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Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has marked the official opening of a new canning line at its Sidcup site in London, UK. The new line is capable of producing 2,000 cans per minute and forms part of a £28 million investment in the factory. It will support the production of sustainable packaging for CCEP’s brands, including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Schweppes. Karl Probert, operations director at CCEP Sidcup, said: “Our dedicated workforce of almost 400 play such an important role in continually evolving our manufacturing operations. We’re proud to officially open our new high-speed canning line today. It uses the latest manufacturing innovations to produce many of our brands that consumers know and love, from right here in Sidcup.” Stephen Moorhouse, VP and general manager of CCEP (GB), commented: “We’ve been at the heart of the Sidcup community for more than 60 years, and we’re proud of the team here helping to drive the latest innovations in manufacturing. We’ve invested almost £120million into the factory since 2017, helping us to support the local economy and accelerate our path to net zero.” This is the latest in a string of investments from Coca-Cola. Last month the company announced it was investing £31 million into its Wakefield soft drinks plant. In May, CCEP opened a sustainable equipment services and point-of-sale facility in Queensland, Australia and earlier in the year, constructed a new €8 million warehouse at its production unit in Setúbal, Portugal.