Saudi Water Bottler: 60,000 BPH Line from Cold Start in 7 Months

The challenge

A top-3 Saudi Arabian bottled water producer broke ground on a greenfield facility in Riyadh. The line had to produce 60,000 BPH (500 ml format) for the Hajj season — a hard deadline 7 months out, since missing it would mean losing a full year of seasonal demand.

Scope: complete line from PET preform supply through palletized finished goods, including all interconnecting conveyors, CIP system, quality-control equipment and regulatory documentation for SFDA (Saudi FDA) approval.

Our approach

We assigned a 6-person project team (mechanical, electrical, controls, process, validation and project management) on day 1. The team worked from a shared project schedule with weekly customer check-ins.

• Month 1-4: Engineering, manufacturing, in-house FAT for all machines
• Month 5: Sea freight + on-site installation (all 6 ApexForge engineers on site for 8 weeks)
• Month 6: Commissioning and operator training (24 operators across 3 shifts)
• Month 7: SFDA validation, IQ/OQ/PQ documentation, first commercial sale

Results after 6 months of production

• On-time delivery: First commercial sale exactly 7 months after kickoff (vs 14-month industry average for greenfield lines)
• OEE: 88% after 6 months (industry target for greenfield lines is 75% in year 1)
• Quality: 99.97% conforming product at end-of-line (3 ppm defect rate)
• Energy: 18% below design target due to servo-driven conveyors and VFD-controlled pumps
• Volume grown: Customer added a second identical line from us in month 9

What made the difference

1. Integrated project team: One project manager, one schedule, one set of milestones — not 6 separate vendor relationships the customer had to coordinate
2. In-house FAT (Factory Acceptance Testing): Every machine was assembled, tested with real PET preforms, and documented at our Hangzhou facility before shipment. On-site surprises minimized.
3. Regional service hub: Our Dubai hub (4-hour flight from Riyadh) provided spare parts, warranty support and additional operator training for the customer's second line