National Food Products Company

National Food Products Company (NFPC), set up in 1984 by Lebanese businessman Fady Antonios and the local Bin Hamoodah Group, has gone from being the nation’s first company to introduce a five-gallon water bottle to being a household name that every UAE resident knows and loves. Today, the company has the largest distribution fleet in the country and exports its products, which include Lacnor, Milco and Arla (part of a joint venture with Denmark-based food cooperative Arla Foods), to 48 countries.

NFPC’s water brand Oasis is an example of the company’s technological and environmental prowess. It leverages the latest technology to produce polycarbonate bottles, which are sanitised before being filled through a 24-step process. Used bottles are returned to the plant, where one of the world’s most powerful robot arms loads them onto a conveyor belt, 16 at a time, to be uncapped, sterilised and recycled.

Complementing NFPC’s commitment to environmental responsibility, in 2016 Arla introduced a greener milk carton made of renewable raw materials, such as forest fibre and a sustainable type of plastic. The production of these new cartons emits 20 percent less greenhouse gas than that of traditional cartons. Building on its business success, NFPC’s 752,000 sq m production facility in Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) in Abu Dhabi is one of the first fully automated facilities in the world. The facility will manufacture most of NFPC’s products using advanced technology solutions that are on par with the world’s leading water, juice and dairy facilities.