The plant will have a capacity of manufacturing up to 160,000 tonnes of copper rod a year, making use of the state of the art CONTIROD technology and equipment.

February 11, 2006

Ducab, the leading manufacturer of high quality power cables in the Middle East, has made a capital investment of AED 125 million to set up a copper rod casting plant in its Abu Dhabi factory premises. The move is part of Ducab's strategy for backward integration of processes, mainly to cater for its raw material requirements needed for the manufacture of high quality power cables.

The new plant will have a capacity of manufacturing up to 160,000 tons of 8 millimeter (mm) copper rod a year, produced at the highest levels of international standards. The plant will be equipped with the most advanced technology and equipment, with a high degree of automation to ensure superior quality and high yield. The CONTIROD technology at the new plant is developed by the world-renowned German manufacturer, SMS Meer.  CONTIROD is a registered trademark of Cumerio S.A., Belgium.

Colin Paskins, Managing Director, Ducab, said, "Our decision to invest in this copper rod casting plant will help us in achieving greater economies of scale and improve our competitiveness. A better control on raw materials will facilitate Ducab to have better command over the entire value chain."

"Although the copper rod manufactured by this plant will mainly be used to meet our own requirements, there will also be an opportunity for us to sell off any excess capacity," added Paskins.

Ducab's copper rod casting plant will be situated in the company's production facility at Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi plant is Ducab's biggest investment since its inception and was built as part of Ducab's corporate strategy of increasing its business to AED 2 billion by 2010.

-Ends-

Editor's Note:
Established in 1979, Dubai Cable Company (Private) Ltd. (Ducab) is the first purpose-built cable manufacturing company in the UAE and is equally owned by the Government of Dubai and Government of Abu Dhabi. Its product range covers low voltage power cables, control and auxiliary cables, wiring and lead-sheathed cables, Ducab Powerplus medium voltage cables (up to 33 kV) and Ducab Smokemaster, low smoke and fume zero halogen cables. Ducab is also well known as the supplier of Ducab Connect cable accessories. Ducab has always placed emphasized on quality in its organisation and is certified to ISO 9001: 2000 quality management systems and ISO 14001 environment protection systems. A three-time winner of the Dubai Quality Award  (2004 & 1998 (Gold) & 1994). It has implemented manufacturing and business excellence programs involving Six Sigma, Kaizen and benchmarking with the world's best practices. 

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© Press Release 2006