Coca-Cola Europacific Partners is investing £42.3m into a new automated storage retrieval system (ASRS) warehouse at its site in Wakefield.
The ASRS will take around two and a half years to build and will stand at 38 metres tall to save space and increase the Wakefield’s warehouse capacity by more than double.
The new system will enable the facility to hold and move an additional 29,500 pallets on top of its current capacity of 29,000 pallets, whilst also reducing its number of vehicle journeys per year by 18,500 - the equivalent of 441,000km annually.
This funding follows a £31m site investment for the installation of a new canning line, capable of producing 2,000 cans per minute, which has been operational since July 2024.
The line provides additional production capabilities for CCEP’s light-weight 330ml cans across brands including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta, Dr Pepper and Sprite.
The bottler has also been evolving its approach to recruitment, placing more focus on skills and potential than experience and qualifications. This has seen the site increase its uptake of female workers on the canning line this year, with three of four team leaders on the line being female and a total 40/60 women to men gender split on the new line.
The new ASRS warehouse ensures we continue expanding our production capabilities as we look to the future, and operate as efficiently and sustainably as possible.
Vanessa Smith, director of Wakefield supply chain operations, CCEP
Wakefield has received £103m in investment since 2019 to enhance efficiencies and operate more sustainably, such as the replacement of its material handling equipment (MHE).
This includes a fleet of 75 gas-powered forklift trucks which are used to move cases of products around the site. These are powered by lithium ion batteries which produce no carbon emissions in their day-to-day operation.
“Wakefield offers a range of modern manufacturing jobs and sits at the heart of many of our latest manufacturing technologies,” said Stephen Moorhouse, VP and general manager, CCEP.
“We’ve invested more than £100m since 2019 to help us evolve operations on site and further support the local economy."
In related news, Lumina Intelligence has found that less than a third of British consumers feel food and drink manufacturers are doing enough to reduce their carbon emissions. Dive into the stats here, in Food Manufacture’s latest sustainability feature.
