What RAK Ceramics’ Riviera Deal Shows About Qualifying for a UAE Project

In June 2020, Ras Al Khaimah manufacturer RAK Ceramics announced that it would supply tiles and fittings for 26 developments in Azizi Developments’ Riviera project in Dubai. The announcement named products by application. A stone-effect series was selected for bathrooms, wood-effect porcelain for living spaces, concrete-effect tiles for balconies and large-format Maximus slabs for kitchen surfaces. That detail matters to a manufacturer approaching a developer. The buyer was choosing a set of materials for particular places in a project. Each selection needed to make sense to the people specifying, buying and installing it. RAK Ceramics’ June 2020 Riviera announcement

In February 2024, the same companies announced a two-year memorandum of understanding covering tiles, sanitary ware, mixers and accessories for upcoming Dubai projects. Farhad Azizi described further project-specific procurement announcements as something he expected to follow. RAK Ceramics CEO Abdallah Massaad welcomed the wider collaboration. These are two different public milestones. The first named materials for a project. The later announcement set out a broader relationship and anticipated further decisions. The records leave the companies’ internal qualification process private, but they offer a way to see what a manufacturer has to establish at each stage. RAK Ceramics’ February 2024 memorandum announcement

Qualify the application before quoting the range

At Riviera, the published selection varied by space. A kitchen worktop and a balcony surface are different applications, even when a manufacturer can supply both. The sample that persuades the design team may tell the installer little about handling or how it interfaces with adjacent materials. The commercial offer may depend on quantities that the contractor has yet to confirm. Ask which part of the project the buyer is reviewing and what decision they want to take at this stage. A manufacturer can then focus its offer on the application, quantity and evidence the team actually needs. RAK Ceramics’ Riviera selection by application

For a hypothetical Dubai apartment project, a request for a stone-effect finish might initially identify a colour and appearance. Before preparing a final offer, ask for the area, the intended use and the person who signs off the selection. Ask which drawings and documents are current. If a subcontractor will handle the material, check what they need to assess it. The manufacturer may be speaking to a developer who sets the design direction while another entity places the order or receives the delivery. Knowing who does each job helps the factory identify which commitments it can get from the people in the room.

Separate questions about the buyer from questions about the product. For the buyer, confirm who will order, take delivery and approve changes. For the product, pin down the reference, finish, dimensions and application being evaluated. If several projects are being discussed at once, make the scope visible on every submission. A manufacturer that sends the same sample to two projects can still receive two different decisions because the application, site constraints and programme differ.

Give the design and site teams evidence they can use

RAK Ceramics provides guidance for installing its large-format Maximus slabs. The existence of that guidance illustrates a distinction worth making when a project is still evaluating a sample. A product can fit the design brief while requiring a separate discussion about how it reaches the room, who handles it and how the installer will work with it. The manufacturer can point the team to the documentation for the actual format and application and check which questions need to be resolved before the buyer commits. RAK Ceramics’ Maximus installation guide page

Give a submitted sample an identifier that also appears on the offer and the relevant technical information. If a buyer asks for a second finish, make the difference obvious. Record which options remain open and which one the buyer eventually approves. If the site wants to build a mock-up, agree what it will assess. A mock-up can help a team compare appearance under site lighting and check the interfaces that matter to the design. Separate tests or documents may be needed to support performance requirements. Keep the record specific enough that the receiving team can tell whether a later delivery matches the agreed item.

Test the logistics with an ordinary example. A slab might fit the proposed worktop and still be difficult to move from the unloading point to the area where it will be prepared. Ask the site team who controls access, who accepts the goods and where they can be held. Resolve how deliveries will be identified and divided when different buildings or floors need similar materials. It is easier to ask those questions while a delivery plan can change than when a vehicle is waiting at the gate.

Treat broader procurement plans and project orders separately

The February 2024 release names Riviera and Azizi Venice as examples of upcoming work within the memorandum’s scope. It also quotes the developer’s expectation of project-specific announcements. The release gives no purchase quantities or individual release dates. It does not establish whether the arrangement was renewed after the announced two-year term. A factory considering a similar relationship can distinguish the opportunity to supply several projects from the volume it can schedule against orders already released. The announced scope and term of the memorandum

Azizi’s March 2026 Instagram reel shows a separate hotel groundbreaking at Riviera, with a project rendering and construction equipment in view.

A new announcement in the same development gives a supplier a reason to ask what the project will need. It does not establish that earlier material selections apply. A hotel, for example, could have different drawings, finishes and acceptance processes from residential buildings nearby. If the manufacturer wants to use an earlier supply relationship as a reference, describe the project and products it covered. Then ask for the current package requirements and establish who can approve a substitution or a new item. That keeps useful experience in the conversation without committing the factory to assumptions carried over from another site.

For planning, split expected demand into quantities under discussion, quantities the customer has confirmed and quantities released for delivery or production under the applicable order. Reconcile the numbers at each review. A forecast may help the factory anticipate a busy month, while an authorised release may be needed before it makes a batch that is hard to sell to anyone else. Agree how much warning the customer will give and what the supplier can reserve in the meantime. If the schedule moves, identify who will communicate the change and how it affects existing stock.

Know how much of the order can actually ship

Consider a hypothetical order for 1,200 square metres of tile for three Dubai buildings. If a manufacturer has 900 square metres ready in the approved configuration and the remaining 300 square metres still need to be produced, three quarters of the order is physically available. The figure tells the customer little about which installation sequence it can support until the supplier and buyer assign the available quantity to specific buildings or floors. If a complete area needs material from the same batch or an agreed appearance range, a partial shipment may have limited value. Agree how to group the delivery before promising which work can start.

Cost the work that sits around the product. The order may require separate labels for each delivery area, protective packing, timed deliveries and staff to handle inspections or replacements. Identify whether the price covers those activities and how the team will manage a change. If the buyer wants later call-offs from the same stock, calculate how much capacity and cash the factory is reserving and for how long. That allows both sides to discuss the cost of flexibility before a delayed building uses up space intended for another order.

Also agree what happens when delivered material is challenged. The supplier needs a way to identify the shipment and see which evidence the site used to raise the issue. The buyer needs a contact who can distinguish a delivery error from a question about the specification or installation. Decide who can inspect the material, who can accept an alternative and which record will show the resolution. A first order tests whether those working relationships can handle a problem without asking everyone to reconstruct the original decision from messages.

Decide whether the manufacturer and customer are ready for the first order

A factory sales team can ask five people to describe the same proposed order. The specifier can identify the approved item. The buyer can describe the commercial scope. The factory can name the batch and expected release date. The logistics lead can explain where it will be delivered. The receiving team can say what it will check. When one answer conflicts with another, put the difference in front of the people who can resolve it. If two buildings are working to different finish schedules, the factory may need distinct order lines and labels before it can give a reliable commitment.

The manufacturer also has to decide whether the customer’s process is workable. Look at whether forecasts turn into usable releases, how long approvals take and who can authorise a change after a batch has been made. For a first shipment, agree a small number of things to review afterward. Did the right material reach the right work area? Was the receiving team ready? Could the supplier trace any disputed units? Those answers can inform a second shipment and show where a larger relationship would require better coordination.

Give the buyer a way to confirm the order without reassembling the history of the selection. A short schedule can show the project reference, where each product will go, which sample or drawing applies, the planned quantities and the date the factory needs a decision. Send it to the people who will use it and ask them to identify anything they cannot verify. A schedule that works for procurement but leaves the receiving team guessing is still missing a step.

Carry the same record into the next conversation. If a site changes its finish, keep the superseded reference and the point at which it stopped applying. Ask whether the change affects stock already made or material allocated to another building. The buyer may be ready to approve the new sample while the supplier still needs to resolve the previous commitment. A clear record lets the two sides address both before issuing new instructions.

The RAK Ceramics case makes the scope visible in two ways. The Riviera announcement names selected products for defined uses. The later memorandum describes wider cooperation and points forward to more project decisions. A manufacturer in Ras Al Khaimah can start with the next UAE order it is actually being asked to deliver. Establish what the buyer has approved, what the site is ready to receive and what the factory is prepared to commit. Where one of those answers is provisional, name the evidence that will make it firm.