Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has announced new plans for investment at its production facility on Milton Road, East Kilbride, with a £2.2m injection in the latest manufacturing technology.
The news comes in a landmark year for the facility, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in May.
The investment will see the introduction of a new state-of-the-art robotic palletiser, in early 2015. A first for the Scottish site, the machinery automatically stacks cases and will run at much higher line speeds of 14,000 bottles per hour (bph) initially, with the ability to increase to 18,000-20,000 bph. This will improve operating and energy efficiency at the site.
The news comes at the same time as the announcement from Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) that Coca-Cola LifeTM, the newest addition to the iconic Coca-Cola Trademark, will be available across Great Britain later this year. Coca-Cola Life will be made and produced at East Kilbride as well as at CCE’s other factories in Great Britain.
This lower-calorie cola contains a third less sugar and a third fewer calories than regular cola1 and is sweetened from natural sources. Sweetened with a blend of sugar and naturally-sourced stevia leaf extract, a 330 ml can of Coca-Cola LifeTM contains 89 calories and features striking green branding that will join Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Coca-Cola Zero on shelves from September. Coca-Cola Life is the first new Coca-Cola to be launched in Great Britain since the launch of Coca-Cola Zero in 2006.
Jim Duddy, Operations Director at Coca-Cola Enterprises East Kilbride, said: “Having just marked 50 years of manufacturing excellence in East Kilbride, the latest developments are another sign of CCE’s dedication to local manufacturing in Scotland.
“We are investing for the long-term through the latest technology, and we are extremely excited to start production of Coca-Cola Life. This is testament to the credentials and expertise we have on site, and further reinforces CCE’s ‘Made in GB’ commitments, with 97% of all of our products sold here produced across Great Britain.”
