Health Water Bottling Company (HWB), a major bottled water supplier in Saudi Arabia, which produces water under the Nova brand name, recently acquired two complete PET lines from Sidel that will boost one of the fastest turnover rates in the world.

With the new technologically advanced line, which embraces the last generation of Sidel Matrix equipment, HWB will be producing PET water bottles in 330 ml and 600 ml formats at a speed of 134,000 bottles per hour by February 2015.

In recent years, demand for bottled water, both still and carbonated, in the Saudi Arabian market has risen drastically and is forecast to grow even further in future years.

Off-trade sales volume of bottled water rose 52.4 percent between 2007 and 2012, growing from 1,063 to 1,620 million liters sold, and has come close to surpassing even carbonates sales, the company stated.

Sidel’s leading technology in PET line solutions will allow them to stay at the forefront of those figures by boasting its annual water production capacity with additional 134,000 bottles per hour in order to sustain its industry-leading position.

During the 15-year relationship between the two companies, HWB has purchased different equipment from Sidel, ranging from blowing machines, to fillers and other individual parts.

“We have been using Sidel’s equipment in our lines for many years now and have consistently been satisfied with their service and after-sales support,” said Harry Nowers, plant manager at HWBC.

“Nova has definitely made a good choice by selecting the Matrix Combi which will offer great production efficiency and potential bottle lightweighting possibilities,” said Nicola Barusi, regional commercial manager for Sidel in Saudi Arabia.

“We are very proud to have our name on one of the fastest lines in the industry,” said Andrea DelGrosso, regional commercial director for Sidel.