HP
to establish PC assembly plant in Saudi Arabia
Posted: 22 June 2003
Riyadh-based facility to produce up to 80,000 PCs per year
HP announced it has signed an agreement with SNAS Trading &
Contracting Co, a well-established Saudi Arabian company, to build
and manage a plant for the assembly of PCs in the Kingdom.
Construction of the plant, which will be based in Riyadh, will
begin in July 2003 and the first PCs from the facility should begin
appearing in the local market in the Fall.
Two existing HP partners — Nahil Distribution and Jeraisy
Computer Communications Services (JCCS) — have initially been
identified to distribute PCs from the plant within the Kingdom,
while Aptec will distribute around the Middle East.
HP plans to consider engaging with more partners depending on the
scope of individual projects and opportunities developing in the
Middle East.
“Since our announcement six months ago that HP intended to
set up this facility in the Kingdom, we have been busy finalising
all of the details relating to this highly significant venture in
the Middle East,” said Christoph Schell, general manager,
HP Personal Systems Group in the Middle East.
“Our announcement today means that we are well positioned
to move forward quickly in establishing the plant, and growing the
PC market in the Kingdom. SNAS has an excellent track record working
with international companies in the Kingdom. We believe that this
experience, together with their excellent logistics facilities and
their financial strength, makes them an ideal fit for HP on this
particular venture.”
The plant is expected to produce around 80,000 PCs per annum which
will be sold in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the Middle
East region. HP believes that the new plant, in addition to supporting
the local Saudi economy, will result in product coming to market
more quickly — turnaround time is expected to be halved from
its existing time of 30 days from order to delivery down to 15 days.
The plant also is also expected to provide improved response on
support and offer customers a wide portfolio of HP products.
“Since the majority of the employees within the plant will
be Saudi nationals, we see this as a significant move by both HP
and SNAS in driving Saudisation,” said Mr Bassam Mahmoud Jabr,
general manager of SNAS.
“We are looking to put in place a strong core team at the
plant whose skills we will develop together with HP on an ongoing
basis. Given the enormous opportunities that we believe are available
throughout the region for this plant, we will seek to grow this
team significantly.”
HP will be responsible for providing components, system integration
and knowledge transfer as well as all arrangements surrounding HP
branding. SNAS will be responsible for the manufacturing process,
for quality certification and for the establishment and maintenance
of the legal entity under Saudi regulations.
“We see the establishment of this plant as crucial in helping
us to address the particular needs of small to medium businesses
in the Kingdom and around the region,” said Schell. “The
new facility is designed to complement our existing, extensive portfolio
of products and to help us grow the PC market in the region.”
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
Information supplied by companies
or PR agencies who are responsible for content. Send press releases
to info@pipelinedubai.com |
