Edward David Brown, general manager of Britam Arabia, talks to The Energy Year about positive changes in doing business due to the Covid-19 pandemic and segments with potential in local manufacturing. Britam Arabia provides emergency fire and rescue services to industrial projects related to oil and gas.
How can Saudi Arabia enhance its manufacturing capabilities?
Saudi Arabia needs to develop an industrial base for firefighting equipment. These products are not highly technical. There is one plant in Jeddah, but they only assemble parts that are imported from Austria. There is no reason why they could not set something up here.
It would be better to have a local franchise of a global brand. A Saudi version of Rosenbauer products, for example, might take a long time for people to trust. Additionally, franchising would massively reduce costs and improve aftersales, which are generally poor. Aftersales teams are always underfunded and there are never enough people to cover the remote areas particularly.
Is Saudi Arabia open to smart technologies in fire prevention?
Absolutely. The technology is there, but it is incredibly expensive. All sorts of infrared cameras exist and can be found in a lot of European and US emergency services because they are government funded. However, if you want to have a mature fire service, you must pay for it. Aramco has its own fire service that is very well funded. Especially after the Iranian attack, spending on fire security is at the forefront of their minds.
We unfortunately will never be able to compete with firms such as Aramco. The basic salary of a fireman at Aramco is around SAR 12,000 [USD 3,200] per month. We pay captains with five to 10 years of experience between SAR 7,000 [USD 1,870] and SAR 9,000 [USD 2,400] per month.
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