Coca-Cola Europacific Partners opens $43.7 million can line

Backed by a $43.7 million investment, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Australia has opened a new can line at its production site in Moorabbin, Victoria.

The line caters for increasing demand for canned beverages, allowing CCEP to scale its local can production and deliver more beverages across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

Fully operational in time for summer, the can line is able to make up to 1700 cans per minute in a variety of formats and sizes, from ‘mini’ 250 and 375 mL cans through to 500 mL packs.

Peter West, Vice President and General Manager of Australia, the Pacific and Indonesia, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, said CCEP adopts a value-chain approach and continually assesses the entire life cycle of products to drive growth and sustainability.

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

Additionally, the line has allowed CCEP to take a step forward in its gender equality ambitions. Over 50% of the team employed on the line are women, and the total female representation across the company’s Victorian supply chain has increased by over 3% in the past year.

Delivering water and energy efficiencies, the can line is the most sustainable within the company’s Australian operations. It uses less water than other existing lines and is estimated to save the equivalent of six Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per year. The line is also designed to reduce the site’s energy usage by approximately 160,000 kWh each year, due to its ability to fill cans at room temperature.

Orlando Rodriguez, Vice President of Supply Chain, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific, CCEP, said, “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. Our continued investment in more efficient infrastructure at our facilities will play a role in helping us reach our net zero targets.”

The can line at Moorabbin complements CCEP’s new-look distribution centre (DC) at Mentone, which houses a $17.4 million automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). The ASRS provides 12,000 additional pallet spaces to support the increased can production and the efficient dispatch of product orders in Australia’s southern states.

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

Image credit: Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Australia