Design brief: the first step in export processing plant design

The journey of building an export processing plant · Article 1/27 · Stage 1: The market decides the plant. See the full journey

Many processing plant projects in Vietnam begin with a set of production-line quotations. The food factory design literature puts the first step somewhere else: a design brief that states clearly what the plant will make, which markets it will sell to, and where its raw material will come from and in what quantity. Without this brief, every drawing that follows may be technically correct yet aimed at the wrong target. This is the opening article of the journey of building an export processing plant.

Key points

The design brief is the source document for architects, engineers and contractors. It determines the size, shape and complexity of the plant, and with them the capital investment and, above all, the operating costs.
At the start of a project there are few decisions, but each one carries the most weight. Later on, decisions become more numerous but lighter. A mistake made at the start is very expensive to correct later.
For an export plant, the importing country’s requirements for premises (EU, US…) must be in the brief from the outset, not left until certification.
A plant is used for 10, 20, sometimes as long as 50 years. The brief must also account for the expansion phases.

What a design brief contains

In the chapter “Design Principles” of Handbook of Food Factory Design (Springer, 2013), author P.J. Wallin lists what a brief should contain. Applied to an export agricultural processing plant in Vietnam, it can be read as follows:

Brief content (according to Wallin)	Specific questions for an export plant
Products to be manufactured	NFC juice, concentrate, puree, frozen fruit or dried fruit? Each form requires a different production line.
Markets and where the products will be sold	EU, US, China, Japan, South Korea or the Middle East? The market determines product standards, certification and plant registration.
Expected quantity and sources of raw material	Which growing areas, how many hectares, which months is the harvest, do they have growing-area codes yet?
Output at start-up and the five-year plan	How many tonnes of finished product in year one, and how many in year five?
Ingredient list, sample recipes, product mix	One fruit, or several fruits by season? Is there blending?
Outline process description	Is there pasteurisation, concentration, freezing, aseptic packing?
Packaging requirements (type, size, format)	Aseptic drums, bag-in-box, pails, bottles or retail cartons?
Future development (phases 2 and 3)	Will product lines be added, new markets entered, capacity increased?

Wallin stresses that the brief matters more than many people think. Information from the sales side is often hard to pin down, yet it is exactly what determines the scale and shape of the plant. According to the author, when financing is needed, banks or investment institutions also usually require a document of this kind so they know what they are investing in.

Why decisions at the start of a project carry the most weight

The book describes a plant project in five phases: feasibility study, preliminary design, detailed design, implementation and commissioning. Throughout the project, three constraints pull against one another: on schedule, within budget, and to specification (the plant does exactly what it needs to do). Meeting only one or two of the three leads to financial consequences in the form of cost overruns, lower revenue or orders that cannot be delivered in full.

The decision chart in this chapter shows that the early phase has few decisions but the greatest impact, while later phases have many decisions with less weight. The author therefore advises investing time and effort to get the first decisions right. A food factory, according to the book, is a decision a company must live with for 10, 20, sometimes 50 years.

For an export plant, the weightiest early decision is choosing the market. For example, for the same pineapple juice, the import duty into South Korea differs by 40 percentage points depending on whether it is sold as concentrate or NFC (see the article on pineapple juice exports). Choose the wrong product form, and the line already purchased cannot be changed.

Market requirements for premises must be in the brief from the start

Importing countries do not only check the product; they also set requirements for the place of production. The two sets of requirements below are typical examples. Both deal with the layout and construction of premises, which are things that must be decided at the design stage:

Item	EU: Regulation (EC) 852/2004, Annex II	US: 21 CFR 117.20
Layout, size	Layout, design, construction, siting and size must permit cleaning and disinfection, limit airborne contamination and provide adequate working space for hygienic operations (Ch. I, point 2)	Sufficient space for placement of equipment and storage of materials for maintenance, sanitary operations and safe production (b)(1)
Separation of areas	Mechanical airflow from a contaminated area to a clean area is prohibited (Ch. I, point 5); drainage must not flow from a contaminated area to a clean area (Ch. I, point 8)	Prevention of contamination and allergen cross-contact, including by separating operations (b)(2)
Floors, walls, ceilings	Impervious, non-absorbent, washable, non-toxic materials; smooth walls up to an appropriate height; ceilings that minimise the build-up of dirt, condensation and mould (Ch. II, point 1)	Floors, walls and ceilings can be cleaned; drip and condensate must not contaminate food (b)(4)
Ventilation, lighting	Adequate ventilation, with filters easily accessible for cleaning or replacement; adequate lighting (Ch. I, points 5 and 7)	Adequate lighting, shatter-resistant bulbs over exposed food; ventilation that minimises dust, odours and vapours (b)(5), (b)(6)
Insects, pests	Windows opening to the outside must be fitted with insect-proof screens that can be removed for cleaning where necessary (Ch. II, point 1(d))	Screening or other protection (b)(7); surrounding grounds must not provide harbourage for pests (a)
Storage temperature	Where necessary, temperature-controlled storage conditions with sufficient capacity, where temperatures can be monitored and recorded (Ch. I, point 2(d))	(Covered in other sections of Part 117)

The two sets of requirements are written differently but share the same intent. A site layout designed correctly from the start can satisfy both. Conversely, if shortcomings are only discovered when the auditors arrive, many items such as drainage, airflow direction and floor materials are very hard to correct once the plant is running.

From the brief to a preliminary scheme

Wallin recommends a preliminary design step before detailed design, because construction work is often underestimated. The outputs of this step include: an overall site plan, a basic layout, a process specification, a flow sheet, specifications for the main equipment, an equipment list, a utilities plan (steam, water, hot water, gas, electricity, cold storage, compressed air) and a cost estimate.

Before drawing the detailed layout, the book poses five questions:

Is the plant likely to expand in the next 5–10 years?
How might the process or equipment change?
Do raw materials, processing areas and finished products need to be segregated?
What are the main risks in the process?
How much storage is needed for raw materials, packaging, work in progress and finished products?

The book also makes a memorable observation: a plant is almost always too small once it is built, so it is rarely too large. For a seasonal agricultural processing plant, the question of raw-material and finished-goods storage is even more important, because the volume arrives concentrated in a few harvest months.

What companies should do

AgrifoodV recommendations:

Write the design brief before requesting equipment quotations. At a minimum the brief must cover: products, target markets, raw-material growing areas and harvest calendar, output in year one and year five, packaging formats, and expansion plans.
Put the premises requirements of the target markets (for example Annex II of EU Regulation 852/2004 and US 21 CFR Part 117) into the brief as mandatory requirements for the design firm.
Prepare a preliminary scheme with a cost estimate before finalising detailed design; use it to compare options and as part of the financing application.
Leave room for storage and for expansion phases on the overall site plan from the outset.

AgrifoodV supports companies in choosing markets and products and in developing the brief and setting the design direction for processing plants.

The journey of building an export processing plant (1/27)

Next: Article 2: From market requirements to product specifications: Brix, product form, packaging (planned 19 October 2026)

See all 27 articles across 9 stages

References

Wallin, P.J. “Design Principles”, chapter 12 in Baker, C.G.J. (ed.), Handbook of Food Factory Design. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013, pp. 297–326. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7450-0_12.
European Parliament and Council. Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, Annex II, Chapters I and II. Consolidated version of 24 March 2021 (CELEX 02004R0852-20210324). eur-lex.europa.eu.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 21 CFR 117.20, Plant and grounds (Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food). ecfr.gov.

Article by AgrifoodV, compiled and interpreted from the sources above (accessed 17 October 2026). This content is not a substitute for design advice or legal advice for any specific project. Cover image: BI ravencrow / Pexels.

CategoriesProcessing Plants