CCEP scales local production with $43m canning line

Beverages company Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Australia has officially opened its $43.7 million canning line at its production site in Moorabbin, Victoria.

CCEP said the new canning line will help scale its local can production and deliver more beverages across Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia more efficiently. It is also positioned to advance its sustainability and gender equality goals.

CCEP Vice President and General Manager of Australia, the Pacific and Indonesia, Peter West, said they adopt a “value-chain approach” to their operations.

“This new can line at Moorabbin allows us to make a larger range of canned beverages from across our portfolio of non-alcoholic and alcoholic brands locally in Victoria, meaning our products are closer to the end-consumer,” West explained.

“This minimises freight movements and, in turn, helps to reduce carbon emissions,” he said.

The canning line can make up to 1,700 cans per minute in a variety of formats and sizes, from ‘mini’ 250ml and 375ml cans, through to 500ml packs.

This includes Coca-Cola No Sugar, Sprite, Mount Franklin Lightly Sparkling, Canadian Club & Dry, Monster and Mother Energy.

CCEP said it is using the latest manufacturing technology, making the company’s Moorabbin can line the most sustainable production line within its Australian operations and delivers considerable water and energy efficiencies.

The can line is estimated to save the equivalent of more than six Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per year.

The company also anticipates that the site’s energy usage will drop by approximately 160,000-kilowatt hours each year, mainly due to the line’s ability to fill cans at room temperature; eliminating the energy that is typically needed to cool liquid as part of the filling process.

“The requirement to move product between states in a country as vast as Australia contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and reducing this is a challenging task, but it’s not impossible,” said Orlando Rodriguez, Vice President of Supply Chain – Australia, New Zealand and Pacific at CCEP.

“Our continued investment in more efficient infrastructure at our facilities will play a role in helping us reach our net zero targets,” Rodriguez said.

The new infrastructure at Moorabbin has also helped CCEP to advance its gender equality ambitions, according to West.

“More than 50 per cent of the team that work on the new can line are women, and we’ve increased female representation across our total Victorian supply chain workforce by more than three per cent over the past year,” he revealed.

Automation at Mentone Distribution Centre

CCEP has also refreshed its nearby Mentone Distribution Centre, which houses a $17.4 million Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS).

The ASRS provides 12,000 additional pallet spaces to support Moorabbin’s increased can production.

It will also support the efficient dispatch of product orders to customers in Australia’s southern states.

“Combined, the new infrastructure at Moorabbin and Mentone allows us to slash our inter-state freight by more than one million kilometres per year, cutting CO2 emissions by 830 tonnes,” Rodriguez said.

“These two major infrastructure projects work hand-in-glove to help us uphold our commitment great people, great service and great beverages, done sustainably and we couldn’t be more pleased to see them live and operational,” he concluded.

Source: CCEP media release