Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) today celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Edmonton factory, and pledge to invest an additional £300,000 over the next year at the North London site.
This investment underlines CCE’s commitment to maintaining manufacturing excellence and innovation across its factories in Great Britain, bringing the total amount injected into the Edmonton site alone to £1m since 2013.
The celebrations were led by John Brock and Ron Lewis – chairman and CEO, and senior vice president of supply chain at CCE respectively – who got an insight into the factory’s success by meeting employees during a tour of the site.
The anniversary coincides with the announcement that the on-site Education Centre at the Edmonton factory welcomed the 50,000th student through its doors following a visit from local school, The Compton.
Opened in 2004, the facility aims to host more than 200 school visits a year for students from nearby secondary schools, colleges and universities, giving them an insight into manufacturing processes and the opportunity to hear more about career pathways into industry.
CCE works with a network of local business partners, including the Institute of Education and WISE (Women in Science and Manufacturing), to broaden the reach of its Edmonton Education Centre and to enable its continued contribution to educating and inspiring the next generation of workers.
Operations Director at CCE Edmonton, Steve Thorpe commented: “Coca-Cola Enterprises prides itself on being a truly local, Great British business and Edmonton’s anniversary provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate the heritage we have developed here in north London over the past 40 years.
“However, it’s not just our history that we are celebrating today, it’s our future too. The investments we have announced for the next year will help us to ensure Edmonton remains a nationally renowned centre of manufacturing excellence.”
Chairman and CEO John Brock noted: “We are dedicated to making positive contributions in all of the communities in which we operate across Europe. Edmonton is a strong example of the role our sites can play in their local areas, not just as a factory which fosters innovation, but one which seeks to nurture young people and provide them with new opportunities for the future.”
Head of Business Studies at The Compton School, Aashiq Pujara added: “Over the past eight years, I have regularly visited the Coca-Cola Enterprises Education Centre and each time I am always left with the same sense of satisfaction that my students have gained invaluable knowledge.
“Tours of the facilities are always conducted in an extremely professional manner and students have often used examples in their GCSE exam questions linked to the information obtained whilst on the trip. This is perhaps the biggest reason why I will continue to bring groups to visit the factory for many more years to come.”
Currently employing 229 workers, the Edmonton factory is capable of making 50m cases of product each year and is responsible for producing brands from across the company’s entire portfolio, including Coca-Cola; Diet Coke; Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life.
Its five manufacturing lines have the capacity to produce up to 142,000 litres of drink an hour and its Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) is one of the largest in CCE, capable of storing 24,000 pallets of finished product.
