Thales builds on its solid track record in Kingdom

Jean-Yves Tolot, chairman and country director of Thales in Saudi Arabia.

Thales is actively providing solutions within all of the group’s domains; defense, aerospace, security, space and most recently transportation.

The North-South Railway project, managed by Saudi Railway Company (SAR), represents a major infrastructure plan connecting Riyadh with the north of the country.

The new railway track will stretch from the capital to the Jordanian border and from Al-Jalamid to the Gulf, and will include seven passenger and freight stations as well as 41 sidings and junctions, says Jean-Yves Tolot, chairman and country director of Thales in Saudi Arabia.
In fact, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to implement Thales’ European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 on the North-South Railway project stretching across 2,400 km.
“The contract represents the first implementation of the ETCS Level 2 in the Middle East and at the same time, the longest implementation of the ETCS standard in the world,” Tolot told Arab News in an exclusive interview.
Thales has been a pioneer in the field of localization and as such has set up aggressive plans to develop national capabilities by recruiting young Saudi men and women through cooperation with universities or directly from the market, he said.
“Our strategy is to localize activities and further develop capabilities in the region through training and knowledge transfer programs within our defense as well as security and civil businesses. A big step toward this is through the opportunity to localize part of the manufacturing element of our business here in the region,” he said.
 
Excerpts:
  
Q:  Saudi Arabia and Thales have a decades-old relationship. When was the first joint venture established to support the group’s broadcasting activities? 
A: Thales’ historical presence in Saudi Arabia in fact dates back to the 1960s, following a meeting between the late King Faisal and General de Gaulle in Paris in 1967.
Following this, we were selected to supply, install and operate the first TV channel in the Kingdom (SECAM system).
This was then followed by the delivery of the Kingdom’s radio broadcasting stations and equipment.
Since then, the Kingdom has become a strategic partner for Thales and we have continued to foster our strong relationship, built on mutual respect.  
We have developed a continuous presence through two local companies and a wide network of industrial partners such as AEC (Advanced Electronic Company).
Within the Kingdom, we have developed and are active in our core business domains; defense and security, aerospace and space and more recently ground transportation.
Moving forward almost 50 years, Thales is actively providing solutions within all of the group’s domains; defense, aerospace, security, space and most recently transportation, continuing to enable the expansion of the group’s footprint within the Kingdom.
  
Q: What opportunities does Thales see in the Kingdom’s transport projects?
 A: With the Kingdom seeking to become a meeting point for commerce and trade between the East and West, it is eager to ease road, rail and air travel in a bid to boost the economy.
The Saudi transport market is one of the fastest growing project sectors across the Middle East with more than $64 billion of project contracts due to be awarded by 2017.
The Kingdom has earmarked $140 billion of investment for the sector over the next 10 years, according to Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). This will be utilized in railway networks, ports and airports.
  
Q: Thales is contributing to the safety of the holy sites by providing traffic flow management systems for the annual Haj and hi-tech security solutions for the holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah. How does the Thales system work in these places?
A: At Thales, we regard the duty of securitization of the most sacred sites for Muslims in the world an honor and a privilege.
From the early 1990s, the group developed cooperation with the concerned services and organizations of the Haj in the Kingdom by delivering security systems for the Jamarat Bridge, across a number of phases.
In 2005, we were proudly selected to secure the holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah.
The Thales solution is built around an advanced information system incorporating smart image analysis technology to manage flows of pilgrims and prevent accidents caused by overcrowding.
The integrated crisis management system allows for close monitoring and control of crowd movements, providing early warnings of any buildup of people.
In relation to transportation, we were also selected to supply the signalling and ICS for the first metro line in the Kingdom, MMMP, transporting pilgrims during Haj.
 
Q: What is Thales’ involvement in the Saudi Railway project?
A: The North-South Railway project, managed by Saudi Railway Company (SAR), represents a major infrastructure project in Saudi Arabia and will support the Kingdom in connecting Riyadh, with the north of the country.
The new railway track will stretch from the capital to the Jordanian border and from Al-Jalamid to the Gulf, and will include seven passenger and freight stations as well as 41 sidings and junctions.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) plans to implement Thales’s leading European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 system on the North-South Railway project in Saudi Arabia stretching across 2,400 km.
The contract represents the first implementation of the ETCS Level 2 in the Middle East and at the same time, the longest implementation of the ETCS standard in the world.
  
Q: What is the extent of Thales’ involvement in Saudi Aramco’s projects?
A: Thales has been working with Saudi Aramco for a number of decades now and has developed a strong understanding of their processes and requirements.
We supply the company with integrated, turnkey mission critical systems to secure their facilities, further bolstering its position as a leading provider of control and supervision solutions to the oil and gas industry.
The group is committed more than ever to developing our cooperation with Saudi Aramco by delivering state-of-the-art technology and proven solutions to secure the company’s infrastructure.
 
Q: Thales fully embraces the government strategy on the Saudization program. How many jobs Thales has created for Saudis to date? 
A: Thales has been a pioneer in the field of localization and as such has set up aggressive plans to develop national capabilities by recruiting young Saudi men and women through cooperation with universities or directly from the market.
In the Kingdom, we have made a conscious decision to build our local employee base from an early stage.
Of the 700 employees we have in Saudi Arabia, 30 percent are Saudi males and females in highly skilled roles such as project managers and engineers. In regard to defense matters, you have to be national, it’s pretty much mandatory.
Our strategy is to localize activities and further develop capabilities in the region through training and knowledge transfer programs within our defense as well as security and civil businesses.
A big step toward this is through the opportunity to localize part of the manufacturing element of our business here in the region.
To this end, we have partnered with AEC (Advanced Electronic Company) and have an agreement in place to produce certain products specifically for the Saudi market within the Kingdom. 
Further details of this agreement will be forthcoming later this year, but this is something we are extremely proud of as a company where it will allow contributing to the development of the Kingdom’s economy in line with its Vision 2030 mandate.
 
Q: Can you please tell us more about Thales’ cooperation with Saudi universities and other organizations?
A: The group has developed its long-term historical cooperation with Universities in the Kingdom such as the Saudi Civil Academy.
Also, Thales is a board member of Al Faisal University and has developed strong relations with King Saud, Princess Nora, and Al-Yamamah, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and Technical Training College (TTX) universities from which we’ve recently recruited young graduates.
A particular partnership of which we are proud of is that with the Saudi Academy of Civil Aviation (SACA) as a result of the excellent partnership we have with General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and Thales’ firm commitment to develop national capabilities.
Through this partnership, we have seen engineers and technicians specializing in Air Traffic Control (ATC), maintenance, fire and rescue, safety and security, and IT gain valuable experience and training.
Thales is actively taking part in job fairs and is providing experts to train and conduct seminars for students showcasing the latest innovations in our field.
Moving forward, we will continue to bolster our relationships with the Kingdom’s educational institutions as it is vitally important in relation to the Kingdom’s economy in future years to have a local work force capable of delivering critical projects.
Throughout its presence in the Kingdom, Thales has developed partnerships with local industries in defense, security, aerospace and ground transportations domains in order to further boost Saudi national’s capabilities.
Today, the group works with a number of industrial partners and is extremely proud that our complex equipment and systems are maintained and repaired locally by those partners, which prove once more our commitment to develop local capabilities by the transfer of technology and training.
 
Q: Which major projects Thales is involved in across the region and globally?
 A: Due to the sensitivities, we usually do not comment on ongoing projects, but to give you some context, I’d say that we position ourselves toward rail development initiatives in the GCC for main lines within the peninsula.
We have a proven track record with regard to the ground transportation solutions for main lines and urban lines, and our customers are now benefiting from our latest technological advances in this field.
We also have an exemplary record within civil aerospace in this region and work with major regional airlines. 
Thales is widely regarded as the developer of some of the most advanced and high performing systems in the world, and the Middle East is dominated by a new breed of super-premium carriers who give utmost importance to passengers with second to none cabin experience and luxury travel.
Therefore, we feel our products, particularly IFE and connectivity systems, are a natural fit to meet the high demands of these customers, especially for their new aircraft such as A380, A350 and B787.
Besides these civilian projects, we are targeting various defense projects in the region, particularly naval, border surveillance and C4i projects.
 
Q: How much revenue was generated by Thales globally in 2015 and what are your expectations for 2016?
 
From a global perspective, 2015 saw the group achieve sales of over 14 billion euros.
After an order growth of over 20 percent from 2014, order intake should see yet another increase, beyond the levels reached in 2015, with a new increase in order intake expected from emerging markets.
In regard to the Middle East, group sales came in at over 1 billion euros for 2015, representing a 56 percent increase from 2014.
Moreover, the group’s order intake across the region saw a huge increase of over 90 percent from 2014 into 2015, making the Middle East the highest growth market for the group across all regions.
The strong growth in order intake, particularly in defense and ground transportation, confirms the group’s return to a position of growth.
This positive development enables us to confirm all of our objectives moving forward into 2016.