Qasr Al Hosn and the restoration of historic fonts in Al Ain .
For Al Saeedi , the challenge was in the locality . “ Abu Dhabi ’ s supply chain is different from those in many other countries . First , because in some cases , very little of what we need is produced or created here , it has to be imported ,” he says . “ We are a small country , the local economy cannot always support a full-time population of castle restoration specialists , symphony orchestras or book cataloguers , for example .”
As a nation historically of consumers , procurement in Abu Dhabi has often favoured importing materials , expertise and equipment from outside of the country and this is common across not only Abu Dhabi but the wider UAE .
But , as Al Saeedi points to , as Abu Dhabi continues to grow economically and a steady demand begins to build , this will change .
Working on projects with partners from all around the world does bring with it an inescapable challenge surrounding communication and logistics . DCT ’ s partner networks spans Asia , South Africa , Europe and North America and so projects and programmes are dependent on the successful working with these suppliers .
“ Supply chains are not pipelines such as what are used for oil ,” he says . “ Materials and goods cannot be pumped smoothly and so each stage needs to be managed .”
At the start of any project , the procurement function of DCT approaches the whole process as part of an integrated team to manage the multiple stages and elements of the process . This involves working with those partners and understanding their objectives and , importantly , their capabilities .
Critical communication An important aspect for Al Saeedi is to establish and capture milestones and work packages , allowing him and his team to configure the process internally so that DCT has the necessary resources available through to handover .
“ In a large project , these milestones include the design phase in which
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