QUESTION 1
What makes El Sewedy unique to the cable & wire industry?
El Sewedy Cables is one of the most successful industrial and trading business groups in Africa and the Middle East in many majors; wires and cables, metals and plastics, electrical products, contracting and turn key projects.
El Sewedy Cables was selected as the number one exporter in Egypt in 2005. This success has been achieved through our strong geographical presence in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Ghana, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Zambia with Twelve operational factories. Six other factories are currently under construction. Moreover, our manpower of approximately 5000 employees and strong financial position enabled us to be positioned amongst the top cable manufacturers in the world.
El Sewedy Cables offers a wide range of products, with its backbone composed of all kind of overhead conductors, cables (power, OPGW, winding wire, instrumentation, control, flame retardant and fire resistant, telephone, LAN, co-axial, audio, profibus, automotive wires, etc), fiberglass poles, transformers (dry type and power), joints and terminations, etc. We also produce most of our main raw materials, such as Copper rods, Steel galvanized wires and PVC. In fact, El Sewedy Cables for sectors as diverse as the automotive, railways, buildings, telecommunication and energy networks, oil and gas, etc.
From an industrial standpoint, transfer of the latest and most advanced technology has enabled a significant improvement in performance while also making it possible to increase the group’s profile throughout the worldwide cable market. Our state of the art cable manufacturing factories are created by the fusion of technologies from worldwide sources, such as Furukawa Electric, Draka Comteq, Leoni and Southwire. The group has also obtained quality certificates from the most reputable laboratories; such as: ISO 9001-2000, ISO 14001, ISO/TS16949, BASEC, KEMA, etc.
Apart from the advantages of partnering with the leaders in Industry, we have a major advantage logistically. Being based in Egypt awards us the benefits of utilizing both very low energy costs and cheaper labour rate.
El Sewedy Cables are very unique to the industry and is a company to be taken serious by all of our competitors. Our mission is to become the world’s prime expert in the cables industry with a strong financial foundation and a broad product portfolio, making us an attractive partner for all our stakeholders, shareholders, customers, suppliers and employees
http://www.elsewedycables.com/
QUESTION 2
Do you see El Sewedy market base expanding into new markets in the future? i.e. opening production plants in areas such as China, West Africa, and Asia?
El Sewedy began as a trading company in Egypt 70 years ago, and since then has become a very powerful group. We are the sole leader in the cable market in Egypt with a very strong position, financially and technically. In the industrial sector, we currently supply approximately 50% of Egypt’s global market share of power cables.
Moreover, during the past years, El Sewedy has been very much focused in the export sector as part of our world wide marketing plan. “El Sewedy Cables” was created and aimed at penetrating new markets through comprehensive marketing strategies and establishing branches throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
We understand that entering new markets is not an easy task. Our Marketing and Business development departments are always identifying different ways to tackle new markets, whether it is by building new factories, joint ventures or agencies. We believe that local help from those new markets is necessary, creating strong relationships with our partners and allowing them to succeed with us.
The launch of new cable products has now to be considered as a benchmark for most of our competitors in the field of cables in the region. In 2005, export sales were 54% of our total sales, reaching 60% in 2006 and expecting get to 70% in 2007. The group is concentrating on making additional investments to target the market segments and countries throughout the world with strong growth potential. Europe is an immediate objective, mainly due to the advantages offered: a) close proximity between countries, b) Free custom duties according to Euro 1 certification.
http://www.elsewedycables.com/
QUESTION 3
The OGP and energy sector is a major contributor in El Sewedy’s success. Do you plan to accommodate other energy sources such as nuclear energy and renewable energy including wind farms?
The energy sector can be considered as the core aspect of the El Sewedy Cables business. However, we cannot forget that other products such as special cables and accessories are enabling us to provide a complete portfolio of solutions.
El Sewedy Cables acquired the latest and most advanced technology to cover the energy sector. This can be confirmed by means of technical agreements with Furukawa Electric Japan for the production of extra high voltage cables. In contrast our long reference list built for turn key projects include partners, ABB, Alcatel, Alstom, Bechtel, Schneider, Siemens, Technip and Westinghouse. El Sewedy Electric Contracting & Engineering Co., are specialised in the supply, installation and commissioning of electrical equipment on a turn key bases and services to utilities and industries.
Actually, we are also providing solutions for other energy sectors different from dealing with transmission & distribution companies; amongst them is the petroleum industry. Underground and telecom cables, control and instrumentation cables, LAN cables, flame retardant and fire resistant cables are examples of solutions for this specific sector.
El Sewedy cables has also started to meet the demand for renewable energy, since many power providers are turning to wind power or solar energy. Larger turbines on land and offshore require secure distribution links, remote management capability, and the stabilisation of a variable energy source. Overhead transmission lines, underground cables, control cables, or winding wires are just an example of products provided.
http://www.elsewedycables.com/
QUESTION 4
What Environmental policies does El Sewedy currently have?
In El Sewedy Cables, we have what we call “Company Comprehensive policy” which constitutes our Quality, Environmental and Occupational health & safety policies.
We have laid down all necessary precautions to help reduce work-environment pollution such as, noise, gas emissions and liquid pollutants that may be a result from our production processes. Furthermore, one of our strategic objectives is the Continuous Improvement in environmental performance, and health and safety requirements. This improvement saves our manpower at all different levels, and helps reduce the risk of injuries and occupational diseases. El Sewedy Cables considers that conforming to legal regulation and legislations create a clean and pollution free working environment. El Sewedy Cables, therefore, is absolutely committed to the requirements of:
1- Quality Management System ISO 9001-2000
2- Environmental Management System ISO 14001-2004
3- Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series OHSAS 18001-1999
http://www.elsewedycables.com/
QUESTION 5
How far do you think IT and B2B has integrated into the core business process for El Sewedy?
Running a business today is harder than ever before because of the speed and complexity of change in the New Economy. The key to thriving in a competitive marketplace is staying ahead of the competition. Making sound business decisions based on accurate and current information takes more than intuition. Hence, transforming El Sewedy cables into an adaptive organisation with the inbuilt ability to constantly renew itself and respond intelligently to an ever-changing environment – has become one of my top priorities.
IT and E-Business are playing an important role in this transformation. My strategic objective of becoming an E-Business enabled organisation has been followed by considerable investment in; the revitalisation and scalability of our ICT infrastructure, linking our geographically dispersed factories and offices; and in the implementation of fully integrated information systems aimed at realising the overall objectives and growth strategies of El Sewedy Cables.
Currently, automation of core business processes has penetrated most of our factories operations and supporting administrative functions. The implementation of multi-module ERP application software, in some plants, helped the different departments of the organisation share data & knowledge, reduce costs & lead times and improve management of operational processes. Complete ERP implementations and integration between factories and the head office will commence within two years. Our in-house built organisation-wide Intranet system has helped augment the organisation’s efficiency, productivity and interdepartmental communications. Other systems are now in place to radically streamline the cable design and customer quotation processes, and capture all communications with our customers. Our website will soon include E-Business functionality where customers, distributors, suppliers and all business parties can interact in a virtual marketplace.
Our objective is the complete supervision and tracking of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer, then wholesaler to retailer and finally onto consumer. Thus, giving our customers what they want, when they want it, at the right price and with the expected quality.
Question 6
El Sewedy is one of the Middle East’s leading groups in the field of Cables, Plastics, Lighting and Construction. What other Industrial Areas is El Sewedy planning to expand into?
As I have mentioned before, El Sewedy Cables strives to provide a complete portfolio of solutions. With this regard, and as part our strategy to expand our electrical products segment, El Sewedy Cables is establishing a state of the art facility in Egypt for the production of Power and Distribution Dry Type Transformers. The plant will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa. The transformers will be produced under license from TBEA, the leading manufacturer of transformers in China, and one of the most recognized names for the production of transformers world-wide. We perceive this move to fit perfectly in our profile and helps complete our vision of providing full vertical integrated solutions.
Moreover, El Sewedy Cables is on the process of establishing Red Sea Copper, a free zone company, for the development of copper smelter/refinery to be located at Ain Sokhna, in Egypt. The shareholding of the new project is expected to be El Sewedy Cables 74% and Glencore International AG 26%. The investment cost for the project is expected to be in the region of US$ 850 million. El Sewedy Cables has acquired a 1.7 million square meter plot of land close to the Sokhna port, designated for the project. The output of the project is expected to be 300,000 tons of copper cathodes to be sold through long-term off-take agreements between Red Sea Copper and El Sewedy Cables and Glencore International AG.
Question 7
Are there any other recent developments by El Sewedy that our readers should be interested in?
- El Sewedy Cables Company (SAE) executed a private placement of its shares amounting to LE 1.29 Bn on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange.• The Offering was priced at LE 43 per share
• The total number of shares offered was 30,000,000 representing 25% of the share
Capital of El Sewedy Cables
• The total proceeds of the Offering were LE 1.29 Bn - El Sewedy Cables has recently acquired 100% of the shares of Al Wataniya, which enjoys a ten year tax exemption for the production of power cables. The acquisition includes a plot of land amounting to 47,000 square meters, a steel structure and an administration building adjacent to Egytech Cables, which currently is the largest producer of power cables in terms of tonnage for the Group. The new acquisition will be managed by the existing senior management of Egytech Cables and will be considered for practical purposes an extension to Egytech’s existing facilities.
I believe that is an excellent opportunity for El Sewedy Cables to be able to expand our production facilities of power cables in Egypt, which in our opinion enjoys one of the lowest costs of production worldwide, whilst benefiting from the 10 year tax exemption.”
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