IPS opens promising markets in the Middle East
At the beginning IPS was not very confident of being able to sell high-tech machines from Schubert in Jordan successfully, because the amortisation periods are very long due to low labor costs. However, the manufacturer of biscuits Jordina adressed IPS and was convinced that the machines from Crailsheim are the right solution for him. One year after the initial contact, the owner, Mohammad Aloqdeh, traveled from the Jordanian industrial city Sahab to Crailsheim and placed several specific projects on the table. „He finally convinced us and we thought: Maybe it will work after all,“ recalls Günter Habelt, sales engineer at IPS and responsible for the Middle East. „We found out that automation in Jordan makes sense for another reason: Many workers in Jordan are from other countries, which are continuously leaving the country in sporadic terms. This leads not only to unpredictability, but also to bottlenecks in the production process. „Considering these aspects, a machine certainly brings advantages – alongside many other improvements,“ explains Habelt.
Habelt and some technicians had traveled for commissioning and SAT of the line to Sahab. It was the time during Ramadan and the Jordanians have been fasting daily until sunset. For the German guests it was certainly unusual to not eat during a long work day. „The only restaurant that was open during the day was McDonald’s. Our business partners drove especially for us to McDonald’s and brought us something to eat to the plant,“ tells Habelt. After the evening, when it was allowed to eat again, there was a great feast to which the IPS employees have been invited. “That was a very special experience,” said the sales engineer Habelt, “as well as our entire Jordan project. The hospitality of the Jordanians has been overwhelming; from the pickup at the airport and the common dinner to a leisure-time program for our technicians on the weekend.“ Also during installation, the hosts had shown their remarkable hospitality to the German technicians. Due to flexibility in the production of the biscuits, long breaks have been avoided and the implementation went ahead quickly. By now, IPS has sold four lines to Jordina and initial contacts with other clients have been established successfully. Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Tunisia and Egypt offer more undiscovered potential in this region.
