Tell us about your most significant milestones this year

Field Service and Asset Management - focus during 2023

ALBARIQ has the regions largest after sales team within our industry and during 2023 we have made significant investments into new technology to prepare our after sales organisation for the future. We partnered with worldwide market leader Salesforce and their Field Services platform which has been implemented in the UAE and Saudi. This platform is integrating our scheduling of cases, field inspections, quotations and also asset management. Already significant improvements are seen in our response times and we are continuing to add new functionality in the months to come including both process automation and AI.

Our industrial portfolio with the US manufactured PowerBoss and FactoryCat brands, have become synonymous with heavy duty performance and a solid design without compromise. These machines are built to last and it's fantastic to have equipment that we sold 10-15 years ago still in use.

For commercial applications such as malls, supermarkets and similar we have a long and very successful relationship with Fimap from Italy. The Fimap product portfolio has developed tremendously and their latest product lines such as the GMG, MMG and Maxima are simply beautiful machines, equipped with the latest technology and a fantastic driver/operator comfort.

Our large sweeper range with the Broddson TowBehind sweeper, popularly referred to as sand eaters, and the Fimap 4 and Fimap 6000 have been very successful during the last years.

During 2023 we went live with our first autonomous cleaning robots where we teamed up with Gausium Robotics, the world wide market leader within this field. TTS janitorials and small equipment such as our own EuroVac vacuums and EuroDisc single disc machines form a strong steady backbone of ALBARIQ and can be seen at most projects around the region. We have during the last 4-5 years also seen great success in the environmentally friendly Zero range of cleaning chemicals from our Italian supplier, Sutter.

What are your top-selling products, and what makes them unique?

It is difficult to single out specific products or product ranges, but from a brand recognition perspective, PowerBoss is probably the strongest brand. Their heavy duty scrubber Nautilus and 9X sweeper can be found in the majority of big developments in the region. The PowerBoss machines are built without compromise, with a very strong steel frame together with a well proven sweeping/scrubbing system that survives the demanding middle east environment with high heat, dust and humidity.

But equally Fimap’s commercial range of battery operated scrubber dryers can be found in supermarkets and malls across the region and sales of their new generation MMG and Maxima together with the trusted long term MR60 and MMX has been good the last year.

Tell us about your plans for 2024.

At ALBARIQ, we always strive towards improving our service levels and supporting our customers at the highest level. To achieve this we need to continue to invest into process automation and artificial intelligence to support our day to day operations. During 2023 we started this internal transformation and have already made significant improvements but much more is planned. Already there is a pipeline of new functionality that will be added during 2024 to ensure that our customers get the best possible support from our team.