Andrea Jenkyns MP joins CCEP to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Wakefield factory
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) welcomed Andrea Jenkyns MP (Morley and Outwood) to a ‘Family Fun Day’ event at Leeds Beckett University Campus on Sunday 13th October to celebrate 30 years since CCEP’s Wakefield site – Europe’s largest soft drinks factory* – first opened.
Wakefield’s 30th anniversary also marks a £49 million investment in its operations, and includes the opening of a £24 million canning production line, a demonstration of its ongoing commitment to manufacturing excellence and innovation in Great Britain. The new canning production line will be dedicated to making CCEP’s latest light-weight cans, ranging in size from 330ml to 500ml. The line has been built to be sustainable and is an important part of supporting CCEP’s sustainability action plan, This is Forward. The projected energy savings comes from a combination of technologies including automatic control of conveyors and energy sub-metering. In addition, water reduction will be achieved by air rinsing cans and dry lubrication on conveyors.
A further £10 million investment at the Wakefield site will fund a new state of the art process plant which will regulate processes across lines. This will reduce water and energy usage whilst continuing to guarantee the high quality and consistency standards CCEP are renowned for. The business has also allocated £15 million to an existing canning line to replace the use of plastic shrink wrap across multipacks of cans with 100% recyclable cardboard, part of a wider initiative to end the use of plastic shrink wrap across all multipacks of cans across Great Britain, which will see 4000 tonnes of plastic removed from across Europe.
To mark the celebration of the 30th anniversary, CCEP organised a ‘Family Fun Day’ event to celebrate the milestone with its employees and their families. As well as activities such as a crazy golf, bumper cars and a raffle in aid of Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, Wakefield’s leadership team presented long service awards to some of the site's employees for their hard work and dedication to manufacturing excellence over the last three decades.
After 30 years at CCEP, one of Wakefield’s longest serving employees, John Steel, Apprentice Training Manager, was also given the opportunity to meet with Andrea Jenkyns MP and share how the factory has changed since he joined the company back in 1989. You can read more about John’s story at CCEP in the below Notes to Editors.
Steve Thorpe, Interim Director at Coca-Cola European Partners Wakefield, said: “As a truly local business, we are proud to manufacture some of the nation’s favourite drinks right here from our factory in Wakefield. This recent investment demonstrates Coca-Cola European Partners’ long-term commitment to the Wakefield area and to manufacturing in GB as a whole.
“Investing in our people is of the upmost importance to us – helping to continually improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of our operations, as well as ensuring we can continue to support the growth of our team of highly skilled and dedicated people.”
Leendert den Hollander, Vice-President and General Manager, Coca-Cola European Partners GB, said: “At Coca-Cola European Partners, we are committed to making positive contributions to the communities in which we operate. Wakefield is a great example of the legacy that our local sites can provide our communities, while remaining focused on delivering manufacturing excellence throughout our operations in Great Britain.”
MP, Andrea Jenkyns, said: “I welcome Coca-Cola European Partners’ (CCEP) commitment to supporting manufacturing in GB by investing £49 million in its Wakefield operations. This is positive news for the local economy and a further boost for West Yorkshire.”
