What was the rationale behind the opening of the new facility?
Matt Beddoe: Our approach to corporate social responsibility includes what we at Nestlé call ‘creating shared value’. This focuses on our areas of expertise and creating value for our company and our shareholders, while also supporting our local communities.
Our approach to sustainability embraces all areas of our business, and our newly opened £35m bottling and warehousing facility in Waterswallows, Buxton, enabled us to pursue our ambition to promote sustainable development practices in the construction and production processes operated there.
When did the planning for this begin, and what were the leading criteria for such an ambitious project?
Matt Beddoe: Plans to relocate to a new site in Buxton were approved by High Peak Borough Council in April 2011 following a public exhibition and consultation in November 2010, and Nestlé Waters marked the official start of construction at its new plant on Waterswallows Lane on 14 June 2011 with a ground-breaking ceremony.
For over 20 years, Nestlé Waters has sourced and bottled from our current site in the centre of Buxton. The continued success of Buxton Natural Mineral Water and Nestlé Pure Life meant it was necessary for us to review our current production and warehousing capabilities.
Prior to submitting our application, we considered all the current industrial sites within Buxton, but all of them were too small for this proposal. Waterswallows was the best site, next to an existing industrial development, allowing us for the first time to combine bottling with warehousing capability and to create one of the most innovative and efficient bottling factories in the world.
The investment was made possible by the year-on-year growth of our locally produced brands, Buxton Natural Mineral Water and Nestlé Pure Life spring water, a growth that has exceeded 13% over the last three years.
The new factory will incorporate our future needs and will ensure that we’re equipped to meet increased demand in the coming years. The warehouse can accommodate further capacity simply by adding more racks, and the lines can be replaced with faster ones.
How computerised and automated is the facility?
Matt Beddoe: It’s fully controlled with efficiency improvement tools on the production lines. The SAP warehouse management system is used to fully control raw materials and finished goods. We have radio shuttle racking to store the sports cap products.
How does the new facility deliver on environmental sustainability?
Matt Beddoe: We’re expecting the facility to gain an ‘Excellent for BREEAM’ (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) accreditation, which takes into consideration the site’s energy and water use, its transport infrastructure and its ecology. By having the bottling and warehousing facilities located on the same site, it increases efficiency.
A specially designed heat recovery process uses heat generated by the bottling lines to heat the offices and warehouse, which will also reduce carbon output in the coming years. New U-shaped production lines help to eliminate waste and improve quality and safety by eliminating forklift movements in the production area, keeping material handling equipments and people separate.
As part of the design, a wave-shaped roof enhances the buildings’ visual appeal and provides a sustainable drainage system, with the main benefits in reducing pollution, controlling flooding and recharging groundwater. Energy efficient lighting has been used throughout the site.
We have also been able to reduce the amount of plastic used in shrink wrap, enabling less to be used more effectively, and all trays are made from biodegradable and recyclable cardboard. We will be zero-waste-to-landfill by the end of 2012. We’re also aiming to reduce energy consumption by around 20%.
Finally, the new bottles are the lightest soft drink bottles produced in the UK, using an average of 25% less PET across the whole range. The development of the new bottles has been over a number of years by our worldwide packaging technology centre. We have used this centre of excellence to help us deliver up to 45% reduction on our smaller 25cl and 33cl formats.
You are also applying a new sports cap. Please tell us more about that.
Matt Beddoe: The cap has been developed with our supplier, but led by our packaging technology centre based in Vittel to develop the unique cap for Nestlé Waters, which we think is a great-looking cap, ergonomic and easy to open, but also improves the safety of the sports cap, with increased hinge strength and the tamper evidence retained when opened.
What’s next for Nestlé Waters in the UK?
Matt Beddoe: Nestlé Waters has made a firm commitment to Buxton as the home of its operations for many years to come by signing a new 100-year abstraction agreement with the High Peak Borough Council.
Nestlé Waters is well placed with Buxton to respond to the consumer demand for ‘local’ brands, with the role of ‘provenance’ becoming more significant to UK shoppers and retailers. Meanwhile, Nestlé Pure Life is well placed to help shoppers manage their ‘family’ grocery budget, with the continued slowdown trend on discretionary spending.
Small pack formats continue to drive the retail category growth in the plain, still and sparkling sectors. Nestlé Pure Life’s 12x 50cl and 10x 33cl packs were very important to driving growth in the single-serve multipacks sector in 2010 and 2011. Small pack format innovation from Buxton and San Pellegrino in 2012 will help to drive the ‘on the move’ consumption, which will continue to be a key driver for the bottled water category.
Bill Bruce is group editorial director of FoodBev Media and editor of Water Innovation magazine.
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