For our special feature, with close to 100 submissions from all over the GCC and the Middle East, the Logistics News ME team gives you a round-up of the Top 25 CEOs in the Logistics Industry.
Ranking 11 – Alain Kaddoum, General Manager of Swisslog Middle East
Alain Kaddoum is the General Manager of Swisslog Middle East, an intralogistics provider that delivers robot-based and data-driven automation solutions for customers across a wide range of industries including F&B, retail, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, spare parts as well as third-party warehouses and distribution centres.
One of Swisslog’s winning stories for 2020 was the completed the installation and implementation of a new fully automated and retrieval solution for Mai Dubai, a leading Dubai-based bottled drinking water company. Following the implementation of fully automated and data-driven intralogistics system, the company has benefited with double production, storage capacity and reduced labour costs.
As part of an order valued over Euro 20mn, Swisslog planned and implemented a fully automated system based on intelligent software in the context of big data. The major expansion project included planning and implementing a six-aisle automated high-bay warehouse for raw material and packaging materials as well as -only a few hundred meters away- a high-bay warehouse with 17,560 pallet locations for finished goods with 10 aisles.
Another project which will go live in the coming few months is Almarai, world’s largest vertically integrated dairy company and the region’s largest food and beverage manufacturing and distribution chain. The multi-million US dollar project was rolled out in four phases and included the supply and installation of storage and retrieval systems, conveyors, Automatic Reefer Loading System (ARLS), automatic picking modules supplied by KUKA, together with electric monorail suspension systems.
Alain has emphasised the need to implement policies to directly drive and support sales and business teams; develop effective strategies to support the uptake of the company’s automation solutions for forward-thinking customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and bordering regions.
Alain told LNME: “Since I took over the position of the General Manager for the Middle East, I have worked tirelessly to make businesses in the Middle East more aware of the benefits of automation. From zero awareness, today we are seeing more and more businesses requesting Swisslog’s partnership in automating operations. I have also been responsible for executing large scale projects in the Middle East, such as Almarai and Mai Dubai to name a few we can talk about, as a result of which, Swisslog’s profile in the industry has gone up.”
