Soap production is an industry of prime importance to developing countries because, by upgrading generally available local resources, it can satisfy existing demand for soap and unsophisticated detergents. It also complements oleaginous product lines where a soap factory is upstream of an existing oil mill.
A soap production line is made up of a series of tanks and kettles - which can be readily manufactured on site by a local boilermaker's workshop - and equipment for drying and finishing the soap. The initial investment is modest and the production technology unsophisticated, in keeping with the industrial environment often encountered in developing countries.
Nevertheless, a soap factory is an industrial and commercial project, and even if modest in scope and on the scale of a cottage industry, it has a duty to be viable and capable of ensuring its survival, profitability and development. This being the case, the commercial aspect is vital and needs to be studied in depth. The soap market is in fact a consumer goods market on which there is generally fierce competition between soap produced locally and soap imported at low prices.
This is why the success of any soap factory project - which, moreover, very often develops in a very difficult technological, economic, financial and socio-cultural context - depends more on the competence of the managers and the quality of the operational, strategic and commercial management than on purely technical factors. At a technological level, facilities are more than adequate for developing a production line which is ideally placed to meet, in terms of capacity and facilities, any clearly-defined and reasonable commercial objectives.
This technological inventory does not claim to be exhaustive, but seeks to be of interest to promoters in ACP countries, providing concise information about the main options and key parameters involved in soap factory projects and so helping them to better identify the areas likely to receive assistance. They will also find basic information for studying their project, selecting the technology, formulating an application for assistance, approaching equipment suppliers and comparing their offers.
Finally, this inventory is designed to stimulate partnership projects, which may be implemented with the participation of the CDI.