UAE firm sets up plant to produce aluminium composite panels

Interplast/Cosmoplast, the UAE-based industrial group specialised in the manufacture of building products, has set up a fully automated plant for aluminum composite panels with an annual capacity of 1 million square metres.

To be marketed under the brand name Alupex, the company estimates an annual sales of Dh100 million.

"We have combined our technical expertise in the plastic and metal converting industries, to introduce high quality aluminum composite panels to the growing regional market," said Bedros Bambokian, general manager, Group Harwal.

"Our goal is to use our knowledge of the needs of the area to supply this product throughout the Middle East."

The Alupex range will include standard and customised fireproof aluminum composite panels available in a variety of sizes, thickness and finishes.

The project follows the opening of the Coflexlite Pipe Factory in Abu Dhabi for transportation of oil and gas, a joint venture with Technip France.

The group, part of Harwal companies, has been manufacturing products in Sharjah for over two decades.

With a workforce of over 2,000 employees, its products are sold in over 60 countries worldwide.

The group, with an annualised turnover of Dh800 million in 2004, is in the process of establishing three new manufacturing plants in Dubai and two more in Abu Dhabi for coil coating, modular homes, pre-insulated pipes for district cooling, irrigation pipeline systems, insulation panels for buildings and A/C ducting, geomembranes, geotextiles, polyethylene and PVC lining, garage doors and related accessories.

The group's electrical products, under the brand names of Edison and Decoduct, are market leaders in the region.