Ducab – ‘the premier cable manufacturer of the UAE’

Indeed, although the company’s products are hidden underground and behind walls, they are used in a wide range of demanding scenarios, from Low Voltage for housing cables and street lighting to medium and high voltage for utilities.

A private limited company, jointly owned by Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments in relentless pursuit of quality for both products and services, Ducab has worked for many years to raise quality awareness throughout the UAE. Its quality management system was certified to ISO 9001 in 1995 and upgraded in 2002 to the more stringent ISO 9001:2000 standard. Ducab was the first cable company in the Middle East to achieve this distinction. Ducab is also the only cable manufacturer in the Middle East to obtain product type approval of a range of medium and low voltage cables to British Standards by BASEC (The British Approval Service for Cables). This approval is only awarded to manufacturers who meet the requirements of BS EN ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard and certified by BASEC.

Ongoing Growth and Expansion

2007 was a very significant year in Ducab’s history, both in terms of new leadership and also with regards to the company witnessing robust sales growth of over 50% compared to 2006. There were various new projects won across the region and Ducab had the opportunity to partner with some of the key developers and contractors within the GCC region. The year-end audited figures are now available; Dubai Cable Company recorded AED1.1 billion within the first six months itself and surpassed the year-end target of AED2.2 billion with a significant margin in 2007 with record-breaking turnover sales of AED2.4 billion.

The two factories in Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi jointly produced in excess of 125,000 cable tonnes.

Ducab is a business that is always moving forward. In April 2008, for instance, it also acquired a new company in Abu Dhabi, Electrocab. This followed the agreement of a strategic partnership with the Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC), which owned Electrocab, and as part of the agreement Ducab took ownership of the new Musaffah Abu Dhabi cable factory at Electrocab Emarat.

The factory, which manufactures a wide range of electrical power cables, is located in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD), 30km from Abu Dhabi City. It is equipped with the latest generation manufacturing and testing facilities, with the product range including low, medium, high voltage cables, control and instrumentation cables (including lead sheathed), building wires, flexible, THHN/THWN cables and fire performance cables.

Pushing Back Boundaries

Ducab has a strong desire to continually push back boundaries in product excellence and innovation. In February 2008 of this year, for example, it launched a new range of Fire Resistant Cables (FR cables), which are designed especially for high-rise buildings, enabling them to survive longer in the event of a fire.

The Dubai Civil Defence recorded that in the first five months of 2007, there were 244 fire incidents – an increase of 17.3% over the same period in 2006. Fire safety, therefore, is one of the most important considerations in any living environment, but the amount of thought and deliberation that goes into making homes and offices that can face the threat of a fire is often way too little.

This could result from several factors – ignorance of the advances in cable engineering, sheer negligence and cutting corners to make short-term advances. However, of late, there is a growing awareness and even legislative support to ensure that adequate measures are taken to minimise the impact of fires.

Ducab-FR Cables possess the following characteristics, making them extraordinarily effective:

• Ducab FR cables function normally and keeps carrying electricity even under fire conditions so that essential devices can continue to operate. In order to achieve this, these cables have special grade mica tape wrapping over the conductor. Mica as a mineral retains its insulation property even in cases of extreme fire temperatures of up to 950°C. Mica tape over the conductor forms a tube when subjected to fire and provides a barrier to insulate the conductor and prevent short circuit. The selection of the correct grade mica tape and careful application during manufacture is key to achieve this feature. Ducab has invested in special taping machines to apply this critical material.
• Ducab-FR cables generate no toxic or acidic fumes so that people and sensitive equipment are not affected adversely. In order to avoid such fumes, it is ensured that each and every raw material that goes into making these cables do not emit toxic or acidic fumes. Right from insulation to final sheath the cable is designed to be halogen free. Ducab-FR cables are bedded and sheathed with special ‘Low Smoke & Fumes – LSF’ compound, which is also known as ‘Low Smoke Zero Halogen – LSZH’.
• The choice of LSF material also means that these cables do not generate dense smoke during fires, which would otherwise reduce the visibility. In the absence of dense smoke, people can breathe without much trouble and the ‘Exit’ path can be seen clearly for escape.
• It is general practice that many cables are laid together in close vicinity on cable ladders or trays. In a fire situation, these cables should not propagate the fire to other cables or other locations. Ducab-FR cables are designed with special materials having an Oxygen Index greater than 35%. This means that an atmosphere containing 35% oxygen is required to sustain the fire in these cables and the oxygen content of air is only 21%. This results in the self-extinguishing the fire immediately after the source of the fire is cut off.

Ducab-FR cables are fully approved to BS7846 by the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB), UK. This approval requires more than testing a sample of cable; LPCB also inspected the Ducab factories to ensure the materials and manufacturing process meet their tough quality requirements. LPCB also carry out regular audits and take samples of cable for testing in their UK laboratory. Due to the very strict standards applied by LPCB, very few cable manufacturers get full LPCB approval for their products and Ducab is proud to have this level of approval.

Ducab-FR cables are also designed to meet key fire performance requirements as follows: Flammability: IEC 60332-1 and IEC 60332-3 categories A, B & C; Resistance to Fire: C-W-Z of BS:6387, IEC 60331, and F-2 of BS:7846; Smoke Emission: IEC 61034 – 1 & 2; and Acid Gas Content: IEC 60754 – 1 & 2, BSEN 50267 – 1 & 2.

A UAE First

Ducab has recently opened a new copper rod facility , the first of its kind in the UAE. The facility represents an investment of $45 million and comprises the very latest state-of-the-art machinery located in a purpose built 3,000sqm production facility comprising the main factory floor, shaft furnace tower, workshops, laboratory and offices, plus the required natural gas handling systems, electrical sub stations, cooling towers and fume de-dusting equipment.

The facility itself is designed to take raw copper cathode and convert it into 8mm diameter Electrolytic Tough Pitch (ETP) copper rod as per BS1977:98 (C100) and ASTM B-49:98, which is the required raw material for the production of electric cables. Currently Ducab purchases its copper rod from various suppliers from around the world, but this new facility means that in future Ducab will be self sufficient in this strategically important raw material.

The facility comprises continuous melting, casting and rolling and is collectively known as the ‘Contirod process’, as developed by the world-renowned heavy engineering group, SMS Meer of Germany. The technology is actually a marriage of German rolling and control engineering with the very latest metal casting technology from a specialist American company called Hazzelet.

The line incorporates a number of novel features designed to give improved operational efficiency and the very best product quality. In particular, the facility is the first in the world to use a novel gas control system. The first stage of the process requires the melting of the copper cathodes in a vertical furnace known as a shaft furnace, which is heated using natural gas. The control of the gas burners to give efficient heating is clearly very important. The system used in this facility is a world first and gives very precise real time computer control of each of the 12 burners completely independently.

The next stage of the process is to cast the molten copper into a continuous cast bar, which can be subsequently rolled into shape. The casting of the copper bar is a critical element in ensuring the quality of the final product. In the case of the Contirod process, a horizontal casting machine is used as supplied by the specialist engineering company Hazzelet. Horizontal casting results in a bar with the best metallurgical structure. In the case of the Ducab machine, various novel features have been incorporated for the very first time to ensure the most efficient thermal transfer of heat from the bar as it cools from molten copper in to a solid bar. The result is a cast bar that is more efficient to produce and has the very best metallurgical structure. This is important when it comes to processing the finished rod into quality conductor as required for production of top quality electrical cable.

After casting, the next stage of the process is rolling. The rectangular section of the cast copper bar, measuring 50mm by 60mm, is rolled in a series of steps down to an 8mm diameter rod. The rolling process is fully computer controlled with independent drives on each pair of rollers. This enables the rolling process to be very precisely controlled and to continually monitor for the changes caused by wear on the rollers, which can then be compensated for by making fine adjustments to the roll speed. The system also makes it much easier for the operators to set up the mill after a roll change.

The rolled rod is then ‘pickled’ to reduce the surface oxide layer and coiled and packaged ready for despatch. In Ducab’s case, approximately half of the rod will only need to travel a distance of circa 25m through the side wall of the copper mill and straight onto the payoffs of the company’s copper rod breakdown machines located in the LV power cable factory, which draw the rod into the required wire size for cable making. Logistically this is a very efficient layout; furthermore, it allows Ducab to get immediate feedback regarding the drawing characteristic of the rod, thereby enabling further refinement of the copper rod process conditions.

Fully Meeting Client Expectations

The UAE is still Ducab’s largest market, although the company is enjoying considerable growth and success all over the GGC, as well as in markets further afield such as Hong Kong. It is no exaggeration to say that almost every major construction organisation in the UAE is a client of Ducab, and towards the end of May 2008 it signed a new contract with Arabtec Holding worth AED125 million towards the supply of cables for all their current projects within the UAE.

Expansion looks set to continue too, in both the GCC and wider territories such as North Africa, India, Indonesia and all of this is being fuelled by Ducab ability to provide a quality product, unbeatable service, and constant availability of supplies. Consequently, the company is looking to grow regionally by opening more manufacturing facilities throughout the GCC. Already, within the UAE, the company is installing new plant and equipment in its Abu Dhabi facility that will increase production by 50%. The project is expected to be finished by the end of 2008.

This keeps Ducab on target to be the clear regional leader within five years, in terms of both sales and spread of facilities, and to grow to around four times its present size. It will continue to provide the customer with total quality excellence of product and service, fully meeting their expectations in every respect and in a way that is far superior in value to that which can be obtained elsewhere. Ducab’s excellence in product quality, technical expertise and cable leadership is evident from the many awards and recognitions conferred on it by the local, regional and international institutions. Dubai Quality Group, RoSPA, ICD Chairman’s award for Best Economic Value Creation and other Gold Awards are to name a few. But the latest feather in its cap is the Emirates Quality Mark Certification awarded recently by the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA)

Ducab is the first ever cable facility in the region to have been honoured with this award.

Ducab will strive to be the highest quality cable manufacturer in the world and thus generate the necessary income to satisfy the aims and aspirations of its shareholders, employees and the community in which it operates.

Ducab believes in conducting its business with total integrity and committed towards the society that it operates in

Contact:

Dubai Cable Company (Private) Limited
Head Office and Factory
P.O.Box 11529
Dubai
T: +971 4 808 2500
www.ducab.com