Water brand pours ‘millions’ into bottling op

Who Iceni Waters
Aim To build a bottled water company
Spend ‘Several million’
What Bottled water factory
When 2007-2008
Targets Major retailers

Challenge
In 2007, Iceni Waters managing director Brett Fleming-Jones set himself the challenge of establishing an English bottled water company to serve the needs of the major retailers. He hoped to counter the influx of overseas waters into the market and cater for consumers who were increasingly looking at provenance as a reason for buying.

Fleming-Jones, who had previously been in the army and then worked in marketing, chose a bore hole 10 miles from Cambridge to provide the water. He commissioned the bore hole, which is owned and managed by Cambridge Water Company.

The site’s proximity to London, around 60 miles away, was imperative as the city consumes a third of the bottled water produced in the UK each year. It was important to us to find a site in the south-east of England that had a large volume of high quality water available, said Fleming-Jones. The brand was named after a local East Anglian tribe, led by the warrior queen Boudicca in 60AD and reflects Fleming-Jones’ desire to create a brand with a strong sense of its origins.

Strategy
Next, Fleming-Jones went about planning, building and equipping a new factory to bottle the water. His aim was to build a factory with one line and room to house a second in the future.

We looked at the marketplace and decided we wanted a brand new line, because we wanted the quality of the water and production to be of the highest possible standard, he explains. From his investigations, he decided that a turnkey solution would be the best option.

Italian packaging systems manufacturer Ocme was chosen to design and manufacture the bottling line. The firm’s competitive price and willingness to work to a tight timeline were key factors in Ocme winning the contract. They were also very keen to establish a still water bottling line in the UK, which they didn’t have, Fleming-Jones adds.

Ocme manufactured and tested the bottling line in Italy before de-assembling it for shipping to the UK, where it was reassembled as the factory was built. It consists of two blow moulders that make a total of 16,000 preforms an hour, supported by a rinser-filler capper, a labelling machine, two shrink wrappers and a robot palletiser. All of these are used to produce the Iceni range, which includes 330ml, 500ml, 750ml and 1.5l bottles of water.

Price is king as always, but where possible we use English or locally provided products, said Fleming-Jones. Iceni works with a number of suppliers, including preform manufacturer Resilux in Belgium and UK closure maker Bericap and label printer Webtech.

Implementation
The build was completed at the end of  2007 and full production commenced in March 2008, after a period of testing the line. Since the start of production, Ocme has continued to support Iceni through its services department.

We’ve obviously had a few teething problems, said Fleming-Jones. The labelling machine was a bit temperamental, but the level of support we’ve had from Ocme has been excellent.

David Stonhill, who has a background in the chemicals industry, was hired as operations manager at the site and Wayne Bonadie, who had previously worked for Coors and Guinness, was appointed as quality control manager. A total of five people man the bottling line.

Results
The company has always targeted major retailers and its diligence has paid off with contracts with Tesco in the south-east, some distribution through Waitrose and a nationwide contract with Superdrug.

We are increasing the number of customers we’ve got, and growing steadily, despite the economic downturn, says Fleming-Jones. Having a unique selling point is therefore key. The English provenance of the brand helps with that.

Production at the site will reach seven million bottles this year and is expected to hit 10 million next year. Space was designed into the factory for a second line to be built that would mirror the path of the existing Ocme line. Once we’ve got to our target of 25 million per annum we will look to invest in another line, says Fleming Jones.