United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has been recognised by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) with an award for its commitment to innovation within the organisation.

The company was presented with the ‘2018 ASQ MEA Innovation Award for the Government Sector’ during ASQ’s 4th Regional Quality Conference, held in Dubai. ASQ noted the company leadership’s clear commitment to and strategy for innovation, its efficient implementation of a robust Innovation Management System, and the strong partnerships it has developed to help maintain this commitment.

ASQ is a global community of quality professionals, with nearly 80,000 members dedicated to promoting and advancing quality tools, principles, and practices in their workplaces and communities.

Salman Abdulla, Executive Vice President HSSEQ at EGA, said: “Innovation and continuous improvement have been foundations of EGA’s success, both locally and globally, for decades. This award highlights not only the spirit of innovation within our organisation, but it is also testament to our strong support for initiatives that increase innovativeness across the UAE. We thank ASQ for the honour.”

EGA’s research and technology development focuses on enhancing the core aluminium smelting process. Today, EGA’s home-grown technology is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry.

EGA has also run an employee suggestion scheme since 1981 to encourage everyone in the organisation to find ways to improve the company’s operations. Last year EGA employees submitted a record 34,419 ideas, leading to savings of AED 36 million.

EGA also works closely with universities in the UAE and internationally to explore ways to increase operational efficiency. EGA’s current academic collaborations in the UAE include Masdar Institute, the American University of Sharjah, and Higher Colleges of Technology whilst international collaborations include the University of Auckland, the University of New South Wales, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

EGA has used its own technology, developed in the UAE, in every expansion since the 1990s. EGA’s latest technology, DX+ Ultra has more than double the productivity of the company’s original D18 technology developed in 1990. Energy consumed during the smelting process is amongst the lowest in the global industry.

In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

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Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae  
056 3111 536

Fatima Al Mutawa
falmutawa@ega.ae 
050 327 7545

Khadija Al Marzooqi
kalmarzooqi@ega.ae  
050 8777 850

Sahar Farhat
sfarhat@ega.ae  
050 1213 420

Ameera Almarzooqi
amarzooqi@ega.ae 
050 9579 572

About EGA

Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.
It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.
EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2017, EGA produced 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.
EGA has more than 350 customers in over 60 countries. About 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.
EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.
Over 10 per cent of EGA’s production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE already employs around 30,000 people, making it the largest employer amongst the UAE’s energy intensive industries.
EGA itself employs around 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.
EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.
As a corporate citizen of the UAE, Emirates Global Aluminium aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities.
In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry.
EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.
DUBAL’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, EGA’s Jebel Ali site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.
EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.
EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 5,450 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority.
EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants. In addition to meeting its own water requirements, EGA supplies 1.5 per cent of the water needs of Dubai as well as commercial water customers and bottlers.
Today EGA is expanding upstream and internationally to secure the natural resources the UAE’s aluminium industry needs and create new revenue streams.
EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation is building a bauxite mine and associated export infrastructure in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, in one of the largest greenfield investments in that country in over 40 years.
In the UAE, EGA is building the country’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah. The project will reduce the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supply 75 per cent of the Al Taweelah smelter’s needs.
For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae. 

© Press Release 2018

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