Sharing a Coke in Wakefield
Leendert den Hollander, Managing Director at Coca-Cola Enterprises reflects on the recent visit of the Prime Minister and Chancellor to the CCE plant in Wakefield, now Europe's biggest soft drinks factory.
Can the North of England become the economic powerhouse described by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor during their recent visit to the region?
Well, my company for one believes it is a great place to invest as part of our long-term strategy to grow our business sustainably here in Great Britain. And we were very happy to show David Cameron and George Osborne the £13m production line we are currently building in our Wakefield factory – part of a £100m investment we have made in the site over the past five years.
The new line is dedicated to making our iconic contour Coca-Cola bottle using PET plastic in a range of sizes, at speeds of up to 40,000 per hour when it comes into production in September.
There are many reasons why Wakefield works for us – not least the fact it boasts terrific transport links with the rest of the country. But we are also lucky in that we can tap into a highly skilled workforce in the area – something that came home to me when the Prime Minister and Chancellor met some of Wakefield’s apprentices and graduate engineers. Their passion and enthusiasm clearly impressed our visitors – and our ongoing investment in training and developing our people is core to our continued success.
Elsewhere, we are investing £3.5m at our Morpeth facility in Northumberland on new production equipment to make the glacéau smartwater bottled water brand, launching in the summer.
But it’s not all about the north of England, of course! In Scotland, we are installing the latest manufacturing technology at our East Kilbride facility with the introduction of a new state-of-the-art robotic palletiser and we are building a high-speed canning line at our Sidcup site later this year.
These investments form part of our plans to inject more than £1 million a week in our British operations this year, underlining our commitment to manufacturing excellence in this country.
And Wakefield – where we have built Europe’s biggest soft drinks factory – is absolutely integral to our plans to make a positive contribution to the British economy.
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