Coca-Cola European Partners to invest £39m in UK facility

Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced a £39 million investment to triple the storage capacity at its Greater London facility.

Designed to hold and automatically move 25,000 pallets, the automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) at the Sidcup factory will be operational in 2018.

The company claimed the investment will allow all manufactured products to be delivered to customers directly, saving around 10,800 road miles by HGV trucks.

The investment in automation follows the opening of similar ASRS facilities at CCEP’s manufacturing sites in Edmonton and Wakefield, helping to further increase efficiency and reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

CCEP Sidcup operations director Trevor Stacey said: “The new ASRS warehouse is a significant investment in sustainable manufacturing for CCEP and has been an exciting project for the team here in Sidcup, enabling us to explore and implement the latest manufacturing technologies to increase efficiencies across our operations.”

Last year the Sidcup facility’s can capacity was doubled following a £16.6 million investment in a new production line.

Vice president and general manager of CCEP GB Leendert den Hollander said: “On both a local and national level, and as a global business, we’re passionate about making positive contributions to the communities in which we operate, whilst remaining at the forefront of manufacturing innovation.

“This initiative and our wider investment in automation technology will be an important step in both helping to future-proof the sector and driving forward our sustainability journey.”