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Coca-Cola European Partners completes £49m Wakefield investment
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has invested £49m into its Wakefield operations, as it celebrates 30 years since the West Yorkshire site first opened.
The investment includes the opening of a £24m canning production line, which will be dedicated to making CCEP’s latest light-weight cans, ranging in size from 330ml to 500ml. The line has been built to be sustainable and is an important part of supporting CCEP’s sustainability action plan, This is Forward. The projected energy savings comes from a combination of technologies including automatic control of conveyors and energy sub-metering. In addition, water reduction will be achieved by air rinsing cans and dry lubrication on conveyors.
Coca-Cola European Partners has completed a £49m investment at its Wakefield operations / Picture: CCEP
A further £10m investment at the Wakefield site will fund a new state of the art process plant which will regulate processes across lines. This will reduce water and energy usage whilst continuing to guarantee the high quality and consistency standards CCEP are renowned for.
The business has also allocated £15m to an existing canning line to replace the use of plastic shrink wrap across multipacks of cans with 100% recyclable cardboard, part of a wider initiative to end the use of plastic shrink wrap across all multipacks of cans across Great Britain, which will see 4000 tonnes of plastic removed from across Europe.
To mark the celebration of the 30th anniversary, CCEP organised a family fun day event at Leeds Beckett University Campus to celebrate the milestone with its employees, their families and Andrea Jenkyns MP (Morley and Outwood). Wakefield’s leadership team presented long service awards to some of the site’s employees for their hard work and dedication to manufacturing excellence over the last three decades, including one of Wakefield’s longest-serving employees, John Steel, Apprentice Training Manager, who joined the company back in 1989.
2019 marks 30 years since the Coca-Cola European Partners site first opened in Wakefield / Picture: CCEP
Steve Thorpe, Interim Director, Coca-Cola European Partners Wakefield, said: “As a truly local business, we are proud to manufacture some of the nation’s favourite drinks right here from our factory in Wakefield. This recent investment demonstrates Coca-Cola European Partners’ long-term commitment to the Wakefield area and to manufacturing in GB as a whole.
“Investing in our people is of the upmost importance to us – helping to continually improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of our operations, as well as ensuring we can continue to support the growth of our team of highly skilled and dedicated people.”
Leendert den Hollander, Vice-President & General Manager, Coca-Cola European Partners GB, said: “At Coca-Cola European Partners, we are committed to making positive contributions to the communities in which we operate. Wakefield is a great example of the legacy that our local sites can provide our communities, while remaining focused on delivering manufacturing excellence throughout our operations in Great Britain.”
MP, Andrea Jenkyns, said: “I welcome Coca-Cola European Partners’ commitment to supporting manufacturing in GB by investing £49 million in its Wakefield operations. This is positive news for the local economy and a further boost for West Yorkshire.”