A Bahrain-based manufacturing company is defying all odds to register significant growth.

Steel, nickel and titanium tubing manufacturer RathGibson, whose Middle East operation is based in Manama, has announced a rise in business despite the global financial crisis.

Speaking on the company's recent success, RathGibson International sales and business vice-president Andrew Yeghnazar said this was due to a couple of significant factors.

'A number of global factors have impacted our business. First, the price of raw materials, steel and nickel in particular, has gone down,' he said.

'Second, the extreme fluctuation in oil prices was and still is an issue. As the prices soared over $100 a barrel, chemical firms were holding off on orders as their raw material costs were extremely high and at the same time, our oil business was naturally expanding.

Detailing the state of affairs in the Middle East specifically, Yeghnazar said through the turbulent times of recent months, RathGibson's figures have improved.

'Though times are tough, honestly, our numbers are actually up,' he claimed.

'In fact as an organisation, our orders for this past fiscal year are up over 50 per cent.

'Does this mean we can sit on our laurels and relax? In fact, the very opposite is true. We are proactively and aggressively turning over every stone looking for opportunities to serve existing and new customers.'

'Another major growth area that we as a company are keen to support is the whole desalination business and we look forward to serving the Middle East in this critical area.

'RathGibson stands ready to serve and welcomes opportunities to sit down and discuss options in this area.

'The Middle East operation fits with our overall global development strategy,'  Yeghnazar said.

'The strategy was simple, get closer to the actual customers who are using our products, and provide 'real solutions and excellent service in real time' to essentially make it easier for customers to do business with us.

'Alfredo D'Souza is our director of business development, Middle East and India and is based at our office in Bahrain.

'Just last year in India we reaped the benefits of our direct customer contact. We were honoured with one of the major contract awards for the Tata Mundra Project, which is a 4,000mw power plant that will be built near the city of Mundra, in the state of Gujarat.

'We will be supplying a portion of the titanium condenser tubes for the power plant through India's leading engineering company, Larsen and Toubro.'

According to Yeghnazar, the US-originated company, which has been in Bahrain since 2007, is very much focused on the future and particularly the localisation of their regional bases.

'We develop a locally relevant strategy in all the regions we target, hire the right local people to manage and lead the business, and remember that the team on the ground is right 99.5 per cent of the time.

'We do not depend on someone 10,000 miles away, sitting behind a desk in the US to make the call,' he said.

'You truly have to empower your people to do the task you brought them on board to do and in these tough times when some businesses are down, the natural reaction of headquarters may be to try and grab the reigns - wrong move.

'Let the local leaders run the business; they know the market and the customers. If you treat people with dignity and respect, and take care of them, they in turn will do everything they can to take care of the bottom line.

'It's not rocket science, but too many companies make it seem so,' he said.-TradeArabia News Service