Mike Farish

From oil to aerospace - a spotlight on UAE manufacturing

In-Depth

In the space of just over a decade, Abu Dhabi’s Strata Manufacturing has grown to become a major supplier to the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, exemplifying the UAE’s advanced manufacturing evolution. Mike Farrish reports.

With a population of just under 10 million, most of them expatriates, and a location on the southern fringes of the Arabian Gulf the United Arab Emirates (UAE) does not have the reputation of being a centre of advanced manufacturing. Indeed the country, which only achieved independence just over 50 years ago, is best known as a source of oil and natural gas in which it ranks as sixth and seventh, respectively, in terms of known reserves at a global level.

But an hour or so’s drive west from Dubai, along a stretch of motorway a little inland from the coast with desert and even a few wild camels on either side, brings you into the UAE state of Abu Dhabi. There, appropriately close by Al Ain International airport, is Strata Manufacturing, one of the showcases of the country’s drive to use the revenues from its oil and gas resources to become a modern industrial force.

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