Aujan Industries, one of the largest soft drink and confectionery manufacturers and distributors in the Middle East, recently opened a $55 million manufacturing facility at the Dubai Investment Park (DIP).

The 50,000 sq m plant will be one of the main enablers for Aujan to grow into a $500 million business fulfilling its vision “555” (Five hundred million dollars in five years with five brands), according to Adel Aujan, chairman of Aujan Industries.
The company currently has an annual capacity of over 300 million litres and one billion units. The new technologically advanced DIP facility will boost the company’s manufacturing apacity by more than 50 per cent enabling Aujan to serve its GCC customers in a more efficient and timely manner as well as meet the growing demand from emerging markets in the region.
“We are very proud that our new manufacturing plant is now operational as it reflects our regional expansion ambitions and the corresponding need to service our customers,” says Adel Aujan. “The facility will enable us to maintain optimal product quality as well as distribute our products efficiently and economically to our regional customers.”
He described the opening of the plant as a significant milestone in his company’s centenary celebrations in 2005. 
The Aujan facility at DIP currently operates two production lines: one for cans and the other for non-returnable bottles enabling the plant to manufacture up to 30 million cases per year.  An additional third line will be put in place over the next 12-18 months. Further a fourth and fifth lines will be added over the next 24 months taking the overall manufacturing capacity to 50 million cases.
“Today, we have raised the bar in the field of soft drink manufacturing in the region. All ‘state-of-the-art’ equipment at the facility enables us to reach world- class efficiency and productivity standards.
 “The demand we are seeing across the region has extended our manufacturing capacity in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  We chose Dubai as the location of our new manufacturing plant as it offers an excellent business environment and infrastructure helping us to focus on gaining extra productivity in order to respond to the growing market requirements,” he concludes.
The company started operations in 1905 in Saudi Arabia. With over 1,200 employees and a turnover of $250 million, it is one of the top 100 companies in the kingdom. Its greatest strength is its own well established brands namely Rani, Barbican, Vimto and Hani and its long association with leading international brands including Cadbury, Wrigley’s and Unilever’s Lipton Ice Tea.  
For the first time in the region, the new facility will enable Aujan to produce its popular malt-based beverage Barbican. Since the acquisition of the trademark over 20 years ago, Aujan has had to import the product from contract manufacturers in Europe.
Beverage ingredients are prepared in the process room. All fruit products are made from natural fruit in the form of concentrate, pulp and whole fruit pieces. The fruit is purchased from around the world as far as Spain and China.
The ingredients are measured according to batch size and then mixed.  The operator uses the touch screen to enter the standard recipe and batch size and the process of weighing, blending and mixing commences automatically.
For filling cans, Aujan Industries has two packaging lines, namely an NRB (non returnable bottle) line and a can line. Both lines are fully flexible and are able to fill several package sizes and types.
At the bottle-filling lines the sizes include  200 ml wide mouth and narrow mouth bottles for Rani fruit juice, 330 ml bottles for Barbican malt beverage and 710 ml bottles for Vimto cordial bottles.