Tharawat Development, a leading Saudi-based diversified business house, has signed a joint venture with Tokyo’s Azbil Corporation to expand the plant life cycle support business in the kingdom.

The affiliate, named Azbil Saudi Arabia Limited, will be established in Dammam, and Tetsuya Kurasawa, director of International Business Headquarters of Azbil Corporation, will be appointed president.

It will manufacture and sell control valves, sell Azbil Corporation’s process automation and factory automation products/systems, and provide engineering and related services.

At the same time as the establishment of the company, the construction of its factory will begin, with production scheduled to start in October 2013.

Production will begin with the assembly of large-bore control valves, and in the future, the company will expand its business to offer total solutions covering the entire product life cycle.

The company will also provide training facilities and systems to enhance local capabilities for plant instrumentation.

Azbil Corporation held a solo exhibition of plant life cycle solutions in March in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. In addition, it has been accepting and training Saudi students in Japan through its internship programme so that they become a key part of the human resources in Saudi Arabia.

The new company will sell products not only within Saudi Arabia but also to neighbouring countries and has set a sales target of SR100 million ($28 million) for 2015. – TradeArabia News Service