Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced investment of £14 million in its manufacturing site in the North East of England.
CCEP’s local operations will be supported by a new high-speed, fully automated water processing and bottling line, which will more than double the site’s existing production capabilities from 18,200 bottles to 56,000 bottles per hour. The step up amounts to more than four million cases of water every year, CCEP said.
The site in Morpeth – north of Newcastle upon Tyne – is the only source of Schweppes Abbey Well spring water, which is bottled at source using spring water from a natural underground aquifer on site. Morpeth is also the sole site in Britain to produce Glacéau Smartwater, launched in 2014. This also uses local spring water, which is then vapour distilled before electrolytes are added to give Smartwater its crisp, clean taste, CCEP said.
The latest site investment will also support production of a new sport cap format for the Glacéau Smartwater brand, worth almost £22 million.
The changes were debuted as part of a ceremony that welcomed local MP Ian Lavery, whose Wansbeck constituency includes Morpeth.
Jane Buckley, operations director for Coca-Cola European Partners in Morpeth, said: “At CCEP we are dedicated to supporting local manufacturing across the country and this investment in new equipment and production technology for Schweppes Abbey Well and Glacéau Smartwater is an exciting milestone for our Morpeth operations. We have a proud history here at Morpeth of producing high-quality water for consumers across Great Britain and are pleased to have welcomed Ian Lavery MP to see first-hand the world class on-site innovation which this most recent investment supports.”
And Ian Lavery MP said: “It was fantastic to see the results of investment in the Morpeth site. Our community, and indeed the country, needs to see more high-quality jobs in manufacturing like those in Morpeth. I’m sure that this site has a bright future supporting employment in Wansbeck.”
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