Dairy company Almarai has partnered with GEA to build what the companies describe as Saudi Arabia’s “largest and most modern dairy processing facility”.
Located in Al Kharj, the new plant includes multiple production lines for a range of milk and yogurt products and has the capacity to process 2 million litres of milk a day.
GEA said the plant, which is already in operation, “features end-to-end track and trace for ultimate quality control and a plant-wide uninterruptible power supply”.
Torben Jul Jensen, regional sales director for dairy, beverage and food solutions at GEA Middle East, said that despite GEA’s experience in building similar dairy plants worldwide, the Al Kharj plant did pose some specific challenges, especially in the final commissioning phase.
“However, everyone involved in the project, including all the Almarai stakeholders, worked well together to bring the project in on time,” he explained.
The climate played its part, too. “It was so hot that we had a midday ban during the peak summer season. However, by working together as a collective team side by side with Almarai, the project was delivered successfully,” he added.
Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the biggest dairy producer in the Arabian Gulf region, reported a 2% year-on-year drop in net profit in the second quarter of 2018.
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