Coca-Cola Europacific Partners injects £31M in British soft drinks canning line

04 Oct 2023 --- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) is investing £31 million (US$37 million) at its manufacturing site in Wakefield, UK – Europe’s largest soft drinks plant by volume. The investment will help develop a new state-of-the-art canning line, which will be operational in 2024 and capable of producing 2,000 cans per minute.

The new line will provide additional production capabilities for CCEP’s lightweight 330 mL cans, and advanced technologies will be incorporated into the line to help minimize energy, water and CO2 consumption. 

Energy and water savings at the plant come from air rinsing capabilities, dry lubrication on conveyors and an auto-sleep function on motors, explains CCEP. 

Vanessa Smith, CCEP’s director of Supply Chain Operations, comments: “We’re committed to developing our sites to keep at the forefront of innovation, ensuring we can continue delivering drinks to our customers and to consumers in a sustainable way. This latest investment underscores our commitment to our Wakefield site.”

The new canning line will produce 2,000 cans per minute.Optimizing infrastructure and workforce
Funding will also go toward infrastructure upgrades to optimize the factory for production and future innovations. This will include the construction and fit of a new raw materials storage warehouse, additional utilities storage and the expansion of other on-site facilities. 

It also supports the recent implementation of attached cap production capabilities on two of the site’s lines, making it easier to recycle entire plastic bottles.

The site has received £118 million (US$142 million) in investment since 2017.

“As well as innovating our production capabilities, we’re committed to recruiting more diversely to reflect the communities we operate in, including bringing on more women and others into manufacturing, logistics and distribution roles. We’re shifting hiring processes to focus on skills and aptitude rather than just historical qualifications, for example, and are offering more flexible working options to better suit a range of lifestyles,” elaborates Smith.

Boosting regional growth 
Stephen Moorhouse, vice president and general manager at CCEP Great Britain, says: “Wakefield is our largest manufacturing site, offering a range of modern manufacturing jobs and sitting at the heart of many of the latest manufacturing technologies. As a result, we’ve invested more than £100 million (US$120 million) into the factory, helping us to accelerate our path to net zero and support the local economy.”

Andrea Jenkyns, member of parliament, adds: “[The investment] demonstrates [CCEP’s] confidence in the local economy and reaffirms their commitment to growth and job creation. With new jobs on the horizon, this investment strengthens the plant’s position as the largest in Europe and bolsters the region’s economic vitality. We applaud CCEP for their vision and dedication to our community’s prosperity.”

By Natalie Schwertheim