Issue 9
Global Process Systems
A Culture of Accountability Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Josh Hyland With the start of the 2015 bringing yet another bout of challenges for those operating in the oil & gas industry, Global Process Systems (GPS) has been adjusting its business model; making fundamental changes to its executive management team including the appointment of new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Thomas C Bower. “Since being appointed as CEO of Global Process Systems by the wider Al Jaber Group in January, we have made it our primary objective to understand the challenges facing the GPS business in the current market environment, in order to position GPS for the future upturn,” Bower explains. GPS has spent the past 11 months modifying the way the business is organised and operated, gaining full support from its parent Company, Al Jaber, resulting in a reconsolidated financial position and the continued provision of an integrated package of services engineered towards a traditional ‘lump-sum’ engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract offering. “We have made substantial improvements to our business management systems and processes in order to effect the changes in the business required to become ‘one GPS’, with a culture of accountability to deliver,” he adds. New management By restructuring its business, GPS has been able to bolster its reputation as a reliable supplier of oil & gas equipment, with complete turnkey capabilities in all areas of process equipment and plant supply, from integrated design, through to engineering, fabrication, commissioning and testing; preparing itself for the inevitable upturn in oil prices in the future.…
RiksTV
Championing the Role of Local TV AggregatorWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Jake MegearyDistinguishing itself from the growing presence of local and international entrants in the pay-TV entertainment market, RiksTV has expanded its distribution and content reach in the Norwegian pay-TV market by creating a unique platform that blends high quality content from national and international content owners on traditional linear (DTT) and on-demand (OTT) distribution platforms, where ease of use, accessibility and freedom of choice rests at the centre of its value proposition.Founded in 2005, with its first set of channels launched in 2007, RiksTV began operating in the midst of the digital revolution, embracing the latest broadcast technology trends to distribute linear TV content to the Norwegian market.“When we first entered the market in 2007, we were a ‘traditional’ linear TV distributor, while today, we are using all the experience gained to combine the best of new technologies together to create an all-inclusive service offering that provides seamless experience and access to both linear and on-demand content to our customers,” explains Christopher Knudsen, Director of Technology at RiksTV.As digitisation of TV distribution and entrants of international media companies accelerated in the local market, so has the level of innovation in the television market; with the rapid growth of streaming services, wider range of international and niche channels and ubiquitous access to content on any device.Today, RiksTV has more than 500,000 customers and a wide range of TV packages to suit all demographics, an on-demand service and the RiksTV app for tablet and mobile devices. There are now more…
Almaco Group
Innovative Modular LivingWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Ben Weaver ALMACO Group has leveraged its position as one of the leading accommodation and food handling solutions specialists not owned by a shipyard, to take its unique and versatile modular accommodation concept and apply the idea in likeminded industries including marine, offshore and construction.Founded in 1998 in Turku, Finland, the Group initially utilised its modular concept to deliver large turnkey outfitting projects for cruise ship interiors travelling around the world; taking its first big order in the same year with the refurbishment of M/S Europa, a vessel made by Singapore-based Company, Star Cruises.“Right from the word-go, we were operating on a global scale and quickly became known to the industry. In the subsequent year, we marked our expansion into the US with an office in Florida, continuing to grow our operations and key vendor partnerships into France, Italy, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asian territories,” recalls Sebastian Lagerlof, President of the Construction Division at ALMACO Group.Acquiring the catering technology business from MacGregor Group in 2005 is among the many significant milestones achieved by ALMACO over the past 16 years, enabling the Company to provide a total solution spanning design and construction of both the accommodation and catering aspects of a cruise ship.“We utilised modular solutions to be able to fast-track construction projects, driving efficiencies and improving completion times for some of the biggest liners in the world. It quickly became apparent that our solution could be applied to the offshore industry and could also create a very unique offering…
Delta Food Industries FZC : UAE’s Cream of the Crop
Delta Food Industries is capitalising on a strong first four years of operations inside Sharjah Airport Free Zone, UAE with its latest capital investment which will see enhancements across capacities, range and efficiencies as the Company enters the next stage of its international development.
Nijhuis Industries
Solid Solutions in a Fluid WorldWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: James Mitchell Headquartered in the Netherlands, Nijhuis Industries is a multinational Company with a concerted focus on providing reliable, high quality sustainable water use and resource-efficient solutions that are built to last, in a world where sustainability regulations are constantly changing. With a turnkey performance-based service offering divided across four subsidiaries - Nijhuis Water Technology, Nijhuis Ozone Solutions, Nijhuis H2OK, Nijhuis Sales & Service Centres - Nijhuis Industries is a true solution provider with a global portfolio designed to reduce the total cost of ownership for customers.“We look at how customers could reduce capex and opex spending by improving sustainability practices through the use of our competitive wastewater treatment and water management solutions to boost their business,” notes Menno M. Holterman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO).Driven by the Company slogan – solid solutions in a fluid world – Nijhuis monitors industry and regulatory developments to create the best and most innovative solution to help customers meet the increasingly demanding sustainability and productivity requirements, lower their environmental footprint, and combine productivity and energy efficiency to ensure minimum lifecycle cost.As water scarcity is playing an increasing role in influencing measures to reduce water consumption, Nijhuis is successfully expanding into new countries, serving most continents around the world to help more customers develop a greener, more sustainable business using innovative industrial concepts.Target customersOver the past 10 years, there has been increasing pressure for industry to seek new methodologies to become more sustainable; in-part due to the growth of the population, increase of drought in…
ESWET
Turning Waste into OpportunityWriter: Matthew StaffProject Manager: James MitchellEurope & Middle East Outlook (EME): Could you firstly introduce me to The European Suppliers of Waste to Energy Technology (ESWET); a brief history of the Association and how it has evolved over the years?Diana Baganz (DB): ESWET has been active since 2004 on the European scene and has stepped-up its presence from 2008 onwards, when the vote on the EU’s Waste Framework Directive - defining the role of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) within the Waste Hierarchy - took place. It has since followed many policy topics discussed at EU level, mainly on energy, climate and air quality, along with promoting Waste-to-Energy as the solution for unrecyclable waste. We are not a large association, but we do catch the eye of high profile officials in Brussels!EME: What are the core activities and goals of the Association, and how have these developed over the years?DB: Even if everyone generates it, waste is not a very attractive topic. But it is a hot one! ESWET has been active on the Brussels scene to bring better understanding of the facts of Waste-to-Energy technology, as decision-making should be done only based on facts.Waste-to-Energy is indispensable for sustainable waste management in the perspective of a circular economy. As the voice of the European technology suppliers, the interest is to develop Waste-to-Energy beyond the countries where it has already been successfully implemented and where landfilling has been minimised.Many countries in Europe are still barely recycling anything and landfilling all the rest, which must change if the EU is…
Emirates SembCorp Water & Power Company
Meeting Rising Demands with Rising Capacities Writer: Matthew Staff Project Manager: Josh Hyland Emirates Sembcorp Water & Power Company (ESC) has taken on the responsibility of meeting water and power demands in the Abu Dhabi Emirate for the best part of 10 years through a series of expansions and innovations, to ultimately create one of the world’s largest operating hybrid desalination plants. Taking ownership of the Fujairah Independent Water & Power Plant in 2006, ESC inherited not only one of the most pivotal projects in the region’s utilities and energy domain, but it took on a project that had already been in the development stage for five years previously; making the initial smoothness of the transition all the more important. “In 2001, the Fujairah Water & Power Plant was established to meet the rising demand for water in the Abu Dhabi Emirate and the growing power needs of the Northern Emirates,” recalls ESC’s Commercial and Technical Director, Abdelhadi Alhammadi. “The Plant was originally owned by Union Water and Electricity Company (UWEC) and was successfully commissioned in June, 2004. “In 2006, as a result of privatisation organised by Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA), the plant was acquired by ESC, a joint venture between ADWEA and Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp). The plant was the sixth power and water project in the UAE to be privatised by ADWEA and was then renamed Fujairah 1 Independent Water & Power Plant (F1 IWPP).” The subsequent nine years have seen not just a continuation of the initial work being carried out under…
Danfoss HPP
Revolutionising Sustainable Water Usage With the UN predicting a 55 percent increase in water demand by 2050, Danfoss HPP seeks to increase the reach of its high pressure water pump range to realise its potential solution Writer: Emily Jarvis | Project Manager: Josh Hyland After decades of research and development, Danfoss HPP (High Pressure Pumps) seeks to revolutionise sustainable water usage for a variety of applications through its high pressure pump systems that present one of the most cost-effective and reliable solutions available today for desalination, humidification, adiabatic cooling, cleaning and applications in the oil & gas industry. In just 10 years, around half of the global population is expected to live in water-stressed areas, with fresh water scarcity threatening health and prosperity in many parts of the world, and the UN predicting an increase in demand on this precious resource of 55 percent by 2050. This increasing pressure on traditional water management systems is driving many companies and individuals to find a sustainable solution to the problem. Moreover, water shortage is fast becoming critical to local farming and food production that also needs to be addressed in reaction to climate change. “What started as a Danfoss Group project exploring opportunities to replace oil with water in hydraulic machinery quickly grew wings and transformed into something entirely different. We began researching applications which require the pumping of high pressure water; identifying reverse osmosis, ultra pure water and tap water as the three key areas that we could create meaningful products for,” explains Tommy Hansen, Vice President…
Nijhuis Industries to Introduce a Record Number of Innovative Products at Aquatech 2015
From 3-6 November, 2015, the global water industry is to once again meet in Amsterdam for the Amsterdam International Water Week and Aquatech Show; one of the world’s largest and most important tradeshows for the water and wastewater industry. During this year’s Aquatech, Nijhuis Industries will introduce a large number of exciting and innovative solutions for sustainable water use, resource recovery, i-SERVICES, and their rapidly expanding rental fleet.Founded in 1904, Nijhuis has honed its flexibility and customer-oriented approach over the past century, demonstrating its ability to adapt to the latest industry trends. This has always been at the centre of the Company’s core values and ethos for continued development.“By reducing the amount of water in use, by reusing treated effluent or process water, and by recovering valuable resources from waste and wastewater, industrial and municipal customers can move their waste and (waste)water from a cost centre into a profit centre,” says the Company. During Aquatech 2015 Nijhuis will proudly introduce the following innovations for sustainable water use:· Intelligent Containerised Flocculation-Flotation (ICFF): A revolutionary next generation Intelligent Containerised system, setting a new standard in modularised and containerised design. Nowhere in the world has such an effective and proven solution for pre-treatment been constructed into a standard 20” or 40” container· i-DOSE: Intelligent dosing system to minimise wastewater chemical consumption costs based on the actual pollution load of the incoming effluent· Intelligent High Rate Flotation (IHRF): A smart new pre-treatment solution in concrete that guarantees maximum and efficient solids removal. This is a compact, robust, stable and modular…
KONE Emerges a Leader in Climate Change Reporting
KONE has been recognised as a world leader for corporate action on climate change, and has been awarded a position on the Climate Performance A List by CDP, the international not-for-profit organisation that drives sustainable economies. KONE also received the best possible climate disclosure score of 100 in the CDP Nordic report 2015. There were only two Nordic companies out of 205 that reached the 100A score.A high score is indicative of excellent data management, transparent communication and a deep understanding of climate change related issues affecting the Company - from solutions to the Company's own operations and across the entire supply chain.CDP evaluates companies on their performance in mitigating climate change on a scale of A to E. 113 leading companies appear on the global A list, which has been produced at the request of 822 investors who represent more than a third of the world's invested capital. For the first time ever, KONE reached the A performance score this year. In 2014 and 2013, KONE achieved the A- score, which is also considered high performance.KONE's result in the CDP reporting has improved steadily for six consecutive years. In addition, CDP included the Company in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) for the fifth year running. CDLI highlights those companies providing transparency in their disclosure of climate-related information, and lists the top 10 percent of the companies included in the CDP Nordic report."We are extremely proud to have received such an admirable score, and honoured to have made it to the A list in CDP…
Lidl Named World’s Simplest Global Brand in UK Survey
Global brand strategy, design, and experience consultancy Siegel+Gale has announced the findings of the sixth annual Global Brand Simplicity Index™. Leading discount supermarket chain ALDI topped the list as the world’s simplest brand for the third year running, while Lidl dominated the UK rankings. The study, based on an online survey of more than 12,000 respondents across eight countries, ranks 585 brands based on their perceived simplicity.“The Global Brand Simplicity Index has shown year after year that the benefits of simplicity remain constant,” commented Howard Belk, Co-CEO and Chief Creative Officer, at Siegel+Gale. “Brands that offer simpler customer experiences are rewarded with passionate customer loyalty, more innovative employees and greater revenue. In short, embracing simplicity improves the bottom line for brands and organisations.”ALDI, Google, and Lidl stay securely in the top three spots this year, demonstrating a stalwart commitment to keeping things simple for customers.As part of this year’s study, Siegel+Gale interviewed marketing leaders and founders of brands that have consistently performed well in the index, to understand why and how they provide simpler experiences, for both employees and customers. One such interview was with Georgina O'Donnell, Lidl UK Head of Communications.Q: How do you try to make your brand simple? Is it something you really work on, or is it just a by-product of what your company already does?GO (Georgina O’Donnell): Simplicity is part of Lidl's DNA. It's ingrained in our core business model and dictates every decision we make as a company. It's why we are able to keep prices low whilst maintaining the…
Nokia Appoints New Head of Middle East and Africa
As part of the planned merger of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, subject to the successful closing of the public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities announced on April 15, 2015, Nokia has announced the appointment of Amr Karim El-Leithy as the Head of its Middle East and Africa operations.In his new post, El-Leithy is to oversee the combined Company's customer operations across Middle East and Africa, driving the execution of strategy and ensuring superior customer service, underpinned by a strong focus on innovation and quality.Amr Karim El-Leithy is currently President for Middle East, Turkey and Africa for Alcatel-Lucent. Before joining the Company in 2009, he served as Regional General Manager for North & West Africa at IBM.Ashish Chowdhary, Chief Customer Operations Officer, commented on his new appointment: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Amr Karim El-Leithy as designated Head of Middle East and Africa. He brings valuable regional experience and expertise, and will be a great asset to the management team.“I look forward to working with him as we continue to innovate on behalf of our customers, delivering leading products and services and positioning Nokia as the foundation of seamless connectivity for people and things, wherever they are.”The proposed appointment will only come into effect after the successful closing of the public exchange offer and is subject to the completion of the relevant works council consultation procedures.
Islamic Finance Takes Flight
Dr. Sayd Farook, CEO, & Blake Goud, Research Director, Middle East Global AdvisorsThe oil price volatility since the middle of 2014 has created turbulence in the airplane financing market in the Middle East. In February, 2015, Reuters carried a story about how Gulf banks were helping to ‘underwrite’ the regional airplane boom but by October, a Gulf News article carried an article about a ‘cautious outlook’ in the same sector. As a result of the bumpy ride in sentiment recently, there is an increased need for airlines to diversify their airplane funding needs beyond regional banks who provided about two-thirds of the funding.The primary reason for the 180 u-turn in bank appetite for airline finance is that the oil price is no longer being seen as a temporary phenomenon but is becoming more entrenched. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia released in October, 2014 was premised on oil prices of $102 an oil barrel (/bbl) for 2014 and $99/bbl for 2015. During October, Brent crude traded at $85/bbl and fell to $45/bbl by February. By contrast, the IMF’s most recent outlook presumes $51/bbl in 2015 and $50/bbl in 2016. During the window that opened up for airline deals before oil prices fell, several significant Islamic financing transactions opened up avenues for diversification of funding sources. A few of these transactions are particularly notable as indication of how Islamic capital markets and non-bank sources of Shariah compliant capital could grow; especially if bank sources dry up or become less favoured by regional banks.Notable transactionsThe…
Happy Birthday eBay!
Online marketplaces have grown to new heights in the past decade, with one the first websites in the history of online auctions, eBay leading the way since 1995.Celebrating its 20th anniversary in September this year, eBay now has more than 25 million sellers and 157 million buyers, making it one of the biggest ecommerce companies in the world. Hundreds of thousands of these individuals are business owners who have utilised the platform as a marketplace for their goods. Moreover, according to a Company spokesperson, there are more than 2,000 millionaire sellers on the platform in the UK alone.“Over the past 20 years, eBay has developed a completely unique website; an entirely different retail platform that has revolutionised the industry. It led the way forward for both online shopping and selling by showing how easy it could be,” said Robert Mead, Marketing Manager at Parcel2Go.com, a Company that specialises in helping eBay sellers to source cheaper alternatives for parcel delivery.AuctionWebeBay started its life as an auction site created by computer programmer, Pierre Omidyar who launched AuctionWeb on Labour Weekend in 1995 as a site “dedicated to bringing together buyers and sellers in an honest and open marketplace”. Created as a platform to sell a broken laser pointer – which was subsequently bought by an individual who collected such items – the site offered users a new shopping paradigm that resembled a live auction experience and revolutionised the market, allowing ordinary people to buy and sell items at a discount.After changing its name to eBay in 1997 -…
Dubai’s New Financial Outlook in the Build up to Expo 2020
In the run-up to Expo 2020, the Emirate of Dubai published a new public-private partnerships law in September 2015, designed to allow it to tap private sector funding and expertise to implement infrastructure projects in the Emirate. The PPP Law will come into force on 19 November 2015 and is a welcome development – while PPP structures have previously been used successfully in the UAE in projects such as Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, and extensively in the power and water sectors in IPPs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, market participants expect the PPP Law to generate significant project activity and to attract substantial interest from foreign investors.Which projects does the new Law apply to? The PPP Law is of deliberately broad application, stating that it will apply to PPP projects, “regardless of their type, form or nature of activity”, originated by Dubai government agencies subject to the general budget of the government. It may also apply to off-budget bodies with the approval of the Supreme Fiscal Committee. Power and water projects are, however, excluded from the scope of the PPP Law and will remain governed by existing legislation.The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) was at the forefront of the PPP Law. The RTA’s Union Oasis Project, a five towers project above Union Square Metro Station, will be one of the first projects to use the new Law, with a tender deadline of April 2016 announced. The Law may also be used for the expansion of the Al Maktoum International Airport, which with a $32 billion development…