Member Article

Coca-Cola Enterprises invest £50 million in manufacturing

Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd has announced a £50 million investment programme across three of its UK sites.

Investment will go into developing sustainable manufacturing facilities at its Wakefield, Sidcup and East Kilbride sites.

The bottling plant at Wakefield already boasts green credentials as it does not send waste to landfill, and has been certified to the new international energy management standard, ISO 50001.

£30m of the fund will go towards developing a new automated warehouse at the site, which will increase storage capacity by 102%, and allow products to be delivered direct to customers, saving roughly 500,000 road miles per year.

Local MP and Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, said: “I believe everyone in our area is proud to have such a globally significant and environmentally sophisticated bottling plant on our doorstep in Morley and Outwood at Wakefield 41.

“With the economy locally and nationally facing such a difficult time, it’s really positive news that Coca-Cola are continuing to invest so significantly in our area.”

At Sidcup, £15m will be used to boost production by 20 million cases of product per year through the introduction of a new canning line, that uses 20% less water and will go towards reducing the site’s carbon footprint by 610 tonnes in 2012.

In East Kilbride, £5.4m will be invested over a number of projects including packaging machines designed to reduce PET and cardboard usage.

The announcements coincide with a two-week BIS campaign, aimed at highlighting the importance of food and drink manufacturing to the UK economy.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, said: “I welcome Coca-Cola’s new £50 million investment programme in green technology and their ambitions to grow UK production.

Simon Baldry, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Enterprises in GB, said: “We are committed to manufacturing in this country and are proud that 95% of what we sell is made in Great Britain.

“The £50m investment is crucial to developing our business in line with our fundamental objective to grow more, while minimising our impact on the environment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .