Farook International Stationery, one of the major stationery printers in UAE recently took delivery of the very first Heidelberg SX52-4H in the region. The new investment is part of the company’s aggressive plan to increase its product portfolio, enhance the quality of production as well as meet the growing demand for stationary products in the country and beyond.
Founded in 1980 in Jebel Ali free zone , Farook is considered a leading stationery printing specialist in the region with a wide range of offerings which includes diary and school books to name a few. The company boasts 3 printing facilities with the total area of 180000 square feet and employs 400 people. With 11 showrooms across UAE and Oman, the ISO certificate company exports its products to more than 94 countries around the globe.
Commenting on the new investment, Farook A. Rahimtulla, chairman and the founder of the company said: “We always opt for state-of-the-art printing technology to increase our production capacity while maintaining our high quality. This strategy helps us to keep pace with the growing demand for wide range of high quality stationary products.”
The company’s headquarter located in Jebel Ali Free Zone, is a one stop shop for a variety of stationary products. Farook’s range of equipment includes B1 Heidelberg Prosetter, 2 Speedmasters 4 color, GTO machines and an all new Heidelberg SX52-4H. In the postpress section the company boasts four Polar cutting machines as well as the latest Kolbus binding solution.
Roger Nicodeme, general manager- sales in Heidelberg said:
“The new Speedmaster will print high quality 4 color envelopes. The Speedmaster SX 52 supports a wide range of applications. The press is very versatile and offers us a good platform for profitable production, “comments Farook and adds, ”We are basically a Heidelberg house because their equipment along with outstanding service and ongoing technical support help us achieve the quality and the level of commitment that we strive to offer to our customers.”
Farook also believes the timing of the new investment could not be any better. He says there is a growth in demand specially from Africa and eastern Europe for stationary products. Also normally company’s activities starts to pick up during summer where they use their full capacity to be able to deliver stationary before back to school season kicks in.
In the current tough business environment Farook not only was able to survive but thrive as well. “For us, we take our business very seriously and offer high quality products with reasonable price. We proved that UAE products can compete at international level. However our major challenge is cheap Chinese products that are flooding the market. Since operation costs as well as raw material are much lower in China they can afford to offer such outrageous prices,” comments Farook.
Farook also has a keen interest in training and educating his staff and operators. According to Farook, training is carried out in two phases. In the first phase, employees travel to Germany to receive hands on training on equipment. During the second phase trainers and technical professionals from the manufacturing companies travel to Dubai and Oman to complete the training schedule and fine tune the skill of the staff.”
Farook doesn’t feel threatened by the popularity of gadgets such as iPad or the so called paperless office hype. “The paper consumption in the Middle East is on the rise. People use paper more than ever in this part of the world. Our diverse product portfolio helps us to satisfy the growing market demands and I believe the need for paper products is here to stay for a long time.”
Farook is optimistic about the future and expects 7 to 10% growth for this year only. The strategic location of UAE and growing African and East European markets are major driving forces for company’s future success. The company is planning to participate in Paper World with full force and also continue with his buying spree which includes an Astra book sewing machine as well another Kolbus binding system.
