Founded in response to a growing need for industrial port support, Majis Industrial Services has gone from strength to strength. We spoke with company CEO, Ahmed Al Mazrouy, to find out what he attributes this success to.

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Providing infallible services to all industrial and other occupants of Oman’s largest port and petrochemical estate, found at the Sohar Industrial Port Area (SIPA), naturally required an

organisation that was as knowledgeable as it was forward thinking and proactive, not to mention fiscally stable. Ahmed Al Mazrouy quelled any fears about these elements,

“Building, operating, maintaining and providing uninterrupted, reliable and cost effective water utility services to the industrial and port complex with over USD 15 billion in investment as a newly created Omani company is a challenge the company took upon itself. In several ways, it has been a challenging journey for Majis as there was no such model in Oman, of a one stop industrial water utility provider, to learn or replicate the experience from.”

Leaping in at the deep end, Majis were far from just treading water and demonstrated not only a vision of excellence to operate in accordance with, but also the tenacity and ability to remain consistently fluid and adaptive to new innovations and ideas.

“Majis initially, and until 2010, operated its infrastructure through a local contractor. This contract was essentially a manpower supply contract with no performance obligation on the contractor.

The water utility services Majis provides to industries are critical, to the extent that an unplanned service outage could lead to significant losses and create associated problems of re-start up, following the unplanned shutdown. There was an indication that there will be a need for a central effluent treatment and recycling facility, in time, to handle effluents that could be complex with the refinery, petrochemical and metal businesses carried out

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Founded in 2006 as a wholly Government owned company, Majis Industrial Services (Majis) was designed to create and look after every aspect of water utility services.

by industries at SIPA. This led Majis to a decision that it would need the technical support of a sound partner to facilitate such responsibility.”

With such a firm grasp on the future requirements of the industries that are reliant on a reliable and quality service from Majis, the team is demonstrating wisdom far beyond its years and a lasting commitment to ensuring all eventualities can be handled.

“The Government of Oman initially built, with our engineering support, a seawater intake and pumping station, portable water distribution network and sewage collection network, which Majis then took over but we did not stop there. We went on to identify other water utility infrastructure required to service SIPA and complete the entire water cycle requirements and so we built further assets through a combination of debt and equity financing.”

These assets included a common cooling water system, sewage treatment plant, process water distribution network, irrigation water distribution network and a reverse osmosis-based seawater desalination plant. Not what you would call modest investments, these assets allowed for a degree of future proofing, not to mention all important client confidence. Keen to keep building, Majis invited international water utility operators to tender for a position as its strategic alliance partner. As you can imagine, the competition

for such a coveted role was fierce, but Veolia, France emerged victorious in December 2010.

“This contract is performance-based, whereby Veolia is incentivised for excellence and savings brought about and penalised for operational failure. In the last three years this strategic alliance partnership has brought about a number of improvements in the areas of asset maintenance and customer service, which resulted in the overall customer satisfaction rating for Majis’s services improving from 75% to 84%.

It has also offered training to Majis’s employees, through various initiatives including secondment to work at the various operational facilities of Veolia and shadow training at Majis’s own facilities.

A computerised maintenance management system has been integrated with Majis’s ERP system and the team has successfully obtained ISO 9000, 14001 and 18001 for the operational and management services being offered to Majis by Veolia. There has also been significant improvement in health and safety, thanks to adopting the best practices they implement worldwide.”

Though alliance partnerships are commonplace in modern business, it is an impressive organisation that can admit that they have benefitted, as a company, from the inclusion of external influences, but that is Majis all over. Never ones to ‘glory hunt’,

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they are always looking for the best solutions for the continued provision of perfect water utility services for one of the industrial hubs of Oman.

Moving forward, Majis is in the midst of some exciting projects, most notably the erection of a second seawater pumping station, a second desalination interest, a second industrial effluent recycling plant the collection and recycling of treated industrial effluent. Naturally, these measures are a welcome addition to the services already on offer, not least from an environmental point of view, something that an astonishing number of large corporations still try to avoid acknowledging. Mazrouy added,

“We currently provide tanker-based process water supply to the Sohar Free Zone (SFZ). We are in discussion with stakeholders and are expecting to provide all water utility services to SFZ over the next two years or so.”

The sheer scale of attainable ambition being demonstrated by Majis is inspirational, so we enquired about the staffing support that will be utilised.

“We have 32 permanent and approximately 100 ad hoc staff members, with all operating staff adhering to the ISO 9000, 14001 and 18001 standards. Staff development is the most important element of our strategy. We have a competency mapping based training program that is in effect for each employee and on an average they all attend between 30 and 40 hours of training per annum.”

We wouldn’t expect anything less than extraneous training, unyielding support and stringent competency standards from Majis and we can imagine that the staffing body is far more than a finely tuned machine geared towards success and quality. It is most likely an extremely satisfied team of individuals who feel appreciated and quantified every day. Talking about what sets Majis apart from competitors, Mazrouy explained,

“We deliver echo friendly, sustainable water solutions that satisfy customers through committed and competent resources and well managed assets while remaining cost effective. Our continuous focus on customer satisfaction means that we have delivered value to clients for over nine years.”

He continued on to explain how the Majis supply chain is selected with client satisfaction constantly in mind,

“We have a combination of strategies when it comes to maintaining an effective supply chain. As a water utility provider we rely on competitive strategies in terms of infrastructure creation, while we strive to maintain long-term relationships for operational outsourcing. We partner on a long-term basis to optimise cost and improve reliability, without compromising on the governance and competitive procurement strategy. This allows for exemplar customer service to continue, uninterrupted.”

Looking ahead, we asked what the most exciting upcoming initiatives are and in true Majis fashion, they are ambitious, large-scale projects,

“We are looking to double product volume of cooling water from 350,000m3/hr to 700,000m3/hr, expand desalination capacity to capture all available opportunities, treat effluent waste and recycle to support the environment and generate value for customers and create a joint venture company with an internationally reputed partner. This joint venture will be designed to deliver world class water utility services to industrial areas in the region.”

With plans to invest in the region of USD 50 million, over the next three years, Majis is on track to set itself apart as the premier supplier of water utility solutions for businesses in the region and we have no doubts that they will success in their endeavours. By retaining a focus on client satisfaction and anticipating future needs, Majis is a fountain of industry expertise that looks set to never run dry.

Veolia and Majis – a successful partnershipMajis Industrial Services is one of the leading companies at water utilities in the Sultanate of Oman. Together with Veolia, it runs and maintains water extraction and distribution facilities that provide water and wastewater services to the industrial users of the port of Sohar whose location and role are so closely linked to the country’s future. So as to meet the demands of this rapidly developing port area and increase the quality of its services, the Omani company decided to benefit from Veolia’s expertise in water utilities aspects and get strategic management support.

Corporate Social Responsibility is at the heart of the partnership between Majis and Veolia. Together, we strengthen ties with the local communities through university partnerships and educational programs, accompanied by awareness-raising actions.

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www.veolia.com/gulfcountries

MORE THAN 2,000

REFERENCES

3,330 EMPLOYEES

OVER 30 YEARS OF PRESENCE

VEOLIA GULF COUNTRIES

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL & RESOURCE

RECOVERY

UNRIVALED NETWORK OF

EXPERT TALENT AND BEST PRATICES

WATER & WASTEWATER

MANAGEMENTOPERATIONSENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY

150178_Ad_A4_MAJIS.indd 1 18/03/2015 11:19:07

MAJIS (OMAN)

Veolia and Majis – a successful partnershipMajis Industrial Services is one of the leading companies at water utilities in the Sultanate of Oman. Together with Veolia, it runs and maintains water extraction and distribution facilities that provide water and wastewater services to the industrial users of the port of Sohar whose location and role are so closely linked to the country’s future. So as to meet the demands of this rapidly developing port area and increase the quality of its services, the Omani company decided to benefit from Veolia’s expertise in water utilities aspects and get strategic management support.

Corporate Social Responsibility is at the heart of the partnership between Majis and Veolia. Together, we strengthen ties with the local communities through university partnerships and educational programs, accompanied by awareness-raising actions.

Plan

et -

June

201

4 ©

Veo

lia P

hoto

Libr

ary

- Sté

phan

e La

voué

www.veolia.com/gulfcountries

MORE THAN 2,000

REFERENCES

3,330 EMPLOYEES

OVER 30 YEARS OF PRESENCE

VEOLIA GULF COUNTRIES

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL & RESOURCE

RECOVERY

UNRIVALED NETWORK OF

EXPERT TALENT AND BEST PRATICES

WATER & WASTEWATER

MANAGEMENTOPERATIONSENGINEERING

TECHNOLOGY

150178_Ad_A4_MAJIS.indd 1 18/03/2015 11:19:07