{"id":14722,"date":"2025-03-22T01:27:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T01:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/?post_type=portfolio&p=14722"},"modified":"2025-03-22T01:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T01:30:32","slug":"faisal-al-khaldi","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/portfolio\/faisal-al-khaldi\/","title":{"rendered":"Faisal Al Khaldi<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Faisal Al Khaldi is the Deputy CEO and board member of Kuwait Steel. He is a business administration graduate and started his career at Kuwait Steel 15 years ago, rising through the ranks before being appointed to his current position. He is considered a stalwart in the GCC steel fraternity.\nFaisal Al Khaldi talks about expanding market share, new technologies, and goals for 2025.\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kuwait Steel has been focused on expanding its local market share. How would you assess the progress of this strategy and the overall evolution over the past year?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Despite challenging market conditions, we have successfully grown our market share. A new local rebar producer has entered the market, helping reduce Kuwait\u2019s reliance on international suppliers. With the existing GCC trade laws and agreements, anti-dumping duties cannot be applied to these imports, compelling us to adjust our pricing strategies to remain competitive, often at the expense of profit margins. Despite these circumstances, we remain committed to supporting the national workforce, achieving a 17% Kuwaitization rate. Our focus is on striking a balance between supporting government initiatives and advocating for policies that safeguard local industries, ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What are some challenges facing the sector?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The various challenges facing the industry include Kuwait\u2019s regional geolocation, increases in supply chain costs, insurance, lead time, and inventory carrying costs. The Ministry\u2019s decision in previous years to relax the 20% preferential pricing for local mill-origin rebars has increased the influx of low-cost imports from neighboring GCC countries, driven by regional surpluses. This has made Kuwait one of the most competitively priced rebar markets globally. Additionally, the delay in executing projects in Kuwait has affected our operations, and with restrictions on the export of rebars, we couldn\u2019t penetrate alternate markets. Resolving this imbalance is critical to safeguarding the sustainability and competitiveness of Kuwait\u2019s steel industry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Do you have any ESG initiatives?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Environmental sustainability is integral to our operations. We recycle water, ensure zero harmful emissions, and repurpose byproducts for other industries. Our chimneys are linked to real-time monitoring systems with the EPA and the Ministry of Environment, ensuring transparency and compliance. Kuwait\u2019s environmental policies are progressing and are very close to matching the regional leaders. We strive to set an example by demonstrating that sustainable practices can coexist with industrial success.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Are you incorporating new technologies like AI, robotics, and machine learning?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe are committed to digital transformation. Our vision is to implement Industry 4.0 by integrating digital technologies intelligently into manufacturing processes. For example, we are using the AMIGE-SMART Furnace in our steel melting facility for electrical and chemical modeling, and we are in the process of implementing the continuous billet welding process, which will increase the productivity of our rolling mills. Robotics is being used across production facilities to handle heat-sensitive tasks. AI models are used for analyzing and controlling input materials to achieve consistent quality of the finished products according to international standards. We are using SAP, the best ERP available today, to handle our processes across the business. By using state-of-the-art technologies, we were able to enable our team to work remotely and become almost paperless during COVID-19. We are also using AI and ML tools to monitor our network 24\/7 against cyber threats. Further, we are planning to maximize the use of cloud technologies for faster adoption of innovations.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kuwait Steel has the largest market share in Kuwait. Are you targeting any other markets?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe are fully geared to increase our market share with a competitive pricing strategy, penetration into all segments of consumption, engaging consultants, and offering enhanced services. While export restrictions have limited our international expansion, we are fully prepared to enter global markets once regulations allow. We faced many operational difficulties during the pandemic. However, during this challenging time, we maintained continuity in our operations, worked on enhancing our technological excellence, and supported our workforce, reflecting our unwavering commitment to the nation in both good and challenging times.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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What are your main goals and objectives for 2025?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur priorities include supporting Kuwait Vision 2035 and solidifying our role as a strategic partner in Kuwait\u2019s development. We aim to play a key role in Kuwait\u2019s development by contributing to significant infrastructure initiatives. Key initiatives include integrating systems vertically across organizational functions to serve our existing operations. We are also committed to nurturing local talent to drive future growth. Through these initiatives, we hope to support Kuwait\u2019s economic growth and ensure both the industries and Kuwait\u2019s sustainable development.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faisal Al Khaldi is the Deputy CEO and board member of Kuwait Steel. He is a business administration graduate and started his career at Kuwait Steel 15 years ago, rising…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","portfolio-category":[25],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/14722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14722"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/14722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14726,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/14722\/revisions\/14726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"portfolio-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio-category?post=14722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}