German engineering expertise continues to play a defining role in the Arabian Gulf’s industrial expansion, with SMS group reinforcing its regional presence through a major new aluminium project in Saudi Arabia while building on its recently completed modernisation works in Bahrain.
In its latest development, SMS group has secured a contract from Tahweel Metal Industry Company (TMIC) for the engineering, manufacturing and delivery of a six-high aluminium cold rolling mill. The facility will form the centrepiece of an integrated aluminium foil complex to be constructed in Dammam Third Industrial City (Modon-III) on the Arabian Gulf coast.
TMIC, a subsidiary of Tahweel Holding – a leading supplier of material solutions across the Middle East and North Africa – is expanding into the flexible packaging sector through aluminium foil rolling. The new cold rolling mill is designed to produce strips up to 2,200 mm wide, processing material with an entry thickness of up to 8 mm down to a final thickness of 0.15 mm. The majority of output will be converted into aluminium foil for food and pharmaceutical packaging, alongside other industrial applications.
SMS successfully completed a major modernisation programme for GARMCO in Bahrain late last year.
For TMIC, the decision to partner with SMS reflects the importance of securing maximum flexibility, reliability and long-term performance in a highly competitive and quality-driven market. The six-roll stand incorporates high-precision thickness control and flexible rolling capacities, supported by advanced automation systems and energy-efficient processes. The plant is engineered to ensure consistent product quality while maintaining robust reliability and long-term production efficiency, positioning the Dammam complex as a strategic addition to Saudi Arabia’s downstream aluminium value chain.
The official order announcement took place in Riyadh last month in the presence of senior government officials and company representatives, underscoring the project’s national significance. The investment aligns directly with Saudi Vision 2030, which prioritises industrial diversification, localisation of production, sustainable resource utilisation and the development of advanced manufacturing capabilities.
SMS group, which generates annual global sales of around €4 billion ($4.7 billion) and employs more than 13,500 people worldwide, brings 150 years of metallurgical plant engineering expertise to the project. The company has increasingly positioned itself as a technology partner focused on resource-efficient value chains and the long-term objective of enabling a carbon-neutral metals industry.
Modernisation work at GARMCO helps deliver 20 per cent higher torque than the mill’s original design capacity.
The Saudi contract follows closely on the heels of SMS’s successful completion of a major modernisation programme for Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill (GARMCO) in Bahrain late last year. There, SMS upgraded the motors and drives of a one-stand reversing hot rolling mill originally built by another supplier, marking the first project collaboration between the two companies.
At GARMCO, outdated DC motors were replaced with three-phase AC motors and state-of-the-art drive technology, including variable frequency drive systems powered by active front ends and new transformers. The new system delivers 20 per cent higher torque than the mill’s original design capacity, restoring full operational capability and equipping the facility to meet evolving aluminium processing demands.
Central to the upgrade was SMS’s twin-motor drive train concept, incorporating a specially designed gearbox to combine two 2,150 kW electric motors and two giant torque spindles. This configuration provides enhanced power capability while reducing both investment costs and space requirements, and introduces a degree of redundancy for improved reliability. Additional equipment included an X-Pact Drive low-voltage frequency converter for entry and exit coilers, a medium-voltage converter operating in load share mode, and dedicated transformers.
The Bahrain modernisation enhanced GARMCO’s capacity to produce aluminium coils, tread plates, slit coils and foils for applications ranging from packaging to heat exchange systems. It also reinforced the long-standing technical relationship between the two companies, with SMS having previously supported GARMCO through services for its scalper machine.