What Machinery is Required for a Mineral Water Plant ?

Mineral Water Plant Machinery can be divided into 4 major sections 

Let’s discuss these Sections one by one :-

Water Treatment Section :

Water Treatment Section is meant for Conversion of your Raw Water (Source Water) into the desired level of purity you want. Typically, an entrepreneur has some kind of imagination in his mind, as to what will be his water be like. Will it be those average cost waters like Bisleri /Kinley /Aquafina , or higher value Mineral Waters like like Himalaya/Qua/Veen ?any purity of his choice. One thing he or she should not forget, that there should be some purity measure & taste as well. For example, if he/she wants a 75 TDS water, the water treatment section will house all the machinery needed to produce it from the raw water available. Unless you are looking for a Packaged Natural Mineral Water Plant, the machinery will be same as explained below. For reading regarding the water source, I suggest you to kindly read an other article on this . Typically, the machinery are :-

• Pre Treatment Section Sand,Carbon, Micro Filters :- To filter out physical impurities
• RO Membrane Filter :- To filter water to the finest level by removing the TDS (Dissolved Solids) in case of Packaged Drinking Water. This will be replaced by the UF (Ultrafiltration Membrane) in case of Packaged Natural Mineral Water)
• Post Filtration :- To make the water blend as you require, will consist of Added Minerals Section, UV and Ozonation. However, in case of Packaged Natural Mineral Water, it doesn’t have the “Added Minerals” section.

Filling & Packing Machines

Typically, this Section consists of the following machinery :-

• Bottle Blowing Machinery Setup :- To Make your Bottle Yourself #
• Bottle , Jar, Pouches Filling Machine : Rinsing, Filling & Capping Machinery 
• Batch Coding Machine
• Labeling Machine :- Shrink or BOPP Labeling
• Boxing or Shrink Wrapping Machine :- Final Packaging Machinery

(Why a mineral water producer needs to make his own bottle ,when similar pharma producers are procuring from outside ? :- We cover this specially in our training)

Laboratories

There is a governing body in India for monitoring strict quality control of the produced water. It is called the B.I.S. which issues the ISI License to the Bottled Water Plants in India , which are called the “Packaged Drinking Water Plants” and “Packaged Natural Mineral Water Plants“. BIS Standards for the both of them are IS-14543 & IS-13428 respectively. During our Live Training, we do a brainstorming session on What is Mineral Water, and What is Packaged Drinking Water & explain that conceptually. You may listen to this Audio recorded during a training session we conducted very recently :-

As per their rules and regulations, every packaging must go under certain processes & there is a test norm set for every produce.

Some of the tests are to be carried out daily, while some are weekly & monthly. As a Plant owner, you are required to keep a record of every test, and submit the same to the B.I.S as per their stipulated schedule. To major kind of tests needed : Chemical & Microbial. For both of these, 2 separate labs need to be setup within the premises with 2 separate chemists appointed permanently. 

As a business owner, you need to hire right consultants for this project, who will take care to educate you and your staff members about this aspect. During our training, we conduct a small session which highlights on how to use the BIS site & also give you the major documents pertaining to the same.

As a Consultant, we also take care to train your chemists for proper operation, query handling during the BIS visit & various such aspects. For labs, 2 major Labs need to be setup :-

• Chemical Lab
• Microbiological Lab

Utilities

Utilities are the equipments which are required not directly, but indirectly for the production. They typically include :-

• Compressors
• Electrical Installation
• Air Conditioners
• Generators

(You can refer to my old (2014) upload on Slideshare to get more details of the machinery, however, recommend you to attend our training session to stay current)

Where do you get the machinery from ?

There are huge number suppliers for machinery. If you just Google on this or visit Indiamart, Trade India or Alibaba.com, you will find them. The internet has advanced so much that, you can even get completely filtered information as to what price one is selling at and you can also prioritize them, shortlist them. Still, the problem remains. Whom to go to ! 

The problem with the Industrial Directories on Internet 

One gets more & more confused with more & more information available to them. Because there are huge number of listings, some on the upper portion, some on lower. And it’s not a secret that these companies (the listing directories) push those who pay them more. This is not a qualititive process at all. The directory companies do a lot of promotion, paid ads on Google, do smart SEO & become visible. But this does not assure you are going to a right supplier.

Google also can’t be an assured source 

Agreed, Google doesn’t push those who just pay them more; there is a qualititive process even when you advertise with google on paid basis; still it qualifies only to get proper information. In other words, if you learn the smart techniques of Google Ads, or hire a smart person, you can also be on top. Google is concerned with the information which YOU provide them. And then they compare with others who also might be doing those exact things you are doing to win the top spot. And then Google does the Bidding system. This is good. For Google. This need not be the best thing for an entrepreneur willing to start his Mineral Water Plant, and looking for a Machinery supplier.

Machinery Supplier referred by a friend

This looks like a better choice compared to the above ones. Still, I suggest you should look at the market for better options. Who knows, you will spot someone better , suiting to your requirements, may be little more economical, and having a better rapport with you ! Worse comes to worst, you can always negotiate better with the referred supplier if you are ready with your market study of other suppliers.

Do Your Own Study First & Then Find Suppliers 

The very 1st step in this is Knowing exactly what you need. Here you need to to know what will be the Market Demand, How much is the competition, your proposed Business Plan etc. Once this is done, you need to make a tentative Production Plan , and make a complete list of machinery required. Then you can ask for the machinery suiting to your requirement. From various suppliers and make your comparisons, and take a conscious decision about the suppliers for your Mineral water Project. 

During our Live Training Sessions, we conduct special sessions on 

• How to decide your Product Mix by doing a Market Survey
• How to design your Mineral Water Plant 
• How to specify Machinery to suppliers
• How to do smart marketing to outcast the competition

You can refer to the Details of the Live Training.

Once you are through with your own study, you are clear with what you want. This is the starting point of everything to go right. You can assume you are on your path to appoint RIGHT suppliers for your plant.Even we also help you in this. We also consult the entrepreneurs to find out the best suppliers. 

Attend our next Live Training Session !