Dubai / Waldkirch, October 2017 – On Monday, 16th October 2017, SICK celebrated its 10th year of operations in the Middle East at its Dubai-based subsidiary SICK FZE in the presence of Renate Sick-Glaser, daughter of company founder Dr.-Ing. e. h. Erwin Sick, and Franz Bausch, Member of the Supervisory Board.
It was a little over a decade ago that SICK AG decided to further enhance the support of its Middle East customer base by registering a regional branch office in the United Arab Emirates on 6th December 2007. At that time, the local entity was named SICK Automation International (SAI). In early 2008, operations then commenced at SAI with the on-boarding of the first employees as well as the start-up of locally managed marketing and sales support activities.
From its base in Dubai, SAI then both consolidated and further established its network of Distributors and channel partners across the Middle East, with responsibility for supporting 14 countries. Due to the strong growth of the local company as well as SICK AG’s further commitment to invest into the region, the branch office of SAI was converted into a wholly-owned subsidiary of parent company SICK AG of Waldkirch, Germany, and renamed SICK FZE (Free Zone Establishment) within the Jebel Ali Free Zone.
Due to the steady growth of SICK’s regional business and its investment into local sales support resources, a move to a bigger premises was required only a few years after SICK FZE’s incorporation. As a result, early in 2017 SICK FZE moved to a dedicated facility in the Business Plus Showrooms cluster within the Jebel Ali Free Zone.
These recent investments into new premises and resources at SICK FZE takes the solid platform already established over the last ten years to the next level, allowing SICK to further enhance its sales and service support to its Middle Eastern customer base, and therefore setting the stage for further growth and development over the next 10 years, with the sole aim of continuously increasing regional customer satisfaction.
SICK FZE – an intercultural place for great cooperation
Now in its 10th year of operations, SICK FZE is responsible for supporting all industry verticals - including Process, Factory and Logistics Automation – as well as for the full SICK portfolio of serial products, systems and service. As such, SICK provides a complete sales and service package to its wide network of end-user customers, distributor partners, EPCs, system integrators, and re-sellers across the region. The local SICK FZE team that provides this support is made up of highly experienced solution engineers for pre-sales and technical support; product managers for ensuring that the product and applications meet the unique demands of the Middle East market; service and project coordinators to manage project roll-outs and after-sales support; as well as industry sales managers that ensure that the customer expectations are exceeded across the whole value chain. “Our local team is made up of many different nationalities interacting together and this multicultural diversity further enhances effective communication, mutual understanding and close collaboration with our varied customer base across the many countries and language groups in the region”, says Martin Palmer, General Manager of SICK FZE in Dubai.
The SICK FZE team also works very closely with the corporate SICK AG head office in Germany as well as regional and international SICK entities in order to provide a seamless experience for the customer, irrespective of the global origin or destination of the customer’s sales or service requirement.
In addition to SICK AG’s robust centralized Research and Development programs, SICK FZE is also proactively involved in conducting product or application trials locally in order to provide complete customized solutions as far as possible for its Middle East customers. The local office is also highly active in participating at key exhibitions and trade shows where demonstrations of the latest product innovations and system solutions are regularly made. This further enables SICK FZE to help shape and support local industry trends and the future-proofing of sensor technology, especially in relation to Industry 4.0 and adding ever more value to data acquisition and the smart utilization thereof.
SICK is one of the world’s leading producers of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. Founded in 1946 by Dr.-Ing. h. c. Erwin Sick, the company with headquarters in Waldkirch/Germany ranks among the technological market leaders. With more than 50 subsidiaries and equity investments as well as numerous agencies, SICK maintains a presence all around the globe. In the fiscal year 2016, SICK had more than 8,000 employees worldwide and achieved Group sales of just under EUR 1.4 billion. Additional information about SICK is available on the Internet at http://www.sick.com or by phone on +49 7681 202-4183.