Work on a Dh175 million state-of-the-art plant and headquarters for Emirates Glass LLC (EGL) has begun at the Dubai Investments Park, the company announced yesterday.
EGL, set up in 1998, is a leading processor of architectural flat glass in the Middle East and a subsidiary of Glass LLC, wholly owned by Dubai Investments (DI).
The new facility will also house Lumiglass Industries – a sister concern.
Ziad Yazbeck, general manager of EGL and Lumiglass, said: "Emirates Glass and Lumiglass are experiencing unprecedented growth and the expansion project is part of empowering and enabling the firm to meet the burgeoning demand in the regional and global markets.
"Our expansions in the past few years and EGL's acquisition of a new coating plant have necessitated an upgrade of our facilities and this explains our decision to shift from our present location in Al Quoz."
EGL is now nursing global ambitions, and eyeing a bigger pie of the international market for architectural glass business, the company said.
In 2007, the company's net profits went up by 106 per cent compared to the previous year and overall productivity went up by 30 per cent.
EGL also increased its coating capacity to 3.7 million square metres of flat glass products per annum by investing Dh100 million in the installation of a new glass coating line in 2007.
Yazbeck said: "EGL is now poised to maximise returns for its investors and repay their trust and confidence. In the past few years, we dedicated ourselves to upgrading and expanding our product lines. Our rigorous approach to maintain high levels of quality has captured the imagination of designers and architects and has won us many major contracts."
He said the logistics of the new move will be undertaken in a phased manner. "We have to ensure that our production and supply chains are not disrupted since the list of those who depend on our services spreads over continents. We have decided that the operations of both Emirates Glass and Lumiglass Industries will be shifted in a phased manner into Dubai Investments Park so as to ensure a streamlined service and continuity of supply during the migration."
During the first phase of the expansion project, the coating plant will move to the Dubai Investments Park.
The initial phase of the project began in the first week of June and is expected to be completed by March, 2009. In the second phase, EGL and Lumiglass will relocate to the Dubai Investments Park.