SAUDI Lighting Company (SLC) has set its eyes on becoming one of the world’s largest luminaire manufacturers through a progressive strategic plan that includes expanding its product range and entering into new business partnerships and alliances.

The company is a leading manufacturer of indoor, outdoor, industrial lighting fixtures and accessories that are produced to meet the highest quality standards. This has been confirmed by the fact that it has received accreditations to the Quality Mark by Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation (Saso), awarded the King Abdulaziz Award for the Ideal Factory in the Industrial Safety by Ministry of Industry and Electricity, ISO 9001 certification from BSI. In addition, its products for surface and recessed-mounted luminaries have received approval from UL Laboratories of the US (outdoor products are in process).
This apart, SLC has the only laboratories in Saudi Arabia with advanced and sophisticated equipment that have been awarded a certificate of compliance to ISO 17025 by Kema of the Netherlands.
“SLC focuses on marketing and selling quality lighting product solutions and systems, in addition to providing energy-efficient solutions. It continues to play a leading role in updating the marketplace with the latest trends in the lighting business,” says Mohammed J Yousef, technical manager at SLC.
In line with this commitment to develop new products that comply with latest lighting standards and save energy, SLC is set to launch new LED products during Elenex, the 13th International Electrical Engineering, Power Generation and Distribution Exhibition, to be held in Riyadh this month.
As Saudi Arabia’s largest luminaire manufacturer, SLC has been campaigning to save energy in the kingdom. During the first quarter of this year, the company organised a series of workshops, in support of a drive by the government to conserve energy through The National Energy Efficiency Program (Neep). The workshops, which targeted engineers from government sectors and consultants, followed the success of a seminar titled ‘Safety Requirements and Energy Saving in Luminaires and Lighting Systems’ held at the Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation (Saso) headquarters in Riyadh last November.
According to company’s director general Fahad Al Hobayb, lighting currently consumes between 10 to 15 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s total power consumption, involving a cost of some SR5 billion ($1.33 million) a year.
“However, if lighting densities are reduced by 25 to 30 per cent, this could lead to saving of SR1.3 billion, or five per cent of overall power consumption,” he says.
Al Hobayb indicates that there are several ways and means to conserve power and boost energy efficiency in both the public and private sector. These include:
• Promoting the use of compact fluorescent energy-saving lamps in place of incandescent lamps in the residential sector;
• Replacing conventional electromagnetic ballasts with high-frequency electronic ballasts on all governmental projects;
• Enforcing energy efficiency regulations in all public buildings, similar to the specifications for green buildings in Europe;
• Enforcing a local building code for electrical regulations and energy saving;
• Adopting an energy efficiency labelling programme for luminaires and lamps;
• Using energy-saving techniques in public lighting to reduce power consumption by 40-50 per cent; and
• Implementing the latest lighting designs techniques as per international standards.
The company continues to supply its products to numerous medium to large-scale projects in Saudi Arabia. One of the prestigious projects it is currently handling is the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (Kaust) in Thuwal, near Jeddah, for which it has been supplying its innovative products since last year.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Yousef says that the company saw an increase in business levels during last year compared to those achieved in 2007 and has so far come out unscathed by the global downturn.
“Saudi has a strong economy and has been less affected by the global financial crisis,” says Yousef.
He, however, expects to see a decrease in the number of new projects launched this year.
Established in 1978, SLC’s manufacturing facility and management is located in Riyadh. These facilities are supported by state-of-the-art laboratories and two main sales offices in Jeddah and Al Khobar, as well as eight sales distribution offices throughout the country.