designed to meet the needs of the chemical and petrochemical industries and offering an impressive capacity of 19,000 pallet spaces for class 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 dangerous goods, coupled with tailor-made freight services, was opened at DWC. It complies with the highest safety, environment protection and quality standards, such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards and the EU’s ATEX guidelines on explosion prevention.

Other verticals being addressed by RSA Logistics include spare parts for aerospace and automotive clients within a recently opened a modern integrated warehousing facility, and chilled foodstuffs at a state-of-the-art multi-

Warehouse Aisle

“We’d like to see the temperaturecontrolled side of our business expanded and I’d expect to have added frozen goods handling facilities by the end of next year” – Abhishek Ajay Shah, Managing Director

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Key Personnel Chemical Warehouse

Abhishek Ajay Shah Managing Director Abhishek Ajay Shah is Managing Director of RSA Logistics and a member of the board of directors at RSA TALKE. Born in Kenya, he took a MEng degree, in Civil Engineering with Business Management, from Warwick University in the UK and worked in logistics for a year in Singapore before returning to the UAE to join the family business, subsequently setting up RSA logistics in 2007 140

October 2015

temperature warehousing facility which is ISO certified and rated 5-star by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre. “We’d like to see the temperature-controlled side of our business expanded and I’d expect to have added frozen goods handling facilities by the end of next year.”

Further horizons So in less than seven years of operation, the organisation has expanded at a rapid pace: it has seen a 44 per cent growth over the last three years, a growth rate that he is comfortable to continue as his target for the outlook period. Current employee levels of 180 are expected to increase to the region of 250 in the next two years, and a significant amount of this growth will be outside of the UAE. In 2013 RSA established itself in the fast expanding East African market when it acquired a local company Trade Winds International

S U P P LY C H A I N

based in Kenya, the country of Abhishek’s birth.

It is currently investing more than $5 million in an integrated warehousing facility there, with an eye on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market and for existing customers in the UAE that would like to set up a hub in East Africa. He believes there is a defined need in East Africa for 3PL and outsourced logistics, and also identifies an opportunity in India for the expertise that RSA has developed in hydrocarbon logistics. By 2018 he would like to see a thriving business established both in Kenya and on the subcontinent of India.

Though the company has budgeted to spend a further $55 million over the next three years in improving and extending its Dubai chemical and petrochemical facilities and on taking its cold storage facilities to the next level, it will also be developing its work in what he calls ‘on-site logistics’ – managing the assets of clients to improve the inventory management systems within their own facilities and allowing them to more effectively fulfil their orders and manage their supply chain.

Asked about the reasons for the success of the company to date he identifies the people, and the efforts they have put into training and policy alignment. “Everyone is now on the same page, and getting behind our vision for the business, adopting lean principles and going the extra mile for the customers and their colleagues.”

Company Information INDUSTRY

Supply Chain HEADQUARTERS

Dubai, UAE FOUNDED

2007 EMPLOYEES

180 REVENUE

62 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Logistics

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ADC Energy Systems is switched on for development Written by: Sheree Hanna Produced by: Richard Thomas

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ADC ENERGY SYSTEMS

As a leading Engineering, Construction and Procurement contractor the company is exploring growth opportunities across the GCC and beyond

A

DC Energy Systems, based in Dubai, is building on its expertise gained over a successful 10 years in business by seeking to grow not only its capabilities, but also its geographical reach.

The company, which has reached AED 1.7 billion turnover since its inception in 2005, is a turnkey contractor for Cooling Plants, Energy Services, Grain Handling and Infrastructure.

The EPC (Engineering, Construction and Procurement) contractor has been awarded over 20 district cooling plants during that period and is currently working on bringing to completion six plants by the end of 2015 and into the first half of 2016 within the GCC region.

ADC built its first district cooling plant for Dubai’s iconic development The Palm Jumeirah, the palm-tree shaped, manmade island, which is home to a number of luxurious hotels and holiday accommodations including the five-star Atlantis Hotel.

CEO Ibrahim Sleiman said: “This was the first major project we won through our partnership approach and since then there have been almost 20 projects scattered between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and other GCC countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

District data Collectively to date, the District Cooling Plants – DCP generate a total cooling capacity nearing 600,000 Tons of Refrigeration; The electric power

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MIDDLE EAST

District Cooling Plant

required for feeding the DCPs amount to no less than 450 MW of power stations, and it’s cooling. . The DCPs have a total combined footprint of about 26,000 square metres and serve seven leading utility developers and operators, as well as master developers within the GCC region.

With some 200 professionals on board, along with a 350-core construction team, Sleiman explained that ADC is keen to further explore its capabilities throughout its energy services division, and new sectors like Renewable Energy.

The forward-thinking company is also looking at how it can further utilise the renewables sector in a bid to bring greater

62.5m The amount of Revenue in USD generated

by ADC Energy Systems in 2014

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Qatar’s $45 billion new district cooling plant

efficiencies and benefits for not just its customers, but also for the environment.

Exciting times are ahead in the GCC region with events such as the World Expo 2020 to be hosted in Dubai and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. All of these are opportunities that ADC is keen to exploit and is already involved in, or pitching for the business they are creating.

The company is in the finishing stages of completing a new district cooling plant in Qatar’s $45 billion, ambitious and ground-breaking new town development of Lusail, which is being purpose-built to cope with the demands the World Cup is expected to generate.

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“The forward-thinking company is also looking at how it can further utilise the renewables sector in a bid to bring greater efficiencies and benefits for not just its customers, but also for the environment.”

MIDDLE EAST

Powering on First and foremost, ADC, building on its wealth of experience in Engineering, Procurement and Construction and as a natural growth from the District Cooling sector, through its Energy Services arm which is currently looking at how it can develop Combined Cooling Heating & Power (CCHP) schemes.

For this purpose, ADC is targeting l industrial and institutional clients whose connectivity to the main grid or need for back-up power in addition to their requirements for comfort or process cooling and heating qualify them as attractive prospects for CCHP schemes.

Sleiman said: “District cooling systems are very efficient, but they are intensive power users of the national grid with an average 40-50 megawatts per plant. Through the power generation, transmission and distribution cycle, there is a lot of energy wastage with nearly -60 percent of the original energy source lost. So that is not very efficient and what we want to do with CCHP is to produce the energy where you need it by combining your power generation with your cooling/heating requirements in one plant and optimise the production of the power side by capturing the waste heat wherever you produce power.

“By so doing, we can almost increase the effectiveness of the energy source from 35-40 percent up to 75 percent or maybe even higher.”

Sleiman was keen to point out that ADC is not pursuing pure power production, but

Mr. Ibrahim Sleiman - CEO

Mr. Khalil Issa - MD

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ADC ENERGY SYSTEMS

targeting the sector of distributed energy plants which deliver energy at the point of use.

ADC Energy Systems is looking at further opportunities in Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to produce the larger 100 megawatt plants

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Exploring renewables Another strategic focus for the company is the use of renewable energy sources such as solar panels and the company is currently investigating the use of Concentrated Solar Panels.

“The reason we still use fossil fuel for our plants is the fact that with solar energy plants you need a lot of space which is hard to find in urban areas,” said Sleiman.

“So for now we are concentrating on smallerscale solar plants. We are looking to participate in an Egyptian set of tenders which will come out shortly, which will range between 20 and 30 megawatts of power production.

MIDDLE EAST

“We also anticipate to a smaller extent that there will be further opportunities from Jordan and Kuwait, and with Saudi Arabia much larger 100 megawatt plants which we will target in due time. As a leading and specialized EPC contractor, we are able to team up with international EPC contractors and technology providers to work handin-hand on the implementation of such projects.”

Company Information INDUSTRY

District Energy / Construction HEADQUARTERS

New frontiers Geographically speaking, ADC has already qualified and participated in tenders as far afield as Algeria to the West and eastwards as far as India and Bangladesh for its grain handling business. Huge infrastructure growth in Saudi Arabia means ADC has its hand firmly on that tiller.

Sleiman said: “There is huge opportunity in Saudi at the moment and when you add up all the other GCC countries, Saudi can equalise if not exceed the developments of the other countries in the GCC region put together pending more regional stability in terms of security and oil prices.

“There are essentially two prongs to our growth, one is expansion in different sectors by pushing our CCHP strategy which is a natural outgrowth of our district cooling plants to second generation cooling/thermal energy plants into renewables. The second is territory wise, expanding beyond our core markets to tackle projects in the wider GCC as well as in North Africa and potentially central African countries, where we are bidding for a few projects right now.”

Dubai FOUNDED

2005 REVENUE

USD 62.5 million(2014) PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

A leading provider of industrial-grade plants & systems in the Thermal Energy sector.

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Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) Delivering World Class Water Services Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Richard Thomas

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C O A S TA L M U N I C I PA L I T I E S WAT E R U T I L I T Y ( C M W U )

Amid trying circumstances, Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility is attracting international support for its timely and much needed projects

Improving water services

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he Costal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) is responsible for providing the people of Gaza with its full complement of water and waste water services. The utility is going ahead with its projects (which total roughly $1.6 billion) in an effort to restore optimal water services in Gaza and is doing so against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Operations The CMWU’s remit is to deliver integrated, environmentally safe water and sanitation services to the Gaza strip, making use of the area’s natural aquifer, as well as using innovative solutions to diversify water supply and secure effective waste water solutions across the region.

The utility uses a combination of desalination and treatment plants in order to secure the

ENERGY

CMWU headquarters

best possible offering for its customers.

CEO Monther Issa Shoblaq outlined how the formation of the utility in 2005 had filled a vital gap with its full service package. He said: “You cannot depend on 25 fragmented departments to manage everything, from water works and new wells, to tanks, collections, treatment and disposal, so we mobilised significant investment in order to improve the water service through becoming a strong operator.�

While it uses the most modern and upto-date technology across its facilities, the utility has faced the challenge of maintaining operations while the war between Israel and Hamas raged all around. From an operational point of view, the fighting saw the destruction of water networks and facilities to the tune

850 Number of staff employed

by Coastal Municipalities Water Utility w w w. c m w u . p s

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Masoud and Ali Contracting Company, known in short as MACC, one of the diversified, leading, most experienced and oldest existing contracting companies operating in gaza strip and west bank, was established in 1984 in response to the urgently growing demand for specialized companies in a rapidly developing environment. It has since grown to sustain itself over the years as an innovative leader in the field based on mutual trust with clients to improve efficiency, provide rapid execution while ensuring high quality performance and considering all safety precautions. This premise is based on extensive portfolio of projects in which macc has had major determinate role.

SUPPLIER PROFILE

MASOUD AND ALI CONTRACTING COMPANY Masoud & ali contracting co. (Macc) will provide prime contracting services satisfactory and sufficient for the long-term benefit of our clients, costumers.

Macc’s mission is based on providing comprehensive work, quality control, and safety for all works within the contractual duration of the projects, in addition to cost effectiveness to meet our national obligations to support the economic development and civilization in palestine .We are committed to providing reliable, amicable, and professional services to our valued clients and to being supportive to local businesses and social activities, friendly to the environment as well as being proactive in the socio-economic environments.

In order to accomplish our goals macc operates through premising offer adequate spacing and working conditions for its staff as well as housing all specialized departments and necessary integrated facilities. Among these are: 1. Construction management department.

2. Financial and administration department.

3. Procurement and technical department.

4. Health/ safety department 5. Quality control department.

6. It department.

ENERGY

“The CMWU’s remit is to deliver integrated, environmentally safe water and sanitation services to the Gaza strip, as well as using innovative solutions to diversify water supply and secure effective waste water solutions across the region” of some $34 million and resulted in the loss of up to 30 percent of its power supply.

The only power plant in the Gaza Strip was destroyed in 2006 and, since then, the community has only been able to satisfy 50 percent of its electricity needs. The utility has been able to mitigate this problem, at least to some extent, by deploying backup generators across its facilities.

Continuing to operate in these conditions has required innovative thinking; alongside fitting backup generators, the CMWU has even used old sections of an Israeli wall for the construction of a new sewage lagoon.

Shoblaq was proud of what the CMWU had achieved despite this, he said: “Our capacity to provide services, in terms of infrastructure, is advanced. We provide 98 percent of the population of Gaza with water which you just don’t see in any other countries.”

International support The CMWU has managed to attract high profile donors who are keen to assist in rebuilding

Palestine’s children deserve the best water infrastructure

Delivering a community service

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C O A S TA L M U N I C I PA L I T I E S WAT E R U T I L I T Y ( C M W U )

Support from various goevernments helps roll out improvements

Improving water services

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Gaza, which include the World Bank (WB) as well as the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

Alongside other prominent donors such as UNICEF, the European Union, ICRC, KFW, AFD and various international government donors, CMWU have secured upwards of $1.6 billion intended to secure clean drinking water and consistent waste disposal for the whole of Gaza.

Securing the support of donor governments and organisations has enabled the utility to prevent the water service from deteriorating despite all that has happened and has enabled it to continue to roll out improvements to its networks as any other water company would do.

Shoblaq explained: “On the waste water side,

ENERGY

only 70 percent was covered by the sewage networks; we expanded this sewage network to avoid waste water pollution because these uncovered areas were served by septic tanks.

“In accordance with the Palestinian water sector plan in the late 90s, the need to build up non-conventional water sources using brackish and sea water desalination plants was recognised and relevent measures adopted. We now have 20 brackish water plants, which vary in output from 50 cubic metres per day, to 50 cubic metres per hour.

“We have a small sea water desalination plant financed by the Austrian government which produces around 600 cubic metres per day; we expanded this with funding from the IDB and World Bank to produce 2,600 cubic metres per day.”

By 2023, the CMWU wants to reach an output of 100 million cubic metres per year through its desalination operations and will achieve this through the construction of two dedicated plants at a cost of roughly $500 million sourced from the European Union and IDB. In addition, CMWU in cooperation with Palestinian Water Authority (Water Sector Regulator) has launched the construction of two central waste water treatment plants; one in the Middle Governorate and the other in the Southern Governorate with a total amount of around $130 million. The two plants are financed

by KfW, the Japanese Government and the IDB.

Monther Issa Shoblaq, CEO of CMWU

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Desalination has the potential to meet Gaza’s needs by 2023

Settlement tanks in the Gaza Strip

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Talent Management Before 2006, conditions were less tense in the region, andShoblaq was keen to emphasise that there had been a transfer of knowledge and skills between his 850 staff and their Israeli and other regional and international counterparts; he was adamant that dissemination of knowledge was essential to providing the most efficient and world-class service. He said: “We train our teams regionally whenever we have the opportunity; especially when we have the chance to send along our senior managers.�

Furthermore, Shoblaq highlighted how the spirit of completion could be used even during trying circumstances and had further contributed to a sense of solidarity across

ENERGY

Company Information INDUSTRY

Water and Sanitation Utility HEADQUARTERS

Palestine FOUNDED

2005 EMPLOYEES

850

employees of every level. He added: “In terms of incentivising our staff, we have an award for the best worker in a particular field and a system of evaluating their performance through a yearly award: this can be certification, recognition or financial incentives.�

The determination of the CMWU to deliver its crucial water and sanitation services to the people of the Gaza Strip cannot be over emphasised. It is expanding, rebuilding and driving excellence across the spectrum of its operations and, through working with its local and international partners and donors, the utility is making massive progress towards providing the best possible water and waste water services to the people of the Gaza strip.

PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Sanitation and waste water management; water extraction and services

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Turning Potential Challeng Written by: Sam Jermy Produced by: Richard Thomas

ges Into Opportunities 163

O M A N E L E C T R I C I T Y T R A N S M I S S I O N C O M PA N Y

OETC has invested OMR120 million in infrastructure works to evacuate the power from the power plants in Ibri and Sohar

The firm is investing in its network infrastructure so that it can grow at a similar rate to the country’s economy over the coming years

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he Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) has planned an investment program worth an estimated 750 million Omani Rials (OMR) over the next 15 years, to support its 2030 vision that aims to expand infrastructure to meet increasing customer demand.

As part of the new long-term national planning, the company will complete turnkey engineering, procurement and construction projects as part of the multi-million Rial investment, following on from the OMR100 million invested to enhance operations last year.

Dr Adil Al-Busaidi, Asset Management and Planning Manager at OETC, said: “As a

ENERGY

Key Personnel

AL Said Al-Hadabi CEO

company we faced an average of 9 percent growth annually over the last decade and that is a lot of effort in terms of planning. Currently we have a load demand of around 5GW and we expect that to be in the range of 16GW in 2030 so investment is essential if we are to provide over three times the existing demand. “Each year we work to increase our capability so we can help deliver more projects, such as the OMR120 million infrastructure works to evacuate the power from the power plants in Ibri and Sohar. Increasing our project delivery capability is essential in order to turn the high demand growth risk into investment

Engineer Ali Al Hadabi has assumed the leadership of Oman Electricity Transmission Company S.A.O.C. since September 2008. During his time, OETC has embarked on a significant capital investment program in the Main Interconnected System, which is the vital lifeline of the Sultanate’s power infrastructure. He is responsible for power transmission business across the north of Oman and the south of Oman.

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opportunities. Basically, we need to engage more contractors, consultants and manufacturers in order to achieve that as well as enhancing our own investment management capabilities.

“We used to operate high voltages of 132kV and 220kV but now we’re embarking on the construction of 400kV transmission system assets as it allows us to have more output capacity. As part of our vision we will be busy to complete the 400KV backbone for the whole of Oman. We have a vision to have one 400KV linking the North and South and the interior parts. We will have one strong grid and solid infrastructure appearing over the next few years. We want to support overall growth within the country as best we can.”

OETC was established on 1 May 2005 and it

SUPPLIER PROFILE

Project delivery capability is essential in order to turn the high demand growth risk into investment opportunities

BAHWAN ENGINEERING GROUP

Founded in 1977, Bahwan Engineering Group has emerged as one of the largest engineering construction & trading groups in Oman. Nearly four decades, the Engineering Group has been associated with nation-building projects in Oman and UAE. BEC, executes integrated multi-disciplinary construction projects involving Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Elevators and Escalators, Diesel Power Generation. It is also involved in trading in Electrical , Mechanical , Chemical products and Facilities Management Services.

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Energy management all the way www.siemens.om Siemens has a proven track record in project delivery in Oman. The company’s commitment to building a local framework through the region with branch offices and operational units helps to improve the competitiveness of the country and creates value for local businesses.

Backed by its global technology network, Siemens in Oman provides all necessary skills and expertise to fully manage even the most complex projects. Siemens has proven its reliability as a trusted partner that delivers only the highest quality over many decades.

From extra-high to low-voltage, the Siemens portfolio for efficient power transmission and distribution includes everything it takes to support the country’s energy infrastructure in keeping pace with the rapidly growing demand for electricity.

www.siemens.om

ENERGY

is responsible for the building and operating of the transmission network in Oman, and is the licensees under the authority of Government of Oman. It is also in charge of despatching and controlling the overall generation and output of electricity in the country.

Operations In January 2014 OETC took control of the transmission network in the south of Oman, which had previously been operated by a different system operator. As a result the firm had full control of the country’s electricity transmission and a significant platform to build on.

Eng Ali Al-Hadabi, CEO of Oman Electricity Transmission Company, said: “We are also responsible for the international connection to

SUPPLIER PROFILE

OETC connects a number of high profile corporate customers

SIEMENS

Siemens is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry.

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OETC has full control of Oman’s electricity transmission

a number of GCC countries and its authorities, this is done through Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Meanwhile we have a number of high-profile corporate customers in Oman connected to the high voltage network; the major Omani airports, industrial customers such as steel and aluminium factories, and the Oman Petroleum Company to name a few.”

“Because we are experiencing a lot of growth in OETC and the country as a whole, we need to maintain the same sort of growth in the network to handle the load increase and ensure we all flourish.”

OETC has also made sure all IT systems have been upgraded to help drive continuous improvement and support the national controlling and communication link to the national network.

“Currently we have a load demand of around 5,000 MW and we expect that to be in the range of 16,000 in 2030 so investment is essential if we are to provide over three times the existing demand” – Dr Adil Al-Busaidi, Asset Management and Planning Manager at OETC.

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Hamed Engineering Services LLC Hamed Engineering Services LLC has a leading presence in Oman dating back to 1983. We pride ourselves of being 100% Omani Consultant Company recognized by many clients for delivering high quality engineering solutions and services for both the Power/Infrastructure sector as well as the Oil and Gas sector. We cover a variety of engineering services including: • Technical studies • Conceptual, Front End & Detailed Design • Owners Engineering services and site supervision We believe that our success and growth can be maintained only through establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with our clients, and delivering innovative solutions that serves their needs.

Tel +968 22086800 / Fax +968 2208 6951 W www.hesoman.com / W www.vecoman.com E hes.energy@hesoman.com P.O. Box: 86, Al Qurum, P.C.: 102, Sultanate of Oman

Designing, Tower testing & Manufacturing of Galvanized Lattice type steel structures for Overhead transmission Lines and Telecommunications Towers.

EPC construction of Overhead Transmission, Distribution, Substation & underground power cabling works.

T +971 4814 9555.

F +971 4885 7819. contact@gulfjyoti.com www.gulfjyoti.com

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Asset management Al-Hadabi and Al-Busaidi both stressed the need for new ways to strategically deliver projects, because despite the heavy investment throughout the group, if the assets are not managed correctly then it will not have the desired impact on operations.

Al-Hadabi said: “In the last two or three years we have established a strong asset management structure. We do depend on outsourcing a small amount for things like consultants who supervise our work and make sure we carry on looking after the projects that are coming our way.

“This new strategy will really help us to see the requirements of all departments and see the lifecycle of our assets. This relates back to our investment program where we are ensuring that there is a sufficient support network in place.

“We would also like to emphasise the value we place on our excellent staff and engineers.

We take them through rigorous and high-quality training which allows them to look after what we are targeting. We encourage all our engineers to go for extra qualifications and support them; a fulfilled worker is much better equipped to help us achieve our business objectives.”

More than 92 percent of the company’s employees are Omani nationals and most are trained in multiple disciplines. “We want this trend to continue because we believe in the young talent in this country, and hope they will want to work for an employer like OETC. We also want to limit

Eng Ali Al-Hadabi, CEO of Oman Electricity Transmission Company.

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“We are always benchmarking ourselves against the best transmission companies across the world and we try to be constantly challenging ourselves to be the best utilities firm we can be” – Eng Ali Al-Hadabi, CEO of Oman Electricity Transmission Company.

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Building a transmission network with high voltages of 400KV is a sizeable job

the amount of outsource activity to certain niche tasks that physically cannot be done in-house; everything else should be done in-house going forward. With this in mind, staff numbers are expected to increase in the coming years.” added Al-Hadabi. OETC has made a successful habit out of building fruitful partner relationships with local service providers and contractors too, and this has further helped maintenance and delivery.

The company management team sees the main challenge going forward as the ongoing efforts to improve the national grid infrastructure. Building a transmission network with high voltages of 400KV is a sizeable job, in terms of implementing new overhead

ENERGY

lines, underground cables and evacuating the power from the new generation stations.

While this is being carried out all network corridors need to remain available at all times as it is important OETC maintains a reliable service to the customer with no deviation in quality or availability.

Al-Hadabi concluded: “We need to execute all these new lines and substations with minimum to the end users, our valued customers, and this is something we are taking very seriously with the governmental authorities and that is the main challenge I can see, we need to tackle that to get the right corridors and build a service fit for the future.

“We are always benchmarking ourselves against the best transmission companies across the world and we try to be constantly challenging ourselves to be the best utilities firm we can be. When we do reports based on our three pillars of reliability, availability and quality we always find the results to be acceptable. But we must not be complacent and stand still.

“We have high standards and have put a big level of expectation of ourselves, and we challenge our employees to make sure we deliver on that expectation.”

With such commitment to its staff, coupled with significant investment plans, the Oman Electricity Transmission Company looks set to bring about further prosperity for itself and facilitate growth for the country’s economy.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Energy HEADQUARTERS

Sultanate of Oman FOUNDED

2005 EMPLOYEES

350 REVENUE

92 milliom OMR (2014) PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Owner and operator of Oman’s main electricity transmission network

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Sharing A Century Of Knowledge Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: James Pepper

177

MINES RESCUE SERVICE LIMITED (MRSL)

The employee owned company has adapted to a changing industry through diversifying revenues and focusing on quality while implementing a solid plan for future growth

M

ines Rescue Service Limited (MRSL) was originally established at the turn of the 20th century to respond to emergencies from the UK mining industry. The company was part of the National Coal Board and later the British Coal Corporation until its privatisation in 1996. Since then it has been able to secure long term operational and financial success by leveraging its expertise to create new revenue streams, driving these gains straight back into the company. This work has also culminated in the company being in a confident position to double its turnover in the next five years.

Aside from its individual on-site activities, the company has six facilities spanning the UK mainland

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MRSL has been able to develop as a tried and trusted operator over the years, branching out from underground mining into providing its services to a large range of different industries

Operations Alongside its unique rescue services, the MRSL provides specialist equipment (some of which has been designed using practical expertise gathered on the job), consultancy and a range of specialised, accredited training courses to a variety of industry sectors, as well as confined spaces training. Aside from its individual on-site activities, the company has six facilities spanning the UK mainland, as well as a number of mobile training rigs. It employs some 140 people across its various operations and last year had a turnover of ÂŁ11.5 million.

MRSL has been able to develop as a tried and trusted operator over the years, branching out from underground mining into providing its services to a large range of different industries, including nuclear, aerospace, manufacturing

140 Number of staff employed by Mines Rescue Service

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MINES RESCUE SERVICE LIMITED (MRSL) and utilities. It also provides services to clients who work in the petrochemical, renewables, chemicals, maritime and food and drink sectors.

Growth MRSL’s Commercial and Operations Director, Andrew Watson, explained that the source of the company’s fortuitous growth actually began when its operating costs could not be covered by its traditional industry, underground coal mines. He said: “The decision was taken to diversify the skills and expertise of the company’s employees into other industrial areas. The strategy was that, as the mining

MRSL also provides rescue cover

Coal Mining Contractors/Consultancy, Project Management & Processing Specialists

Co ntr

act

ing

• Mine development and production • Coal washing and coal handling plant operation and maintenance • Surface mining • Planned preventative maintenance schemes • Strata control solutions, remedial bolting and roadway repair/refurbishment • Infrastructure development, face replacement drivages, installation, production and salvage • Services: ventilation, electrical, mine water pumping and treatment

ent

• Competent persons reports

• Safety and process audits

gem Ma

• Design of ventilation systems, electrical/mechanical infrastructure and systems

jec t

• Mine layout design and planning

na

• Life of mine design

• Mine access, incline drivage, development drivage • Longwall, continuous miner operations and optimisation • Face equipment installation, salvage, maintenance

Pro

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nsu lta

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• Feasibility studies

UK’s largest coal producer, mine owner/operator and mining services provider

T. +44 (0)1226 730440 (UK & Europe) www.hsgplc.co.uk

T +91 (0) 11 4212 4100 (India)

hisenquiries@hsgplc.co.uk

MINING

industry declined, we would increase our income from these new sectors of work, bringing with it new “learning opportunities” resulting in even higher individual and team skill levels.

“Key to all of that was the introduction of the Confined Space Regulations at about the same time. We undertake practical, hands-on health and safety training, including fire awareness and first aid training; but the really big thing has been confined spaces training and the provision of specialist teams in high risk areas.”

“We are planning for increasing turnover to some £20 million by 2020, achieved by further expanding the services we provide. We do not compromise on quality and intend to continue to innovate and develop our services. We particularly target all aspects of confined space training, especially the provision of rescue cover for the high risk categorised work. Unfortunately accidents still occur in confined space working being undertaken and awareness of the hazards still needs to be communicated better.”

The focus for MRSL therefore has shifted away from mining (although some mines remain) towards new areas for growth.

Confined space rescue cover has grown to become the largest source of revenue, while the company now provides a range of nationally accredited training courses for those who work in a variety of industries.

He said: “We began by developing our own training courses and providing general services

“We are planning for turnover to be £20 million by 2020, achieved by further expanding the services we provide” – Andrew Watson, Commercial / Operations Director

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MINES RESCUE SERVICE LIMITED (MRSL)

Confined Space Training

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MINING

to industry. However, we decided to get ahead of the game and really emphasised quality within everything we do. We helped to establish national occupational standards, working with award bodies, and attained an understanding of how we could create our own standards.”

The company has a history of more than a century of working in the mining industry.

Implementing long standing control measures became particularly valuable when it came to considering alternate revenue sources, since this background could be directly applied to training in any organisation, including the mining industry.

Watson said: “We have traditionally worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE); we created a range of mining related qualifications in conjunction with them. We identified the vocational route and created standards and qualifications appropriate to mining in order to establish and improve competence.”

“Universities and colleges were no longer providing these courses; there had to be an alternative in place so the HSE set up competence groups. There are 57 job descriptions within an underground coal mine and we developed a national standard for each of these. Everything from a mineworker to the technical side; the mechanics, electricians, supervisor grades, right through to management.”

Having built up a strong business alongside a well-developed range of expertise, MRSL

Key Personnel

Andrew Watson Commercial/Operations Director Andrew Watson has worked in the mining industry for over 40 years , beginning his career as a miner at Barony Colliery in Scotland. He has been an operational mines rescue officer for 35 of these years. He is the Centre Co-ordinator for Mines Rescue Service Ltd, which offers confined space training and assessment to the National Occupational Standard. He is a Fellow the IOM3 and was awarded the Medal for Excellence in 2010. He is now Commercial/ Operations Director.

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MINES RESCUE SERVICE LIMITED (MRSL)

Fire Fighting Training

“There are 57 job descriptions within a coal mine and we developed a national standard for each of these” – Andrew Watson, Commercial/Operations Director

is now also delivering its services to the oil, gas and marine industries. Furthermore, the prospect of growing substantially (and into new territory at that) prompted a rethink into how the company will grow in future. Watson explained: “Bear in mind that while this is an employee owned company, we have changed our approach and are now considering opportunities for investment, demonstrated by the creation of a wind renewable energy training facility at our site in Scotland.”

International standards During preparation for the privatisation of British Coal, Mines Rescue identified that in its new format it would need to adhere to best

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practice standards in the form of the ISO 9001. This became a trend that has shaped MRSL both internally and externally. Since then, it has achieved both the ISO 14001 (for environmental management) and OHSAS 18001 (for health and safety management).

Having been involved in the development of quality training systems for UK industries, the company was then able to use these standards to offer services internationally.

Watson said: “We’ve been to South Africa, China, Ukraine, India and Russia. The Russian government is actually going to present us with an award for the work we have been doing on sharing best practice.”

In short, MRSL, faced with the decline of the industry it previously relied upon for both its service provision and revenue, decided to branch out while still providing the service needed by the mining sector.

By focusing on quality throughout all of its operations, the company has also been able to help define the meaning of safety generally across the country’s industrial sectors.

Watson concluded: “We haven’t undertaken a lot of marketing, but find work via reputation and word of mouth. We don’t have a sales or marketing team; we’ve got recognised skills and expertise. It’s never about selling a product to somebody, it’s mainly about going out and solving a problem for someone.”

Company Information INDUSTRY

Mining HEADQUARTERS

Nottinghamshire, UK FOUNDED

1996 EMPLOYEES

140 REVENUE

£11m PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Training, Equipment, Rescue Cover, Consultancy

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Providing Superior Aluminium Solutions Written by: Nye Longman Produced by: Mark Atkinson

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A L U M I N I U M P R O D U C T S C O M PA N Y ( A L U P C O )

The Saudi aluminium processor is diversifying its revenues while expanding production to provide the most superior aluminium solutions on the market

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he Saudi Aluminium Products Company (commonly referred to as ALUPCO) is diversifying from being the top extruder and manufacturer to being able to offer its global roster of customers a fully comprehensive aluminium products offering. It is achieving this goal through a carefully considered approach that is backed up by strategic acquisitions, strategic management initiatives and focusing on operational efficiency.

Expanding Operations ALUPCO’s current aluminium operations have a current annual output of 75,000 tonnes which is achieved through nine dedicated extrusion presses. Alongside its main extrusion capability are five powder-coating lines with a total capacity exceeding 75,000 tonnes, two anodizing lines with a combined annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes and two polishing lines which together make up an annual capacity of 1,000 tonnes. These facilities are backed up by two wood finishing and two protection taping lines, as well as a thermal break crimping line.

This range of facilities enables ALUPCO to meet a range of customer needs; its planned expansion will enrich this offering. CEO Khaled Abdelmoneim explained the practicalities involved in the expansion: “Currently we are at 75,000 tonnes; first we will take this up to 85,000 by making modifications and through rolling out continuous improvements.

Dammam Office

“We will then take production up to 140,000 tonnes through strategic acquisitions which we are funding with roughly $300 million. We are currently in the process of acquiring two extruders in the region; one we will acquire 100 percent and the other 75 percent. We are also getting into aluminium and ACP composites.�

The manufacturer has been so successful at fulfilling customer demand in Saudi Araba and worldwide since its inception in 1975 that it has been entrusted with supplying a range of internationally renowned projects in the Kingdom and beyond. In the UAE, these include the Emirates Towers in Dubai and the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

Perhaps the most prestigious recognition of its consistent performance is its winning of

800 Number of staff employed

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A L U M I N I U M P R O D U C T S C O M PA N Y ( A L U P C O ) a supply contract for the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah which, once completed, will stand as the world’s tallest building at one kilometre high.

Talent Management Khaled recognised that fostering a sense of purpose in each individual worker was just as important as making sure that his teams were well trained and appropriately rewarded for outstanding work. He explained: “We carry out a training needs analysis for every one of our employees and we use this to make sure that the person is ready to take the next step in their career.�

Integrating the needs of the individual within

Packing machine

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Powder Coatings Architectural

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the operational structure also enables the company to accurately allocate relevant training.

Khaled said: “We have an evaluation system carried out on an annual basis; continuous feedback from management to our support unit ensures that those people have got the right training and skills, and so we can evaluate the impact of the training later on.

“We set out an employees’ training plan and ensure that they are supported through to the next assignment. The company benefits as well; this process helps us make sure that our employees have the right training for themselves and for the company. In the performance appraisal we discuss the results and how to move forward.”

According to the Central Department of Statistics and Information, women make up only 13 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia; there is however a culture change afoot, and Khaled was keen to keep up with this trend.

He said: “We have a quota from the government to hire Saudis and train them. We have also started to hire Saudi women and we provide specific training because it is difficult to find a Saudi female with work experience.

“We now have at least one female for each function within the company; it is strategically valuable for us to have the right mix, it changes the culture and principles of the company. There is a change in perspective in Saudi Arabia which is enabling women to become candidates for hiring.”

Cast House (Remelt Shop)

Die Correction

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A L U M I N I U M P R O D U C T S C O M PA N Y ( A L U P C O )

Paint line

Anodising

Billet Container

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International Standards In 1995 ALUPCO became the first aluminium extruder in the Middle East to receive ISO 9001 accreditation, confirming its ability to consistently meet the demands of its customers.

Since then, adopting international standards has been the norm for the company, as it seeks to fulfil the demands of international clients.

Since attaining this, the company has received QUALANOD certification for providing save and consistent anodised aluminium; QUALICOAT for quality coatings; and QUALIDECO for the high standard of its decorative finishes.

Khaled said: “We wanted to be the best of the best; we maintain these international standards in order to be acceptable to everybody; we even do specific regional standards for some shipping operations.�

M A N U FA C T U R I N G

ALUPCO is also a member of the Gulf Aluminium Council, the Aluminium Extruders Council and the Anodisers Council, as well being SASO certified in conformity with the Saudi Government guidelines regarding the safety and sustainability of its exports.

Company Information INDUSTRY

Manufacturing HEADQUARTERS

Competitive Stance Khaled and his teams have identified where the clear challenges lie for the business and, thinking laterally, have been able to transform these potential setbacks into a competitive advantage, he said: “The challenge for us in exporting to 26 countries is always logistics because we transport by weight and volume, this is a burden to move products from Saudi to Europe to North Africa – it takes land as well as ocean and sometimes even air freight.

With this in mind we designed for every profile to reduce the volume during shipping.”

Despite the recent slump in the global commodities market ALUPCO is poised to make significant gains, both in terms of its productivity, but also through increasing its market share. Once again management has leveraged a potential problem to its advantage. Khaled said: “Going forward, we will be giving better solutions and changing the way we buy and sell, and order commodities, as well as communicating with our customers more dynamically.”

Dammam, SA FOUNDED

1975 EMPLOYEES

800 REVENUE

250-300 Million USD PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Aluminium Extrusion/ Aluminium Manufacturing

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HADEED EMIRATES CONTRACTING L.L.C.

.‫م‬.‫م‬.‫ﺣـــﺪﻳــــﺪ اﻻﻣـــــﺎرات ﻟﻠﻤﻘـﺎوﻻت ذ‬

Contracting – and expanding in the GCC region Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Heykel Ouni

Hadeed Emirates Contracting LLC, or HEC, likes to categorise itself as a mid-size contracting company working in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, in each of which it has an office: its founder and CEO, Mr Sameer Dabbas, seems comfortable with this description, though after speaking with him one is left with the idea that at the rate the company has been growing, it may quite soon outgrow the mid-size category

H A D E E D E M I R AT E S C O N T R A C T I N G L L C

H

EC was established in 2001. “We started by concentrating on structural steel as a discipline,” said CEO Sameer Dabbas. “Soon we started to take on some civil contracting work. This made us realise that we needed to be able to add electromechanical disciplines, so we acquired a specialist company to give us that capability.”

From this point, it was a short step to start offering clients a design and build package.

HEC’s attitude has always been more to meet the clients’ needs however these change, than to set limits on its capability. This way it has made a name for itself as the company to go to for fast track projects, where industrial clients from any sector can get their facilities up and running in time to meet their market demands. Now HEC has come to specialise in creating turnkey solutions in record time.

HEC’s attitude has always been to meet the client’s needs however these change

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HEC has come to specialise in creating turnkey solutions in record time

The structural steel manufacturing and fabrication plant in Abu Dhabi, established in 2008, has been growing continuously. “We are a long way from being able to supply all the steel we need for our own projects: currently we meet about 50 percent of the demand and outsource the remainder to reliable partners like Zamil Steel,” said Dabbas. “These are long term partners: we have built trust with them and we can rely on them to deliver so that in turn we can deliver for our clients. The name of our game is having a good team in house and then working with good supply chain partners. If you have these two things in the equation success is almost guaranteed!”

This is also true of international suppliers.

Nearly 70 percent of HEC’s contracts are repeat orders from satisfied clients. “We have state of the art software, and have even developed our

70% The percentage of HEC’s contracts that are repeat orders from satisfied clients

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H A D E E D E M I R AT E S C O N T R A C T I N G L L C HEC’s USP is its ability to deliver a turnkey project on time, beyond all regulatory requirements, ethically and with environmental sensitivity

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own ERP platform in-house, however we think the excellent personal relationships we retain with both clients and suppliers is just as important.”

As just one example he cites the French supplier of overhead travelling cranes he has been dealing with for 15 years. “They understand that we are serious, pay promptly, and that our end client’s interest is also their own greatest concern.”

As investment in industrial diversification and the development of the UAE’s industrial cities intensifies, many local and international companies are occupying space within wellappointed zones like the Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) in Abu Dhabi or the 14 square kilometre ICAD 1, located near to Musaffah Sea Port and close to Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Having made the decision to invest, these companies need to get their facilities into production without delay, so they are turning to HEC in increasing numbers. For example, last year HEC completed a new manufacturing facility for UAE-based West Coast Company, a waste management specialist. The Kizad plant produces paper products from recycled materials, appropriately for what Dabbas calls one of a few industrial zones in the world that build according to strict environmental regulations.

An even more recent success story is just being finished, also at Kizad. This is the $13 million Polysys Additive Technologies Middle East (PATME) manufacturing plant. The factory produces polymer stabilizers and will have the

HEC has increased its workforce by around 10 percent, to around 1200

“They have to be in production by a certain date: that is understood by us all - so we work to their dates and draw up a plan with which they can be comfortable.”

– Sameer Dabbas, CEO

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Companies are turning to HEC in increasing numbers

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initial capacity of 7,000 tons a year to serve the regional customers’ growing needs for these products. “The plant was completed in record time,” said Dabbas. “The client gave us a target of ten months, and to get all the equipment installed, commissioned and powered up in that time was really a big challenge.” But the HEC project team managed to achieve this.

Time is money, he reiterated, and not just for industrial clients. Schools and universities also feature in the project portfolio, and often their expansion programs need to be completed within the vacation. HEC is proud of its reputation as a company that can unfailingly meet these tight schedules using innovative and flexible approaches to management and construction methodology.

“Sometimes we elect to do things in parallel rather than in sequence; we may use factorymade modules as opposed to constructing on site, or pre-assembling electromechanical elements at the same time as doing the preparatory engineering. Techniques like this can cut the project time by as much a half!”

So he is relishing a project that sets an even tighter timeframe as HEC accepts the challenge to build Morgan Advanced Materials’ first dedicated Middle East facility, again at Kizad. The London-based company is a global producer of fibre products, and this facility will initially focus on the production of high-temperature fibre products for use in sectors including oil and

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It was a short step to start offering clients a design and build package

gas, aluminium, steel, energy, petrochemicals and fire protection. It’s HEC’s first contract with this client, but Morgan carefully monitored the Polysys construction to satisfy itself that HEC could deliver; with only eight months to complete a job that is not less demanding than PATME, it was clearly impressed. “They have to be in production by a certain date: that is understood by us all, so we work to their dates and draw up a plan with which they can be comfortable. They know exactly what they want and have been repeating the process all over the world,” says Sameer Dabbas.

So many projects are listed on HEC’s website, and so many more are in hand or projected that we couldn’t hope to give more than a taste of the company’s reach. However it’s worth mentioning a couple more. One is a new project for a client that has been coming to

HEC is proud of its reputation

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HEC’s success speaks for itself: for the time being it is content to be the leading mid-sized contractor in the region

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HEC since 2003. Al Masaood Marine is building on the coast within ICAD a ship maintenance depot complete with heavy lifting, fabrication and workshop facilities. “We understand this business, and we understand how to execute it within the UAE regulations that are very rigorously applied in the industrial zones.”

HEC’s plans for regional expansion, particularly into rapidly growing areas within Saudi Arabia and Qatar for example, were to some extent put on hold after 2008 as the depression struck.

Now, however, in an improving economic environment HEC has just increased its workforce by 10 percent to around 1,200 and is ready to expand beyond the UAE. It has started to bid for contracts in Saudi Arabia, said Dabbas, and it hopes that a recent contract award will help.

Altaaqa Global owns, mobilises, installs and

CONSTRUCTION

Company Information INDUSTRY

Construction HEADQUARTERS

UAE FOUNDED

2001 EMPLOYEES

operates efficient temporary independent power plants at customer sites, focusing on emerging markets. It is now establishing a new headquarters and logistics presence at the Dubai World Central, the new city that will be host to World Expo 2020. Understandably Sameer Dabbas is upbeat about this development.

“Altaaqa is a subsidiary of the Zahid Group, a massive industrial force in the region. We are very happy they have put their confidence in us.”

At the end, HEC’s USP is its ability to deliver a turnkey project on time, beyond all regulatory requirements, ethically and with environmental sensitivity. Its success to date speaks for itself, but for the time being it is content to be the leading mid-size contractor in the region. That way it can keep the personal goodwill that lies at the core of its success.

1,200 REVENUE

AED 104 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Turnkey project delivery

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