SETTING INDUSTRY STANDARDS
The Riyadh Metro has had a transformative effect on many Saudi manufacturing companies, and for Al Ashoury Industry, which fabricates steel products used on lines 1, 2 and 3 being managed by the ANM and BACS consortia, the project has proved a growth catalyst on many levels.
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The company’s state-of-the-art complex in Riyadh’s Second Industrial City offers a vivid demonstration of the sheer impact the world-scale Metro project has had on the business. Amid the whirr of activity from the fabrication yards below, Dr Nabil Al Ashoury, who as chairman has masterminded the company’s evolution from humble trader to leading fabricator of steel structures, cable management systems and telecoms towers in Saudi Arabia and beyond, starts by explaining what the project means to his city and the Kingdom.
“It reflects how civilised we are as a country,” he says. “It will connect people. It is amazing to think that six lines are being built in one go. And because of its scale, all of us have learned a lot along the way.”
It is hard to imagine that the Al Ashoury Industry complex, one of the largest, most advanced, integrated steel manufacturing clusters of its type today in Saudi Arabia (and with a client and project portfolio to match) was 30 years ago a small steel workshop. What had been a steady growth trajectory over the first two decades supporting national and regional development projects became a steep learning curve almost overnight with the onset of the Metro.
“This is by far the largest project we have ever taken on,” says Dr Al Ashoury, a visionary industrialist who, with his son Ashraf, is navigating the company through these exciting times.
“We had to expand our total production capacity four-fold to 1,200 tonnes per month to cater to the sudden surge in demand from the Metro for the steel supports, side rails, fixtures, noise barriers and cable tray systems which are being installed on the three lines,” says Dr Al Ashoury. “For line 3 alone (being managed by ANM), we are supplying and erecting all handrails, guardrails, walkways and cable trays for 26km of viaduct on each side of the track,” he adds.
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