Company History
History cannot be written by a timeline of major events: History very often comes down to one crucial moment – and this was true for KINHE STEEL.
CEO & Founder of KINHE STEEL LIMITED, Tankut Mumcu, recalls the one crucial moment that defined the company’s supply history:
“I remember it well. The turning point for the Company was when we won our first major order in Kuwait in 2001. A colleague identified a tender from Kuwait which I disregarded because it was too big. I thought I couldn’t handle it. My colleague pulled it back out of the bin and asked me to give him some prices which I did and we got the contract!
Kuwait changed things a lot because we had to develop mill sourcing. It then helped us to open up our supply range to combine stock with mill run material, which in turn gained us access to larger and more long-term frame agreements. The logistics are very important here; we are breaking down a commodity to create something that someone actually wants.
We are now their favoured supplier. The effort that goes into making this happen from our Sales support team is really impressive. Managing multiple items from multiple suppliers, from many different cultures, speaking different languages is challenging.
In addition, we collate and check expansive documentation packages that have to be right first time or the goods simply will not get through customs. These are the daily challenges that we overcome so that our customers can get on with their business uninterrupted.”
On reflection, in 1997, I saw an opportunity and the way I like to do things is by seeing how far the thought process can go. I really hadn’t imagined that it would go this far, but now that I have seen it, I know that KINHE STEEL can travel beyond all expectations. Horizons change – We simply have to adjust our settings as we go.”
KINHE STEEL was originally formed as an independent OCTG trading company in Germany in 1997. Since then, KINHE STEEL has grown into a dominant sales and distribution organisation with offices strategically located in Dubai, Germany, France and UK: Satellite offices are situated in Kuwait, India, China, USA and Singapore; including Sales Representation in Houston, Texas; Melbourne, Australia and Panama City, Central America
The Company also has several perfectly placed distribution centres and an extensive customer portfolio spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, Australasia and the Middle and Far East.
Partnerships
“No need to change the model and the philosophy of the KINHE STEEL Group because it works.”
KINHE STEEL succeeds because of its staff and customers. Importantly however, our success is also down to our essential partnerships with stakeholders. This partnership has now gone a step further in reinforcing our strength and industry presence.
KINHE STEEL welcomes our new partner and stakeholder Metal One of Japan, which bought a minority stake in KINHE STEEL Oilfield Supply ME in June 2013. Metal One is owned by the world renowned MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, JAPAN with 60% stake and SOJITZ having a 40% stake.
“As a big industry name in its own right and with the parent Company being Mitsubishi Corporation, this is a solid basis upon which we can take KINHE STEEL to the next level. We can offer strong financial support and continuity of supply.
There will be no need to change the model and the philosophy of the KINHE STEEL Group because it works and that is why we were so keen to share into KINHE STEEL in the beginning.”