Man with the ceramic touch

FIRST PERSON: Khatter Massaad

, founder and managing director of RAK Ceramics, is leading from the front in the business of ceramics. What started on a minuscule note at Ras Al Khalmah in Dubai has, in a decade, grown into a $450-million company under his stewardship.

RAK Ceramics, which has established itself as one of the world's leading producers of high quality ceramic wall and floor tiles, gres porcellanato (porcelain/vitrified tiles) and sanitaryware, now enjoys its presence in 128 countries around the world.

Massaad, who was recently in Kakinada, spoke with Business Standard about what made him venture into the business of ceramics and his future plans. Excerpts:

It is remarkable that RAK has succeeded in making a mark in the world of ceramics in more than 100 countries in a short span...

It was just by chance that I ventured into the business of ceramics. Our first ceramic plant was set up at Ras Al Khalmah city near Dubai in United Arab Emirates and it was a success.

Since then there has been no looking back. Quality and constant innovation are our hallmarks and helped us earn the trust of people. RAK Ceramics went public in 1998.

With a total investment capital of over $250 million, the company has opted for a long-term policy, ie, to produce quality products, to be a respectable partner and to keep its clients satisfied.

The company was accredited with ISO 9001 certification by CICS (Ceramic Industry Certification Scheme), UK, in 1997. Initially, it started its operations with just one production line in June 1991 with an output of 5,000 square metres per day.

But now it has 18 production lines, 14 kilns and 16 large presses engaged in the production of 112,000 square metres per day of ceramic/gres porcellanato tiles.

Moreover, 2 presses and 3 kilns are being used exclusively to produce special items like decors, listellos and skirtings. At present, the company's products are being exported to more than 135 countries across five continents. Technology that you have adopted and further plans of the company...

We have adopted the Italian technology. In the world of ceramics there are two kinds of products "� one is cheap and the other high-quality. We cast our lots on the latter.

We have established ceramic and sanitaryware product companies in 20 countries including Germany, France, Australia, the US and in other European countries.

In China, Bangladesh, France and Sudan, RAK Ceramics companies produce 200,000 square metres of tiles per day. By September 2005, we plan to increase our production to 3,00,000 square metres per day. What is the total turnover of RAK Ceramics?

In 2003-04, the company clocked a turnover of $350 million while in 2004-05, it was $450 million. In UAE alone, we have 10 factories producing tiles and four units producing sanitaryware products.

The total production of ceramic tiles is nearly 14 million square metres per day globally.

What do you have to say about the Indian ceramic market?

India is going to be the future market for the world ceramic producers. We have not entered India to compete but to complement keeping in view the vast and growing demand for the latest ceramic products.

Only 50 per cent of the demand is being met by the producers and there is a huge market to tap here. That is the reason we are setting up a plant in Andhra Pradesh near Samalkot town at an investment of Rs 300 crore. Our future strategy is to expand the tiles' production by five times and the sanitaryware products by three times.

Though in the next decade there is not going to be any major changes in the field of ceramics, technologically many innovative changes will take place.