PMV Power List: Equipment manufacturers and dealers you should know

PMV Middle East’s annual PMV Power List is a tribute to the companies and professionals that both make the segment go round on a daily basis, and moreover actively driving the segment forward.

A Who’s Who for the vehicle and equipment segment in the GCC, this list puts a face to the name of many of the most important players in the region, taking into account the global and regional significance of manufacturers, the local reach and level of support provided by distributors, as well as, perhaps critically, the business activity of companies in both categories over the last 12 months.

Running in alphabetical order, this year's list includes:

Abdul Latif Jameel Machinery, Al Naboodah Group Enterprises, Atlas Copco, Balkrishna Industries, Caterpillar, Daimler, Doosan Infracore, Ford Trucks, GENAVCO, Genie, Gorica Industries, Haulotte, Himoinsa, Iveco, JLG Industries, Liugong Dressta Machinery, MAN Truck & Bus, Manitowoc, Manlift, MB Crusher, NFT Specialized in Tower Cranes, Raimondi Cranes, Renault Trucks, SSAB,  Terex Cranes, UD Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Trucks, Zahid Group.

Abdul Latif Jameel Machinery

Arif Chishti, Managing Director

Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Machinery is the distributor of Komatsu, Manitou, Foton-Loxa, Teksan Generators and Toyota Industrial Equipment in Saudi Arabia.

Born out of the success of Abdul Latif Jameel Motors in distributing Toyota vehicles in the country, the heavy equipment division has emerged, in little over three years, as a major force in the Kingdom’s machinery segment.

It began in 2013, when ALJ Machinery established Abdul Latif Jameel Summit Co. after Abdul Latif Jameel secured the distribution rights for Komatsu equipment in Saudi Arabia.

Komatsu has been in the Kingdom for 45 years, but when, in 2012 it began to look for a new partner to better serve its customers and business interests, Abdul Latif Jameel emerged as a lead candidate — due to its familiarity with Japanese business practices from its dealing with Toyota and operation of a substantial aftersales network.

Since 2013, the company has embarked upon a rapid expansion of its aftersales facilities in Saudi Arabia, both to support the Kingdom’s population of roughly 5,500 Komatsu units, and to lay the groundwork for future sales.

In just the first 24 months, ALJ Machinery established aftersales facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah and Abha in a move that Arif Chishti, notes was “extremely aggressive” by Saudi standards.

In 2016, a further 17,000m2 facility was opened in Jeddah, aimed at developing local Saudi talent and skills.

The emphasis on human resources reflects the business ethos of Chishti, who explains: “Our people are the assets that bring life to the organisation”, while adding: “I’m proud to say that 30% of our workforce is made up of local talent.”

In all, some 75% of ALJ’s total standing workforce is involved in product support and service.

The Jeddah facility is also the world’s largest for Komatsu.

Abdul Latif Jameel Summit is also rolling out services for the mining sector — providing modular facilities, including on-site workshops, parts warehouses and service engineers, on key projects in the industry.

Over the course of the next year, an even larger, 26,000m2 facility will be established in Riyadh, set to open in 2018.

Al Naboodah Group Enterprises

Ajit Kumar, COO, Commercial Transport and Electrical

Al Naboodah Group Enterprises (ANGE) is a UAE family-owned, conglomerate founded by two brothers almost 60 years ago that today employs over 16,000 people across a diverse range of business streams.

Within the group, the commercial vehicles and heavy equipment division, or Swaidan Trading, is one of the most significant sources of business.

It currently represents vehicle brands including: Ashok Leyland, VDL Bus & Coach, DAF Trucks Sunwin, Maxus and Great Wall, as well as the machinery and plant brands including: Sennebogen cranes, Konecranes, Clark forklifts, Baumann sideloader, VDL Translift waste collection sideloaders, Kaeser compressors, Leypower generators, and SACME cement equipment.

In a reflection of the current growth and dynamism of the group, DAF Trucks, VDL Translift, Baumann and Leypower have all been added to ANGE’s portfolio in the last 12 months.

In terms of its business, ANGE has supplied and maintains over a third of Dubai’s current city bus fleet, alongside its provision of worker buses, city buses, school buses, luxury coaches to the construction industry, oil and gas and municipal sectors.

ANGE’s commercial vehicles and heavy equipment division also recently unveiled the first frontal crash and roll-over compliant bus made and distributed in the GCC.

The Oyster 33-seat midibus is being produced at an Ashok Leyland assembly facility in Ras Al Khaimah that today has a standing output of 16 buses a day as it serves markets across the Middle East region.

Ajit Kumar is the COO for commercial transport and electrical at ANGE. He joined the Group in 2001 to manage the commercial vehicles and heavy equipment division.

Today, his remit goes beyond commercial vehicles and heavy equipment to cover multiple business streams, and includes the exploration of opportunities for future diversification.

Kumar notes: “We have had a great year at ANGE. Not only have we added exciting new brands to our portfolio, we have delivered some significant orders both in the UAE and Oman. We look forward to more exciting developments in the second half of 2017.”

Atlas Copco

Ahmed Hamdy, Business Line Manager

Headquartered in Nacka, Sweden, Atlas Copco is a major supplier of plant and equipment in the region. Its Power Technique division is a manufacturer of portable compressors, generators, pumps, lights tower, compaction and concrete products, and handheld pneumatic, electric and hydraulic tools for the construction and demolition industries.

The company employs more than 5,500 people and handles annual revenues of over $1.79bn.

Atlas Copco opened its first office to directly serve customers in the Middle East in the UAE in 2005, and over the last 12 years has continued to invest and grow in the region.

Today, Atlas Copco Construction Technique has its Middle East headquarters in Dubai, with five sales and service locations across the UAE, and direct operations in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Egypt and Bahrain.

The other countries in the Middle East are covered by authorised distributors, backed up by the full marketing and aftermarket support of the Atlas Copco group. The brand continues to strive to be the number one in its construction product segments.

Products currently being emphasised by Atlas Copco in the region include its QAC 1100 TwinPower generators, which comprise two 500kVA generators inside a single 20-foot container that can work independently or in parallel with each other to cater to variable power needs.

In compressors, the company has recently launched a single-axle portable compressor, the XATS 138, with a PACE pressure adjustment system that enables end users to precisely regulate air flow and pressure needs.

Another interesting product for the region is its HiLight range of LED light towers, including three advanced LED plug-and-light models: the P2+, V2+ and V3+, that can all be powered directly from an auxiliary power source, the grid or a portable generators.

Ahmed Hamdy is the regional business line manager for portable energy at Atlas Copco Construction Technique MENA. Egyptian born, Hamdy originally joined Atlas Copco as a sales engineer for its Compressor Technique division.

Balkrishna Industries

Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director

Based in Mumbai, India, Balkrishna Industries (BKT), is a major producer of off-highway tyres and currently operating in 13 countries in the Gulf and nearby Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, and the Levant.

The company’s journey in off-highway tyres began in late 1990s, and it has grown swiftly in the segment. It is currently an OEM vendor for heavy equipment manufacturers like JCB, John Deere and CNH Industrial and accounts for as much as 6% of the global sales of off-highway tyres.

It is currently aiming to raise its share of the segment to 10%, and its revenue from $800m to $1.4bn, with the broader aim of raising its revenue to $2bn by 2020.

Pertinent to these ambitions, BKT recently inaugurated a 121ha facility in Bhuj, Gujarat that represents an investment of around $500m by the company — with the capacity to produce 140,000 tonnes of tyre products a year and potentially double BKT’s production over the course of 2017.

Commenting on the market, Rajiv Poddar, joint MD of BKT, notes: “The Middle East requirement is dominated by the construction segment, though mining, stone quarry, port operations and material handling also form a big part.”

BKT is focusing on its range of all-steel radial off-highway tyres, including those for rigid and articulated dump trucks, wheel loaders, motor graders, reach stackers and straddle carriers.

Poddar details: “Construction consumers are driven by cost effectiveness and reliability, so these products need to ensure the highest machine utilisation at optimal cost — especially since the drop in oil prices and regional unrest have impacted the business potential.”

The reach of BKT’s product is amplified by its investment in its R&D division and distributor sales workforce, which has been undergoing regular product trainings and works in tandem with BKT’s sales team to provide service support to end users.

Poddar graduated with a degree in Business Management from Kingston University in London and went to work with BKT, the family business, shortly after graduating.

Caterpillar

David Crabb, District Manager, Middle East

Hardly needing an introduction, Caterpillar is the largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment in the world and a Fortune 500 company with an annual revenue in excess of $38bn.

Caterpillar has been established in the Middle East for over 60 years, and has five distributors across 12 countries. In the GCC, it is distributed by Zahid Tractor & Heavy Equipment in Saudi Arabia; and the UAE’s Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar in the other countries.

In 2013, the manufacturer invested in and opened a dedicated parts distribution facility for the region in the Jebel Ali free zone in Dubai, UAE, and in 2016, opened a regional training centre — at a cost of $7m — aimed at hosting 50 and 60 training courses a year for its regional partners and customers.

Caterpillar has also established an oil and fluid analysis lab for scheduled oil sampling in Jebel Ali to allow Caterpillar’s distributors in the region to expedite oil sample analysis from Cat equipment and reduce operational downtime.

In terms of its product, Caterpillar has now completed the rollout of its L-Series medium wheel loaders, which are more powerful and fuel-efficient than their predecessors, thanks to drivetrain and hydraulic-system improvements, with a 15% average reduction in fuel consumption compared to the H-Series.

Though designed with Tier 2 engines for markets with less regulated emissions standards, the L-Series capitalises in every other way on the technology found in Caterpillar’s Tier 4 Final M-Series wheel loaders.

Caterpillar began its rollout of the L Series in August 2016 with the launch of the two smaller units: the 950L and 962L, followed by the launch of the 980L in January 2017, and finally with the two mid-range medium wheel loaders: the 966L and 972L, this April.

David Crabb is Caterpillar’s district manager for the Middle East. He has worked with the company for 18 years, across the UK, Switzerland and the USA, and has spent most of his career working with the OEM’s dealers in the Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has a bachelor’s in engineering from Harper Adams University, UK and is a graduate of Caterpillar’s executive leadership programme at Cambridge University.

Daimler

Roland Schneider, President and CEO, CV MENA

Daimler has been present in the Middle East region since 1998, but underwent a substantial internal restructuring at the end of 2014 that saw the establishment of Daimler Commercial Vehicles (DCV) MENA in Dubai, UAE , as a separate entity focused on the sale and service of the manufacturer’s Mercedes-Benz trucks and vans, Fuso vehicles, and Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses.

Daimler CV MENA now addresses 19 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, ranging from Morocco to Pakistan. The Dubai team now employs around 100 people from 25 countries to coordinate its sales and aftersales activities across the region.

Roland Schneider notes: “This centre is a clear sign of our commitment to the region. These markets are very important, offering substantial potential for growth, and our opening in Dubai represents the next logical step.”

In 2016, Mercedes-Benz Vans saw growth in the MPV segment with the launch of the V-Class in the GCC, while Mercedes-Benz Trucks introduced the latest versions of its Accelo and Atego light- and medium-duty trucks.

In 2017, Mercedes-Benz Trucks has also celebrated the 20 year anniversary of its heavy-duty Actros truck in the region, a highlight of which was the launch of a 20 Years Actros Edition truck, featuring Mercedes-Benz’s latest safety systems.

Mercedes-Benz also highlighted the ‘Mileage Millionaire’ Actros trucks in the region, led by a truck with a fleet operator in Saudi Arabia that had driven for 2.3 million kilometres.

In May 2017, Daimler Buses concluded a contract for 600 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses with SAPTCO, the transport operator for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The deal represents the largest single order for Citaro city buses in the history of Daimler Buses, and will be delivered from 2018 through its Saudi distributor JIPCO.

Schneider has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Cooperative Education in Stuttgart.

He began his career at Daimler in 1991, took charge of sales and marketing for commercial vehicles with DaimlerChrysler in 2001, became head of sales for Mercedes-Benz Trucks Overseas in 2014, and entered his current role in May 2015.

Doosan Infracore

Gaby Rhayem & Woohyun Kim, MENA Director for Bobcat and Doosan Portable Power & ME Director for Doosan Heavy

Doosan Infracore is the machinery and heavy equipment division of South Korea’s Doosan Group. It established regional operations in Dubai in 2007, and currently maintains two offices: one in the Jebel Ali Free Zone and another in the DMCC free zone, employing a dozen people between them.

In 2015, Doosan concluded the split of its products portfolio into two distinct divisions: Doosan Heavy, and secondly, Bobcat and Doosan Portable Power — reporting to Korea and the US respectively.

In the Middle East region, these units are represented by Woohyun Kim and Gaby Rhayem. Kim arrived in the Middle East to head up Doosan Heavy from Korea, having earlier spent three years assisting integration in the US, following Doosan’s $5bn acquisition of Bobcat in 2008.

Rhayem has been handling Bobcat’s business in the Middle East for the best part of a decade, and joined Doosan following the acquisition. He has since assumed the responsibility for Doosan Portable Power and supports both product groups across the Middle East and North Africa.

In terms of product, in January 2017, Bobcat launched a range of 11 rigid-frame telehandlers for the Middle East and Africa with capacities from 2.6t to 4.1t.

In February 2017, Doosan Portable Power also unveiled LED options for its LSC, LS, L6 and L8 light tower models, making them 50% more fuel efficient, and in May 2017, Bobcat launched the 1.7-tonne E17z mini excavator model with zero tail swing, completing its range of one- to two-tonne compact excavators.

Ford Trucks

Mustafa Sinanoglu, Middle East Countries Manager

Ford Trucks established operations in the Gulf in 2014 with a regional office in Dubai, and three years on from its launch of on-the-ground operations in the Gulf region, Ford Trucks continues to develop its regional service network at an impressive pace.

In the last 18 months alone, it has delivered no less than three dedicated sales and service features in the GCC.

Over the same times period, Ford Trucks has developed the strength of its representation through its dealers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait — completing its sales and aftersales coverage across the Gulf region.

Ford has also delivered facilities in Manama, Bahrain; Muscat, Oman; and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In Saudi Arabia, Ford Trucks has dedicated facilities in Riyadh and has plans to have facilities developed in Dammam and Jeddah by 2019, ahead of its target of achieving 10% market share in the region by 2020.

In terms of product, Ford’s 2017 range is equipped with the manufacturer’s latest Euro III Ecotorq engines, delivering 23% more power and 55% more torque in the construction range thanks to an increase in the engine size from nine to twelve litres, based on the requests of its customers.

The range has new engine brake and retarder options that provide 400kW and 600kW of braking force, respectively, or a combined braking output of 1,000kW.

Another development is Ford’s Hot Climate Package, which underwent two years’ of tests simulating the Middle East’s hot, humid, and dusty operating environment, before 300,000km of road tests were conducted to develop a range of customisable transmissions and cabin modules for both on-road and off-road conditions.

Mustafa Sinanoglu notes: “The Middle East is a priority in our growth plans, and we will continue to expand our sales and service network to cover all the Middle East markets.”

Prior to being named countries manager in February 2014, Sinanoglu was the regional manager based out of Turkey, where he introduced new sales channels for Ford Trucks and played a lead role in appointing the dealer assignments in Middle East.

GENAVCO

Asif Khan, GM for Plant and Equipment

General Navigation and Commerce Company (GENAVCO) is a UAE-based company that distributes a wide varied of construction and industrial product in the emirate, from the Wirtgen Group’s complete vertical of asphalt and road-building equipment to Liebherr wheel loaders, Crown forklifts and Isuzu trucks — as well as BP Lubricants, in a relationship that dates back to 1968.

However, the largest share of GENAVCO’s business comes from its distribution of Wirtgen equipment, which often commands an overwhelming market share in its segments in the country.

In 2015, GENAVCO enjoyed 86% market share in road-paving equipment, and an astonishing 100% market share in road-milling machines, and “not a single unit was sold by the competition”, according to Asif Khan, GM for plant and equipment.

Following the Wirtgen Group’s acquisition of Benninghoven asphalt plant in 2014, GENAVCO has now introduced this product into the UAE market and is optimistic about the growth prospects in that segment as well.

In 2015, GENAVCO became the distributor for Liebherr earthmoving and material handling equipment and doubled the size of its parts storage and workshop facilities, developing the new aftersales hub on a 145,000m2 plot in Al Quoz, Dubai with both greater capacity and more convenient for trucks visiting the facility.In A

pril 2017, GENAVCO also saw success with its Stow Atlas warehouse stacking product, delivering the first semi-automated pallet shuttle racking system in Dubai, UAE in a contract worth $600,000 for Mir Hashem Khoory for a 6,040 pallet space cold storage operation in Ras Al Khor.

In a significant sign of progress for GENAVCO’s representation of Liebherr in the emirate, the distributor also recently signed a significant order for the delivery of various items of Liebherr equipment for a municipal waste management project in the UAE.

The pending order will include a total of three wheel loaders, two materials handlers and one bulldozer.

Genie

Sharbel Kordahi, MD at Terex Middle East 

Terex has been present in the Middle East since 2006, and today is both a leading supplier powered access and aerial work platform products under its Genie brands, and backed up by a network of authorised distributors in 14 countries across the region.

Over the last 12 months, the manufacturer has further expanded received a number of high-profile orders in the region including one by Dubai Parks and Resorts for the delivery of the Middle East’s first three with models such as its Genie Z-60/37DC articulated booms.

One Genie GTH-4018 high-reach, rough-terrain telehandler was even ordered by the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces Engineers, following the recommendation of the unit by Terex’s Omani dealer, Al Fairuz Contracting.

The year has also seen Terex roll out the Genie Xtra Capacity (XC) range, which is expected to prove popular thanks to the consistent demand in the Middle East for high capacity and robust machines.

The XC boom range can perform unrestricted lifts of 300kg, and lift up to 454kg in a restricted zone –which is 32% more capacity than the industry standard.

Sharbel Kordahi, MD for Terex Middle East and leader of a team of nine permanent employees in the region, notes: “Higher lift capacities and environment-friendly machines are gaining popularity, and the models of our Xtra Capacity boom family, all-electric Genie

Z-60/37 DC and hybrid Genie Z-60/37 FE lifts designed to meet these demands.”

The Genie hybrid Z-60/37 FE lifts in turn was named Rental Product of the Year 2017 by the European Rental Association, for successfully combining the benefits of fully fledged 4x4 capabilities with the advantages of lower emissions and quieter operation. 

Kordahi continues: “In addition to being economical to operate, our Z-60/37 DC and hybrid Z-60/37 FE boom lifts are also easier and more economical to service and maintain than typical electric, bi-energy or diesel machines.

“Here again, our focus is on providing solutions that combine productivity with the versatility required to increase rates of utilization to support our rental customers’ business in the long term.”

Looking forward, Terex is strengthening its Genie service network in the UAE, including most recently with the appointment of Al Mahroos Trading as its authorised service provider for Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

Such distributors can offer customers Terex’s Genie Service Solutions planned maintenance packages, which have been shown to lower operating costs, through regular in-service checks, by up to 25% in the case of some Genie customers.

Gorica Industries

Ivan Fornazaric, Founding CEO and Owner

Gorica Industries is a lead-ing trailer manufacturer and body builder in the Gulf that supplies a tipper trailers and semi-trailers, liquid and dry bulk tankers, cement mixer bodies, pressurised vessels and refrigerated semi-trailers for construction, logistics and commercial operations.

Established in the UAE in 1990, the Gorica Group has more than 25 years of experience working across the region and currently employs a workforce of 1,000 people across three factories in the Jebel Ali Industrial Area and two in Dubai Investment City, UAE.

The group’s trading arm, GoTrade, which deals in spare parts and services, and is the UAE distributor for Palfinger Cranes, is also based out of Dubai, with a branch office in Abu Dhabi.

GoTrade is also in the process of finalising its civil works for a 12,200m2 facility in Dubai Investment Park with a spare parts showroom, Palfinger Crane demo room, service and mounting facility equipped with overhead cranes, and a hydraulics facility.

Gorica also has a growing operation in Oman, and over the past 12 months, its Muscat-based sister company has opened up a sales office and spare parts branch in Salalah, to serve its customers in the south of the country.

Gorica is a market leader in tipping semi-trailers, with products from half-round 22m3 units to heavy-duty 45m3 units.

Both its trailers and bodies are built either with mild steel for aggregate application or wear-resistant SSAB steel, which was introduced by Gorica in the MEA region, for heavy-duty rock applications.

Gorica also mounts cement mixer bodies, and fabricates cement bulker semi-trailers and low-bed semi-trailers with capacities of up to 130 tonnes.

 Ivan Fornazaric notes: “Our strategy is straight forward. We are passionate about trailers — which can be seen in the quality of our products — and about providing excellent aftersales support to our customers.”

Fornazaric is the founder, owner and active CEO of the Gorica Group. He has dedicated 40 years of his life to the trailer and commercial body business, and plays an active and crucial role in its day-to-day operation.

Haulotte

Arthur Danelian, Managing Director, Middle East

Haulotte Middle East was first established in 2007 in Dubai Airport Free Zone as the regional office of the Haulotte Group, the French manufacturer and European leader in aerial work platforms and telehandlers, and is marking the 10th anniversary of its operations in the region this year.

Haulotte had been active in the Middle East since the 1990s from its head office in France, but now has both feet firmly set in the region to provide the growing customer base with close sales and aftersales support, including product information, troubleshooting, spare parts and training.

Across the region, Haulotte is supported by a network of distributors that cover all the Middle East from Turkey to Egypt, including the GCC.

Arthur Danelian notes: “The last 12 months have been challenging, with the slowdown in the Saudi market impacting the sales of lifting equipment with the same force as equipment in the construction market.”

However, Haulotte has found and capitalised on several opportunities in countries such as the UAE and Turkey that have helped to maintain and even accelerate its growth.

At the same time, Haulotte announced the upgrade of four existing models and the launch of one new boom within the space of a year. The Optimum 8, Star 6, Star 6P have been revamped to be electrically driven, while the HA26RTJO Pro 26m articulating boom has undergone a complete overhaul. Newly launched is the HT28RTJO Pro, a telescopic boom with a 28m working height.

Haulotte is also introducing OEM safety devices, including its Activ’Shield Bar, which is one of the most efficient secondary guard devices of its kind, and Activ’Screen, an on-board monitor screen and diagnostic system that has proven itself to be a time and cost saver.

Danelian continues: “Our customers’ expectations are at the centre of our processes, and our innovation policy is driven by the commitment to deliver them even more simple, robust and reliable products.”

Danelian has been in the region since establishing the Middle East office in 2007. He has been involved in AWP sales for over 30 years, with a range of brands, and joined what was then Pinguely Haulotte in 2001.

Himoinsa

Keith Webb, General Manager, Middle East

Himoinsa has been established in the Middle East through an office in Dubai since 2004, and over the last 13 years, Himoinsa Middle East has been steadily increasing its sales volume in the GCC region.

Among its recent success stories, Himoinsa was chosen to supply generator sets for a number of major construction projects in the Middle East. These include the supply of several batches of generator sets in 2015 to provide power along several stretches of the Mecca-Medina High-Speed Rail construction project in Saudi Arabia.

In the last year, Himoinsa also supplied five gensets to provide 8.7MVA of stand-by power — with a back-up response time of seven seconds — to guard against any power failures at one mall in the GCC.

Himoinsa also supplied a containerised primary power installation to supply the 5.2MVA of power needed for Imagine, a Guinness World Record setting light and water show in Dubai Festival City.

The company currently counts major companies including FAMCO and Gulf Equipment, as well as rental companies, such as Byrne, among its customers in the Middle East.

Recently, the Himoinsa lighting towers have also been used to light up outdoor events including the Desert Warrior Challenge and the Johnson Arabia Dubai Creek Striders Half Marathon.

Himoinsa’s gensets are designed to cope with the desert climates thanks to tropicalised radiators with double varnish and anti-condensation heaters. The alternator air filters are specially treated to prevent dust from entering and to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

Keith Webb says: “We are prepared to work in the extreme conditions of the Middle East. Apart from the heat, factors such as humidity can cause problems if not given due consideration. Dust is also a factor that can clog filters and accumulate in the mechanisms and affect performance.”

Webb joined Himoinsa in 2012 to help expand the Middle East operations. He spent his early career in oil and gas, including work as the country manager for Egypt for a major oil service company. After that he worked with Aggreko in North and West Africa. He studied engineering at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, UK.

Iveco

Fabio De Serafini, Business Director, Africa & Middle East

Iveco dates its presence in the Middle East back to the establishment of an office in Cairo in 1950 under the Magirus Deutz brand, which later merged with Iveco.

Today Iveco has two offices in the Middle East: one in Cairo and the other in Dubai, where it employs 15 people locally, backed up by an additional five people based out of Iveco’s headquarters in Turin, Italy, to provide sales, marketing, aftersales, spare parts, logistics and finance support to its dealers in  the region.

Iveco has a network of around 30 sales points and 40 service points across the Middle East and Africa region.

In 2016, the Iveco and Astra brands were officially relaunched in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi arm of UAE-based distributor, FAMCO.In the last 24 m

onths, Iveco supplied 207 Iveco Trakkers to Galfar Engineering & Contracting in Oman — distributed through International Equipment & Contracting Company of the Suhail Bahwan Group, in a deal that raised its visibility in Oman — alongside orders for 60 Iveco mixers from Arab Contractors in Egypt and for 69 Astra trucks from Schumblerger in Saudi Arabia.

Iveco is now also marketing its New Daily panel van for light construction and maintenance activities, alongside conventional logistics applications.

Iveco also recently expanded its service network into East Africa, through its partnership in March 2017 with Kenya’s Global Motors Centre. In April 2017, Iveco then announced a further partnership in Egypt with FAMCO’s Egyptian subsidiary, Al-Futtaim Misr.

Fabio De Serafini comments: “We are very pleased to lay the ground for a solid and growing presence with our partners. Thanks to the renewed local presence, our staff’s expertise and our focus on the latest industry trends, I am confident that together we will be able to meet our customers’ needs.”

De Serafini began his career with Iveco in 1997 and in 2007 took on the role of director for sales, planning and operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He entered his current role as the business director for Iveco in Africa and the Middle East in October 2016.

JLG Industries

Ian Hume, Director, Sales Middle East

JLG Industries, is a US manufacturer of largely powered access equipment, focused on its own brand of AWPs and telehandlers and SkyTrak telehandlers, but extending to the Toucan range of mast boom lifts, LiftPod portable lifts, and a growing line of JLG vertical and mobile stock picking lifts for material handling and low level applications.

JLG’s Middle East operation is based out of from the Jebel Ali Industrial Area in Dubai, UAE, where the company currently employing 10 people. JLG has been indirectly active in the region for 40 years.

JLG offers electric-powered and engine-powered aerial work platforms designed with lift heights ranging from two metres to 58m, which is the 1850SJ, the world’s tallest self-propelled aerial work platform.

In the Middle East, the ratio of product over 18m compared to a similar developed market is high, due to the prevalence of applications in construction and oil and gas, so JLG is seeing success mostly with its Ultra Booms, including the 1250, 1350 and 1850.

JLG also expects to see a high level of success with the 1500AJ, the world’s tallest articulating boom lift to date, with a working height of 48m. The machine has a working envelope of more than 74,000m3 of reachable space, or 60% more than the closest articulated boom competition.

The Ultra Booms are also four-wheel drive, and the 1500AJ has 40% gradeability and continuous 360° turntable rotation. JLG’s Quick Stick feature meanwhile enables its lifts to move from the ground to maximum platform height in just 115 seconds, and return to the ground just as quick.

Ian Hume notes: “Our core focus in the region is giving the best customer experience through the quality of our equipment and our aftersales support. We will continue to strive to set the benchmark in the equipment industry.”

In 2017, JLG was nominated for the ‘Contribution to Working Safe at Height’ award during the IPAF Summit for its introduction of SkyGuard as standard on all of its boom lifts.

Prior to joining JLG, Hume worked with Climax Portable Machine Tools in the MEA region and spent seven years working for the Manlift Group.

LiuGong Dressta Machinery

Tolga Ural, Regional Sales Manager

Guangxi LiuGong Machinery is based in the region through LiuGong Machinery Middle East, located in the Jebel Ali Industrial Area in Dubai, UAE. This office is one of 10 regional hubs for Liugong and holds responsibility for supporting its dealers and customers across the Middle East and North Africa.

LiuGong Machinery Middle East also represents the Dressta brand of bulldozers, which is now known as Liugong Dressta Machinery, after the acquisition of the Stalowa Wola, Poland-based Polish manufacturer in 2012 by Guangxi Liugong.

LiuGong’s 2,500m2 regional facility also has a parts depots for both Liugong and Dressta product, and provides sales, service and technical support for both brands.

Since its acquisition, Dressta has been steadily building its product offering while growing its worldwide presence in part thanks to the global network and reach of its new parent company.

For example, Haffar Machine has been successfully acting as Liugong’s Iranian dealer, selling and supporting its products for many years, and establishing a strong customer base in the country.
Three years ago, Liugong Dressta was able to launch its product in Iran in collaboration with Haffar, and Dressta has now developed a presence in the quarry and mining sector, and is starting in the roads and highway sector.

Liugong Dressta is now also in the process of developing our new range of crawler dozers in Poland which will be relevant to Africa and the Middle East, which are among the most important markets for Dressta globally, accounting for approximately one-third of the company’s revenue globally.

Though known for its crawler dozers, Liugong Dressta Machinery currently has four product lines under the Dressta brand: crawler dozers, pipe layers, wheel loaders and conveyor belt shifters.

LiuGong Dressta is led in the region by Tolga Ural, who currently serves as regional sales manager for Africa and Middle East. Ural joined Dressta with 10 years’ experience in the equipment industry, including a prior role with CNH Industrial in Africa and the Middle East.

MAN Truck & Bus

Franz Von Redwitz, Managing Director, Middle East

MAN Truck & Bus Middle East has been the regional representative of MAN Truck & Bus, which is headquartered in Munich, Germany, since 2006.

MAN Truck & Bus Middle East is active in the region through an extensive network of private capital dealers and importers across 14 countries from the Levant and Gulf regions through to Pakistan.

As of this year, MAN Truck & Bus Middle East is based in a newly built regional headquarters in the Jebel Ali Free Zone Dubai, UAE that has been established as part of MAN’s ongoing investment into its service infrastructure for the Middle East sales region.

The newly built facility brings together MAN’s sales and training teams with its used commercial vehicles operation, MAN TopUsed, in one location for the first time.

Franz von Redwitz notes: “MAN Truck & Bus is focused on the Middle East market and direct investment in facilities demonstrates our long-term commitment and expansion across the region.

“The new location in Jebel Ali brings the entire operation together, and means all of our teams are now closely linked in one place.”

Soft launched in April, the JAFZA facility is fully owned by MAN, in contrast to some of its previous operations, and includes a purpose-built training facility to improve the provision of training to MAN’s partners and customers.

In the Middle East, MAN is working to promote its ProfiDrive training courses, which focus on improving profitability by improving driver behaviour, and in turn, road safety and fuel efficiency.

The commercial vehicles and bus maker is also working to make a name for itself as a road safety campaigner in the region.

MAN Truck & Bus hosted a road safety event with Abu Dhabi Police and Road Safety UAE in November 2016, and is now looking to build upon that momentum through a series of further events planned in Dubai in the latter half of 2017.

With a further eye to both safety and efficiency, MAN has extended its genuine parts warranty to two years, and is looking to further drive uptake in the Middle East though its MAN Ecoline range of parts.

Manitowoc

David Semple, Senior VP, Mobile Cranes — Middle East 

Individual Manitowoc crane brands have been present in the region since as far back as the 1960s through a broad distributor network.

In 2007, Manitowoc took the step of incorporating a fully-owned subsidiary in Dubai to support its business operations.

Staffed by approximately 35 employees, Manitowoc Crane Group ME is registered in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, and is equipped with offices, a training centre, warehouse, workshop, and outdoor yard — all within an 11,000m2 plot. The main purpose of this facility is to support the Manitowoc distribution network in the Middle East.

Manitowoc underwent significant changes in 2016 with the separation of the company’s legacy “Foodservice” business segment into an independent company. The resulting $1.6bn US-listed company is now solely focused on cranes and owns some of the best-known brands in the industry, such as Manitowoc, Potain and Grove.

Manitowoc’s capabilities in the Middle East have also grown in the last year, with the company’s offering to the region expanding to include a new range of five-axle cranes, alongside better-trained technicians and more readily available spare parts from improved facilities.

David Semple notes: “The crane industry in the Middle East faced challenges in 2016, with lower demand for construction or maintenance projects due to lower oil revenues. With oil prices now stabilising, crane owners and operators have adjusted to the ‘new normal’, and Manitowoc is seeing an uptick in demand throughout the region.”

In one notable order, Egypt’s Orascom Construction, expanded its Manitowoc fleet with the order of 24 new Grove rough-terrain cranes in 2016. The cranes in this order included ten RT650E models, six RT765E-2 models, six RT890E models and two RT9130E-2 models. The majority of the new machines were sent to work at power plants and oil refineries.

Semple graduated from business school in Bordeaux, France, and also has an MBA from Aston University, UK. He joined Potain in 1998, and following Manitowoc’s acquisition of Potain and Grove, was closely involved in the development of Manitowoc’s Dubai office.

Manlift

David King, Managing Director

The Manlift Group is a Dubai-headquartered organisation specialised in the rental and sale of powered access equipment. Established in 2006, Manlift has steadily grown into a market leader operating five depots across the Middle East and Asia, and representing brands including JLG, Genie and Teupen.Manl

ift commands a fleet of more than 2,200 certified aerial work platforms ranging from self-propelled boom lifts with working heights up to 58m and battery and bi-energy powered access platforms, to spiders and low level access platforms.

The scope of Manlift’s product offerings extends to applications in the construction, facilities management, logistics, oil and gas, public transport, and events sectors.

Another division within the Manlift Group is Manlift Power, which provides temporary power tailored, synchronised power generation solutions up to 50MW, through a fleet of 300 Cummins and Perkins diesel generators ranging from 50KVA - 1250KVA.

All of Manlift’s operations across the Gulf are supported by its teams of skilled technicians that are on call to provide 24/7 service support to ensure the highest uptime and reliability of its solutions.

Manlift also launched a new website in May 2017 that has a new look and improved user friendliness, further contributing towards Manlift’s vision of delivering the best customer experience.

In an additional measure to improve the quality and efficiency of its operation, Manlift has also introduced a lean management programme based on Kaizen principles that it has dubbed the ‘Manlift Way’ that will be rolled out across all of its country level operations by the end of 2017.

David King, MD for the Middle East & Asia, explains: “As part of this Manlift Way, we constantly monitor and improve key performance indicators across in order to continuously improve the quality of service we deliver to the customer.”

Manlift is also leading the implementation of GPS-based track and trace systems in the region, in conjunction with RFID systems, to prevent unauthorised access to its rental machines.

MB Crusher

Najmeddine Sahraoui, Deputy GM, Middle East and Africa

MB Crusher has been a leader in the fields of crushing, demolition and recycling for over 15 years, since it first designed, produced and sold the world’s first jaw bucket crusher. Founded and headquartered in Italy, MB maintains a global presence through seven international subsidiaries and logistic centres across the different continents, as well as an extensive network of authorised dealers and service and support providers throughout the world.

The company’s core business remains the crusher bucket with which it has revolutionised the material segregation market, and the product is now available in all sizes and for equipment ranging from large machines like excavators and backhoe loaders to compact skid loaders.

MB also offers a range screening buckets, sorting grapples, drum cutters and accessories such as the iron separator, the dust suppression kit and quick couplings.

Another fact of MB Crusher’s operations that has been instrumental to its product appeal is meticulous attention to detail. To ensure quality is maintained, MB handles all phases of its production process in-house, from the research and development to the supply chain and manufacturing.

MB’s products are also all 100% Italian made and certificated according to SSAB’s ‘Hardox in my body’ initiative for the application of its wear-resistant steel.

Najmeddine Sahraoui has been deputy general manager for MB Crusher in the Middle East and Africa since 2014. He notes: “Crushing has become a key aspect of mining operations and the need to make the most of all available material has prompted astute operators to use also the waste material which once was simply piled up in the quarry.”

“The Middle East market is very dynamic and reactive. There are many big and important projects where our machines are involved and are making the difference in terms of saving money and time.

“Our customer profile is always evolving and the industries that we serve is continuously expanding. For this reason we’re sure that the future will be always hold more applications for MB products.”

NFT Specialized in tower cranes

Nabil al Zahlawi, Managing Partner & CEO

With over 35 years of experience in the market, NFT has come a long way since its establishment in the 1980s, when it set out as the first supplier of tower cranes in the GCC region, and today, it is Potain’s number one dealer in the world.

Based in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, NFT has set up bases all over the Middle East, as well as partners in the UK and Belgium. To date, it has supplied tower cranes to 32 countries and is able to export its cranes anywhere in the world. With 12 depots and three main yards within the GCC, NFT can meet demand anywhere, anytime.

NFT has been independently ranked as the number one tower crane supplier and rental operator worldwide — in terms of its overall tonnage lifting capacity of its fleet of Potain cranes — for three consecutive years running.

What sets NFT apart from the rest is its stock of remarkable 1,500 new and used tower cranes, more than 300 hoists, and its full stock of quality spare parts. With this substantial stock, NFT can supply all types of projects, with crane models ranging from the small self-erecting cranes to the enormous MD 3200, with a lifting capacity of 80 tonnes. As for hoists, NFT currently operates the world’s fastest PEGA hoist, with a hoist speed of 120m/min at a 3.2 tonne lifting capacity.

NFT recently invested in a vast 300,000m2 new storage yard and workshop facility in Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi that replaces the company’s two existing UAE yards in Al Mafraq and Sweihan, and is now home to its fleet of 1,800 cranes and hoists, as well as 35,000 spare parts.

Nabil Al Zahlawi is the man behind the vision. He founded the company back in the late eighties and his mission, in his own words, is working to “make NFT a leader both locally and internationally through the products we represent, the services we offer, and by putting our client’s needs at the forefront of our business”.

Recent NFT projects in the GCC include: the Royal Atlantis Palm Jumeirah and Expo 2020 sites in Dubai, UAE; the Riyadh Metro project in Saudi Arabia; Kuwait’s airport expansion; Bahrain’s King Faisal Corniche project; and the Omantel head-quarters in Muscat, Oman.

Raimondi Cranes

Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, Group CEO, KBW Investments

Raimondi Cranes is a 150-year-old Italian tower crane company that was established in Legnano, Milan in 1863. The business produces 13 different models of hammerhead and flat-top cranes, and is currently in the process of adding to its popular luffing crane range, alongside a range of self-erecting cranes.

In January 2014, the company was acquired by Dubai-based investment group KBW Investments, and since then a significant amount of capital has been invested into its research and development segment, enabling the company to focus on the engineering and design of a next generation of heavy lifting solutions.

Raimondi has also benefited from being part of KBW through the latter’s reach in the Middle East, as well as a result of the investment group’s cross-pollination directive, which has seen the company’s products placed on sister-company jobsites wherever possible. Most recently, Klampfer Middle East erected a 44m-tall Raimondi MRT152 flat-top crane in Sharjah, UAE, on a large-scale hospitality jobsite.

In the wider Middle East region, Raimondi cranes has seen nine of its cranes erected on one jobsite in Algeria, and as many as 36 Raimondi cranes erected at a single time on the site of a campus project in Ankara, Turkey.

In the coming year, Raimondi anticipates the launch of several new cranes that are currently in the beta stage of development — to expand its ranges of both luffing and tower cranes in certain specific markets, following a careful analysis of the purchasing histories and stated needs of its clients.

Ahmed Alkhoshaibi is the group CEO of KBW Investments. Based in Dubai, UAE, the group has been operational since 2013 under the chairmanship of HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal.

Prior to the formation of KBW Investments, Alkhoshaibi was a serial entrepreneur, and founded businesses, and subsequently managed and orchestrated profitable exits in a number of sectors. Alongside this practical leadership and executive experience, he holds a degree in business finance and an executive MBA.

Renault Trucks

Gregoire Blaise, President, Greater Middle East

Building on a history of manufacturing in France that dates back to 1894, Renault Trucks was officially founded in 1978 through the merger of Saviem, a Renault Group subsidiary, and Berliet, a Lyon-based truck and bus manufacturer.

Renault Trucks has had a presence with its commercial vehicles in the Middle East for over 40 years and maintains a direct presence in 13 countries in the region, as well as more than 149 locations across the Middle East and Africa. Globally, Renault Trucks is present in more than 100 countries with 1,600 sales and service points.

In its most recent product development for the region, Renault Trucks launched the K Xtrem truck, the latest addition to its C and K ranges, in May in an event in Marrakech, Morocco. The K Xtrem has a reinforced chassis, a reinforced Optidriver Xtrem semi-automatic gearbox, and capacities from 29 tonnes to 32.7 tonnes.

The heavy-duty vehicle has been designed to take on the Middle East’s toughest environments, and features cast-iron engine flywheel housing, C-shaped member reinforcement and optional 24” wheels.

The launch follows the introduction of Renault Trucks’ latest C and K ranges in the region in 2016. Both these ranges are successors to the Kerax, a vehicle first launched in 1997 and long popular in tough off-road applications.

Gregoire Blaise notes: “When developing the C and K ranges, we deployed significant resources to ensure these vehicles deliver maximum reliability and robustness. Each range underwent rigorous quality trials, and were exhaustively field tested under actual operating conditions. The K Xtrem version takes this one step further by offering our customers the most robust chassis in the market, specifically designed to meet extreme conditions such as those in the Middle East market.”

Blaise began his career with Renault Trucks in 1999 based in Lyon, France. In 2003, he moved to Beijing, China to assist with commercial vehicle sales. Blaise returned France in 2006, before becoming the China-based GM for Sunwin Bus, a SAIC and Volvo joint venture, in 2014, and taking up his current role, with responsibility for 21 markets in the Middle East, in 2016.

SSAB

Ozgur Yalcin, Area Sales Manager

SSAB is a Scandinavian steel company based in Stockholm, Sweden, where its roots date back to 1872. Today, it has the capacity to produce 8.8 million tonnes of steel across production facilities in Sweden, Finland and USA.

The presence of SSAB in Middle East goes back to the early 2000s, and in 2008, the business established an office in Sharjah, UAE, to deliver closer and quicker support to its clients. The UAE team currently numbers eight people.

In the Middle East, SSAB enjoys the mostly success with its branded wear-resistant steel Hardox — which increases the life span of heavy wear parts, like the buckets used in earthmoving or the hammers used in mining and crushing, and allows transport operators to increase their payloads by reducing the weight of the tippers and trailers.

The other main product that the UAE office finds itself dealing in is Strenx, a high strength structural steel also used to reduce the weight of machine and equipment bodies.

In the last 12 months, SSAB has also been working on a number of initiatives specifically focused on the regional market in the last year. One programme, ‘Hardox In My Body’, has seen SSAB reach out to the various trailer and truck body builders in the region, and notably Gorica and Bion.

These customers were invited to join the Hardox In My Body brand programme to enhance their engagement with SSAB through joint marketing and technical support, including assistance with the design of their product and manufacturing processes.

From a product perspective, SSAB has launched the Hardox 500 Tuf, which combines the best properties from Hardox 450 and Hardox 500, and the result is a wear plate that has no real competition on the market.

Ozgur Yalcin gained early experience with a company that provides heat insulation for industrial furnaces and Toyota Tsusho, before joining SSAB in 2007 and establishing the firm’s turnplate division in Turkey.

In 2010 he set up the sales office of Finnish steel maker Rautaruuki Oy in Turkey, where he served as the company’s country manager, before returning to SSAB in September 2014 to lead the company’s activities in the Middle East.

Terex Cranes

Joerg Mueller, senior manager for international sales at Terex Cranes

While the past year has been tough for the crane business in the region, Terex has seen a strong recovery of sales during the first half on 2017, led in January by the delivery of an order of 31 Terex cranes to Kuwait-based Integrated Logistics Company.

The order included including a Demag CC3800-1 crawler crane, 20 Terex AC 100/4L all-terrain cranes and 10 Terex Explorer 5600 all-terrain cranes, with the largest machine – the 650-tonne CC3800-1 lattice boom crawler crane – representing the first of its kind in the region.

This purchase of AC100/4L and Explorer 5600 all-terrain cranes has been followed by a slew of orders for Terex’s relaunched five-axle Demag all-terrain crane range, as well as plans for a range of three-axle all-terrain cranes, which consists of five models with lifting capacities of 130, 160, 220 and 250 tonnes.

Joerg Mueller, senior manager for international sales at Terex Cranes, notes: “We relaunched the Demag brand at Bauma, and I think people are still relating to this.

“The five-axle family makes a lot of sense for rental companies, particularly as you can interchange certain components – for example, the second hoist is interchangeable within the five-axle family – so from 130 tonnes to 250 tonnes.”

Mueller leads the Terex Cranes sales and service teams for the Gulf from Dubai, where a total of six people are based, while a satellite office and team of four caters directly to the Saudi market.

Terex enjoyed large back to back order from March through to June, two in Bahrain and two in Kuwait, led by an order for 15 units of Demag AC 130-5 cranes by Sarens Nass, the Bahrain-based joint venture of the Belgium-based Sarens. 

This order in Q1 was followed by an April order by Kuwait’s Integrated Logistics Company for 12 Demag cranes, including two AC 130-5s, four AC 160-5s and six of the new six-axle AC 300-6 cranes.

In May, Modern Mechanical, Electrical and Transporting then placed a mixed order for two four-axle Demag AC 100-4Ls, a five-axle Demag AC 160-5 and AC 220-5, and an advance order for a three-axle AC 60-3 model. The lifting contractor also ordered a two-axle Terex AC 40/2L rough-terrain crane.

The spate of orders was concluded in June by Kuwait’s Jassim Transport & Stevedoring Co., or JTC, which placed an order for four four-axle Demag AC 100-4L units and one six-axle Demag AC 250-6 crane.

Terex Cranes has also introduced a two-year warranty as standard for all of its Demag mobile cranes products – doubling the length of the warranty compared to the previous agreement.

The comprehensive warranty covers all crane components – from engine and outriggers to cab and controls – from any and all defects in workmanship for 24 months.

UD Trucks

Mourad Hedna, President, Middle East, North/East Africa

UD Trucks oversees its Middle East, North and East Africa markets through a regional headquarters in Dubai, UAE, where it maintains a parts distribution centre, with more than 60,000 part numbers, a competence development centre and its representative offices.

This representation is in turn backed up by a strong regional network of importers and service facilities.

In the last 12 months, UD Trucks has launched two new truck ranges in the Middle East. The first was the heavy-duty Quester, which was introduced into the region in July 2016. 

The Quester has a gross vehicle weight of 34 tonnes, and focuses on fuel economy, payload, robustness, ease of maintenance and extended uptime.

In May 2017, UD Trucks then launched the Croner, a medium-duty truck platform, over a two-day event in Dubai, UAE.

The Croner comes in three gross vehicle weight models from 10.4t to 18t: the MKE, LKE and PKE; with a range of wheelbase variants from 3,450mm up to as much 6,500mm, for a total range of up to 21 different configurations for suiting the demands across a range of industries.

Named after the mythological Greek god of time, Cronos, the motto for the Croner is to ‘make every moment count’, which underlines the manufacturer’s emphasis on the truck’s reliability, versatility and ultimate capacity to deliver high productivity and uptime.

Mourad Hedna explains: “UD Trucks understands that more time spent on the road and less time in the workshop drives success for our customers’ businesses. It is our aim for Croner to make every moment count, through maximising productivity and minimising downtime on every run our customers make.”

Hedna joined Renault Trucks in 1996 as an engine research and development engineer before being appointed an engineering manager for the Volvo Trucks Group in 2000. He proceeded to roles as a global commodity manager, purchasing director and VP for the powertrain business strategy, before being appointed UD Trucks president for the region in November 2016.

Volvo Construction Equipment

Jonas Gardetun, Vice President, Middle East and Africa

Volvo Construction Equipment (CE) is a global leader in construction equipment that employs 14,500 people in its factories, offices and support services across more than 150 countries worldwide.

From Q3 2017, the business will be based in Volvo Group’s home city of Gothenburg, Sweden, where it will be moving to from its current location in Brussels, Belgium. Many of its largest manufacturing and research sites have always remained in the country, at locations such as Eskilstuna.

In the Middle East, Volvo CE has a parts distribution centre in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai, UAE, that has greatly shortened lead times for parts for its partners and customers in the region.

Volvo CE has 15 independent dealers in the Middle East, and this network has strengthened significantly over the last decade through both the appointment of new dealers and the expansion of existing dealers’ geographical coverage and capabilities.

One example is the UAE-based FAMCO, which in Saudi Arabia is investing in facilities in Madinah, Jizan and Abha, as well as a pre-delivery inspection centre in Damman, in addition to its four existing facilities in Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh and Damman.

Volvo CE is also confident in the strength of Middle Eastern markets in the long-term and has doubled the number of staff in its regional office in Dubai to support its dealers and customers more quickly and efficiently.

Jonas Gardetun notes: “Over the past year, many Middle Eastern economies, particularly in the Gulf area, have been severely hit by low oil prices. With liquidity an issue, many infrastructure projects have been put on hold, which has affected deliveries negatively.

“Therefore, driving efficiency has been a major focus for Volvo CE. And despite the difficult business climate, we have increased our market share, particularly in the general purpose equipment segment.”

Gardetun joined Volvo CE straight out of college, and has held a range of positions, but almost all of them focused on export to the Middle East and Africa. He was appointed to his current role, overseeing 70 countries, in September 2015.

Volvo Trucks

Giovanni Bruno, Vice President, Middle East

Volvo Trucks is the second-largest heavy-duty truck brand in the world, and as a part of the Volvo Group, focuses on three core values: quality, safety, and environmental care.

The company’s strategy revolves around ensuring the satisfaction and productivity of its customers through a range of medium to heavy duty trucks, as well as financing solutions.

Volvo’s truck and aftermarket products are in turn supported by over 2,300 dealerships and workshops globally.

Volvo Trucks established a presence in the Middle East in 2006 and today has 15 private importers and 40 workshops in the region, distributing products assembled in 16 countries across the globe.

The Volvo Group Middle East facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone covers encompasses a regional parts distribution centre, regional competence development centre, and regional head offices for both Volvo Trucks and Volvo Buses. These office in turn supports the sales, marketing, and aftersales operations of the manufacturer’s dealer network within the GCC and other Middle East countries.

Since 2006, Volvo Trucks has developed its dealer network significantly in different parts of the Middle East, and the regional team has grown to more than 70 employees.

As part of its company promise to develop and deliver innovative transport solutions for the trucking industry, Volvo Trucks continues to introduce vehicles that reduce the cost of fleet ownership by lowering fuel consumption and truck downtime and improving measures to keep truck drivers safe.

Giovanni Bruno first joined the Volvo Group in April 2000, working with Renault Trucks in Italy as its network and commercial manager. In 2011, he took up the position of vice president for Volvo Trucks in Argentina. In 2015, he moved to Morocco as vice president of Volvo Trucks NW Africa.

Following the departure of Lars-Erik Forsbergh to Singapore in 2016, Bruno has headed up the Middle East, East and NW Africa division for Volvo Trucks International. This area encompasses 57 countries, focused on Morocco, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman. Bruno is currently based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Zahid Group

Nasser Bayram, Group President, Transport

The Jeddah-based Zahid Group Holding was established in the mid-70s by the Zahid family, whose commercial roots date back over a century, to consolidate a broad spectrum of whole and partial investments, including the flagship Zahid Tractor & Heavy Equipment.

Zahid Tractor & Heavy Equipment was established following a chance encounter between Caterpillar and in 1950 that led to the Zahid family to begin distributing the brand within the Kingdom. This partnership eventually led to the formation of the company in 1967 by Sheikh Yousuf Zahid.

Since then, Zahid Tractor has added international brands such as Challenger agricultural tractors, JLG material handling equipment, Rammer industrial hammers, Renault trucks, Svetruck lifts, Terex cranes and Volvo trucks and buses. With over 40 branches Kingdom-wide, Zahid Tractor maintains close proximity to customers, no matter their location.

In 1982, Zahid Tractor also established a rental division, and after years of continued growth and an expanding product line, the decision was eventually made to spin off this business as an independent entity, Ejar, to focus solely on the rental industry.

Machinery Rental Alternatives, or Ejar, was formed from Zahid Tractor in 2015 to provide customers with short and medium term rental solutions with a fleet of air compressors, generator sets, trucks, lift trucks, access platforms, piling rigs, cranes and welding machines.

Today it has 300 employees and several strategically located branches across the Kingdom.

In 2015, Zahid Group also established Arabian Vehicles & Trucks Industry in a joint venture with the Volvo Truck, and in June 2015 celebrated the production of the first Volvo trucks made on Saudi Arabian soil at its assembly facility in the Industrial Valley of King Abdullah Economic City.

The collected vehicle and equipment arms of the Zahid Group are headed up by Nasser Bayram, who was formerly the managing director for commercial vehicles at Zahid Tractor.

On June 2017, Volvo Trucks president Claes Nilsson, presented Bayram with an award recognising his for 37 years of partnership with the brand.