MenaBev, based in Jeddah, is the leading bottling operator in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The company’s MEGA Plant is one of the largest PepsiCo bottling plants globally, covering 300,000 square metres. This facility fulfils production needs to serve millions of consumers in the region, with the plant supported by a local distribution centre.
With over 40 years of experience in designing and implementing customised complete PET line solutions, Sidel supported MenaBev in efficiently reaching its product release dates on the market. Both projects entailed a wide scope of work to ensure that one of the Combi PET line adaptations catered for three new-look Aquafina formats, while the other could run four new Carolina formats.
Quick Adaptation and High Line Efficiency
Having worked closely together for more than three years, Sidel and MenaBev experts benefited from a close partnership with streamlined project management. In response to increased sugar taxes impacting the Saudi market, MenaBev also called on Sidel’s expertise to deliver new formats of the Carolina bottle. Although challenged by market-wide component shortages, these two line conversion projects resulted in an optimised workflow and the fast delivery of the parts required. The separate Combi PET lines were both successfully adapted in just one week respectively. In addition, Sidel’s engineers were able to maximise production performance. The Aquafina line is now capable of running up to 60,000 bottles per hour (bph) compared to its previous figure of 54,000 bph, while the Carolina line has maintained its optimised speed of 48,000 bph.
