Made In Wakefield
Coca-Cola Enterprises Wakefield celebrates 25th anniversary with £100m investment milestone
– Europe’s largest soft drinks factory marks 25 years of manufacturing excellence
– Ed Balls, Morley and Outwood MP and Shadow Chancellor joins CCE’s Chairman and CEO, John Brock, to celebrate Coca-Cola Enterprises’ landmark anniversary in Wakefield
– CCE unveils new automated warehouse and plans for significant carbon savings from new on-site energy generation as part of £100m investment in Wakefield
Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) today celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Wakefield factory with the announcement that it will surpass £100m in investments at the facility in the last five years, as part of a long-term programme highlighting its commitment to local manufacturing and the development of new technologies.
CCE’s landmark anniversary in Wakefield coincides with the official opening of the £30m Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) warehouse, a 34-metre high facility designed to hold and automatically move 30,000 pallets. The new facility doubles the site’s storage capacity allowing all manufactured products to be delivered to customers directly, saving approximately 500,000 road miles by HGV trucks per year.
The anniversary celebrations and official opening of the ASRS warehouse at Europe’s largest soft drinks plant by volume will be led by Ian Johnson, Operations Director at Wakefield, who will be joined by John Brock, Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, and Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor and local MP for Morley and Outwood.
A further £19m injection in Wakefield this year brings the total amount invested at the site to over £100m, since 2009. Work in 2014 will see the introduction of a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system at the factory which will save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, a 5.6% reduction for the site. Further investment will include the development of a new production line dedicated to making the iconic contour Coca-Cola bottle in larger PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging, including 1.25L and 1.75L formats.
Ian Johnson, Operations Director at Coca-Cola Enterprises Wakefield, says: “Our 25th anniversary demonstrates Coca-Cola Enterprises’ long-term commitment to Wakefield. We are proud to be a truly local business, both through our workforce and support for the local economy and wider community. Our latest funding pledge forms a crucial part of our strategy to continue to grow the business, while remaining as sustainable and environmentally efficient as possible.”
John Brock, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Enterprises, says: “At Coca-Cola Enterprises, we are passionate about making positive contributions to the communities where we operate through social, technological or environmental investments. We are focused on driving a low-carbon, zero-waste business throughout our operations in Great Britain and across Western Europe, and Wakefield is a perfect example of these sustainable manufacturing efforts. Additionally, we remain committed to local manufacturing in Great Britain, and are proud that almost all of the products sold here are made within this country by local residents.”
Ed Balls, Labour and Co-operative MP for Morley & Outwood and Shadow Chancellor, says:
“It’s great to see Coca-Cola Enterprises continuing to invest at the Outwood facility. Coca-Cola is a big international company but a local firm here in Outwood. If you buy a can of Coke in Leeds or Wakefield, the chances are it’s been manufactured using water from East Ardsley reservoir which is then bottled and distributed down the road in Wakefield. It’s great to see such local production for a global brand and we’re proud to have them manufacturing here in Outwood.”
