RAK Ceramics wins ‘Innovation Award’ for RAKSLIM at Kingfisher Supplier's Award

07/10/2010

RAKSLIM was recognised for its groundbreaking slim features, which was instrumental in the overwhelming success of the product in global markets, including France, where RAKSLIM is being marketed by Castorama, a part of the Kingfisher international retail network.

RAKSLIM features a minimum breaking strength of 700 N and a minimum modulus of rupture of 40 N/mm2, which are unprecedented for thin-size tiles in the global market. RAKSLIM's size has helped deliver significant cost savings for suppliers and customers, particularly in terms of transport costs as nearly twice as many RAKSLIM tiles can be shipped in a container compared with regular-size tiles. Moreover, RAKSLIM cuts down almost half of the weight of conventional tiling, resulting in a significant reduction of dead load on building structures and subsequently reducing structure costs.
 
Abdallah Massaad, Deputy CEO, RAK Ceramics, said: "RAKSLIM has been a huge success across the European market, particularly in France, where it continues to expand its market base of loyal customers because of its distinct advantages in thickness, strength, cost and ease of use. The Innovation Award we have received at the annual Kingfisher Supplier's Award reaffirms the growing popularity of the RAKSLIM brand in the tiling industry and we will certainly build on this new milestone to further expand our market share in France and all over Europe. This distinction also underlines RAK Ceramics' strong focus on innovation and client satisfaction and will serve to guarantee our customers of our continued commitment to quality and excellence as we move forward with our strategic growth plans around the world."

RAKSLIM is a versatile solution for a variety of tiling requirements, although it is ideal for renovations of existing floors because of its minimum tile thickness, which eliminates the need to remove existing doors and windows and avoid the cost of removal and demolition of existing floor coverings. Designed for both home and commercial premises, RAKSLIM is also easy to cut, drill and handle and can be used on any existing flat surface. In addition, RAKSLIM is easy to install as an outdoor or indoor wall tile and can be used over existing wall coverings or to create completely new wall coverings.

RAKSLIM is offered in some models of Gres Porcellanato tiles, including the Lounge Series and the New Port Series. RAKSLIM also comes in 30x60-centimetre sizes and soon in larger sizes and a much wider range of models.

Kingfisher is an international retail business with around 840 stores in eight countries. The company employs around 78,000 people and entertains nearly six million people at its stores every week.

The public-listed RAK Ceramics is currently the world’s largest manufacturer of ceramic and porcelain tiles accounting for more than USD 1 billion global sales annually. The company's global production of tiles exceeds 360,000 sqm and 12,000 pieces of sanitary ware per day from its state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in the UAE, China, Sudan, Bangladesh, India and Iran.