Unitechnik FZE celebrates 10 years in the Middle East

Unitechnik is looking back on a successful decade in Dubai: 10 years ago, Unitechnik, a general contractor for intralogistics, set up a subsidiary in the desert state – initially as a service center for projects in the Middle East. Unitechnik FZE now pursues acquisitions and supports their own orders and has an established position in the country as a reliable partner for air cargo and intralogistics systems. Unitechnik has already realized ten large-scale projects for major customers in Dubai.

It all started with two employees and a container on the construction site for the Dubai Flower Center: When originally founded in 2007, the Unitechnik subsidiary was planned solely as a service center to provide smooth maintenance processes to local customers and to support operations. Ten years and just as many large-scale projects later, Unitechnik FZE now employs a staff of seventeen. The subsidiary is strategically and conveniently located in the Dubai Airport Freezone (Dafza), the free trade zone at the airport. In addition to handling service orders for existing customers, services include implementation of automated logistics and air cargo centers as well as solutions for production logistics. “We still see great potential in the intralogistics market in the Middle East and specifically in Dubai,” emphasizes Hans Christian Ettengruber, Unitechnik FZE Managing Director. “Dubai Logistics City serves as a multi-modal hub for the region turns over a high volume of consumer goods. It is also a hub for trade between Asia, Europe and Africa. This makes it an attractive location for industrial and logistics firms and increases the demand for automation solutions.”

Many major companies rely on the German general contractor’s know-how in the Middle East. Among the projects in the area of airport logistics in addition to the Dubai Flower Center is also the cargo terminal Freight Gate 8. Unitechnik FZE is also currently building two catering facilities for the Muscat Airport in Oman and for Emirates airline in Dubai. The latter already has the largest flight kitchen in the world and the current project will double its capacity. With the completion of a deep freeze storage facility for logistics service provider INL in 2012, Unitechnik became a major player in the classic intralogistics segment. The company has also already completed exotic products on the Arabian Peninsula: Unitechnik was commissioned with the design of an automatic warehouse for Princess Nora University in Saudi Arabia. The facility manages an inventory of over 4.5 million books, magazines and data carriers. “Unitechnik FZE has opened up an important market in the Middle East for the entire Unitechnik Group,” reports Hans Christian Ettengruber. “Our aim for the subsidiary in Dubai is to generate two larger projects every year and at the same time to continue to provide the same high level of service for our existing customers.”