JEDDAH: Gunnar Thoresen, managing director of Jotun Saudia Co. Ltd, has emphasized his company's strategic plan to expand on environment-friendly products. "We have taken a lot of initiatives in this area. Several international authorities have certified many of our products as environment friendly. They include our top brands Fenomastic and Jotashield," he said.
Speaking to Arab News on the occasion of Jotun Saudia's 25th anniversary, he described Jotun as one of the world's fast growing paint companies with a global turnover exceeding $2 billion. Jotun has two paint factories and a powder coating plant in the Kingdom and its paint factories have a total capacity of 110 million liters. Jotun Paints' Saudi partners are Marie Bin Mahfouz and Ahmed Al-Amoudi.
Thoresen said Jotun Paints is a member of the United States Green Building Council and a founding member of the Emirates Green Building Council that looks after the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program in the region. "We have a plan to substitute harmful products and have already stopped selling products containing coal tar," he said.
Jotun wants to take the lead in supplying green products. "Our new plant in Yanbu is purely for water-based and environment-friendly products. This fully-automated factory is also employee-friendly as it avoids manual handling of chemicals," he explained.
He estimated Jotun Saudia's total investment in the Kingdom at SR500 million. He disclosed the company's plan to launch two new products in the first half of this year to strengthen its position in the interior decoration segment. "At our regional centers we have experts on color and new trends. They follow fashions around the world and in various regions. Every year we advise clients about new fashions and trends in order to help them select the latest. We also advise them how to combine various colors to get the best effect," he said. Jotun Paints introduced a concept called Color Trends for 2010, which is available at its Multicolor Centers.
The managing director said his company was moving fast in the protective coatings segment. He expected greater demand for fire protection products in the coming years as authorities would ask builders to use such secure products in new projects. "Protection of concrete structures is very important, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia. We have developed a number of products for this purpose," he said. Jotun supplies anti-corrosion products for the protection of oil and gas pipelines and steel structures of Saudi Aramco and SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.).
Thoresen stressed his company's readiness to meet increasing demand in the Kingdom as a result of population growth and construction of mega economic cities. "The main objective of setting up the Yanbu plant was to meet the increasing demand for high-quality paints and coatings," he said, adding that Jotun has pioneered a number of trends in the market such as introducing concepts like computerized tinting and special effect paints.
He highlighted Jotun's distribution network that ensures adequate supply all over Saudi Arabia. "Today we have more than 250 Multicolor Centers across the Kingdom. We are aggressively expanding the distribution network making use of new concepts like inspiration centers. We have more than 20 inspiration centers in all major Saudi cities. It will rapidly increase in the next two years," he said.
Jotun has 250 chemists in the research and development division. "They are based in regional laboratories where we are developing products suitable for various geographical areas and climates," he added. Jotun is the only paint company that has a strong presence in all Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. As such Jotun has a competitive advantage in dealing with international companies involved in major development projects. Its single source solution concept has proven to be a big success throughout the region.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2010
