Editour PETplanet Insider Vol. 26 No. 06/25 www.petpla.net 11 Aseel Water and Oryx develop together Two factories, one holding company The two plant managers from Aseel Water and the preform and cap manufacturer Oryx work hand in hand. Firstly, by the structure of their respective factories, secondly by a violet bottle and last but not least by the good taste of the water. Editour Interview with Aseel Water and Oryx Plastic bottles // September 21, 2024 We met: Mr Muhammed Jabr Sultan Tawar Al Kuwari, Managing Director Aseel Water and Noureddine Sakhria, Factory Manager Oryx Plastic bottles Mr Muhammed Jabr Sultan Tawar Al Kuwari, owner of West Bay Ice & Water Factory, had the goal of launching his own brand of water, including his own production, on the market after Saudi Arabia stopped supplying bottled water to Qatar in 2012. In 2017, the time had come: Aseel Water, a classic still water, was launched on the market. Under the management of Dr Muhammed Assali, the stretch blow moulding and filling line from Sidel had been completed by then. A few streets away there was already a hall for the associated preform and cap production. This is where Noureddine Sakhria set about building up production. Supply chain disruptions in 2017 required all materials to be sourced from far away. While it was not too dramatic for filling, as preforms and caps from converters could also be delivered from further afield, it was a much greater challenge for Noureddine to transform the empty halls into a production facility. It took two years for the first preforms and caps to leave the factory. “Muhammed and I used the two years together not only to build the factory, but also to extensively test the third-party preforms and caps from various converters,” states Noureddine. This enabled them to define the optimum qualities for themselves. A Husky HyPET 300 with HPP (High Performance Package) and a 48-cavity mould as well as a Sacmi line with 24 cavities were then launched. Initially, the bottles were classically transparent. In 2021, the idea came up to make the bottles purple. A new series of tests with different colour strengths went into production, and again Muhammed and Noureddine worked closely together. The bottle was a complete success. While all the water bottles on the supermarket shelves were crystal clear or slightly blue, Aseel Water shone in a bright purple colour. The marketing team gave the whole thing the aura of “Fun of Life”. What was good for Aseel is not quite so easy for Oryx. As Oryx also sells transparent and blue preforms to other bottlers, the system has to be cleaned extensively when changing colour. As Noureddine comments, “Ten shots are not enough to get the purple off the last corner. Even after this, we still have small inclusions in the clear preforms.” Even though violet has won over a legion of fans, many consumers still prefer to stick with clear bottles. The team is therefore considering bringing a classic clear bottle back onto the market as a second brand in the future. www.aseelwater.com/en www.oryxplastics.com A fixed work sequence, fixed on the whiteboard in front of the Husky HyPET system, optimises downtimes for tool changes or maintenance by Alexander Büchler Dr Muhammed Assali, plant manager Aseel (left) and Noureddine Sakhria, factory manager Oryx (right) together at the controls of the Sidel plant Nothing works without air conditioning, even with the Sacmi canopy system
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