DAMMAM: The vast industrial city, known as MODON, situated in the industrial patch of land lined by warehouses and factories in Dammam has a new factory in town. 

The well-established German WIKA group inaugurated their newest plant on Feb. 29, with the local state-of-the-art production facilities meant to streamline every step of their journey forward.

“This is a symbol of our bilateral relationship which consists of a myriad of business, economic, cultural and political relations,” German Ambassador to the Kingdom Michael Kindsgrab said to the crowd.

Kindsgrab, who flew in for the occasion, pointed out how this new plant served as an example of the ample opportunities recently made available to German companies in the Kingdom and would help to further deepen the close relationship between Germany and Saudi Arabia. 

The launch also brought together Germans and Saudis, as well as the diverse staff at WIKA.

“On behalf of Saudi Aramco, I would like to extend my warm thanks, appreciation and congratulations to WIKA for inaugurating WIKA Saudi Arabia,”  Fawaz Al-Sahan, manager of process automation system division at Saudi Aramco said, adding: “Today I’m honored to celebrate this success with you because we believe that localization has great benefits to both of our companies.

“In terms of scope, I believe that this is the largest instrumentation facility in the Kingdom. I trust this facility will serve as a WIKA hub for the Middle East.”

Alexander Wiegand, chairman and CEO of WIKA, also spoke to the crowd and offered his heartfelt gratitude to those who helped his family-owned company excel over the decades. He lovingly recalled the days when his mother was in charge and how this new facility in Dammam would be an extension of the WIKA family that is celebrating 78 years of operation in 2024.

“WIKA’s expansion in Saudi Arabia will create more than 100 new jobs over the next few years, it thus makes an important contribution to the local job market. In the new plant, German top technology is implemented by a qualified team with in-depth knowledge of the local market. This ensures that customers are supplied with high-quality instrumentation solutions tailored to their specific needs,” Wiegand said.

The new factory, with the logo colors of orange and blue, aims to enable WIKA to serve customers in Saudi Arabia, and the region at large, even more extensively. 

In the future, products for measuring pressure, temperature, level and flow will be manufactured locally on a total area of 3,000 sq. m. This would include diaphragm seals, instrumentation valves and thermometer thermowells for connecting measuring instruments to critical processes. The range of these services will be further expanded.

WIKA, as it was noted at the ceremony, sees itself as a partner in Saudi Arabia’s economic development, especially in the area of expanding economic sectors alongside oil and gas and diversifying beyond it. The group of companies has been present with sales subsidiaries in the Kingdom for over 20 years with about 12,000 employees worldwide, and counting.

In keeping with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Made initiative, the launch also had its eye to the future.

“We are not thinking in quarters, we are thinking in decades,” Wiegand concluded.