Coca-Cola Amatil investment to revolutionize manufacturing for Australasia
Coca-Cola Amatil Australasia (CCAA) has invested A$35 Million in new “blowfill” technology at its Thebarton production facility in Adelaide, enabling the company to design and manufacture its own bottles using less raw materials.
CCAA’s Managing Director, Warwick White, described the new technology as the single largest capital investment in the company’s history, adding that it will fundamentally change the nature of manufacturing in the business.
He said, “The introduction of this technology has enabled us to redesign and lightweight our entire small carbonated soft drink and water bottle range. With innovation comes benefits which, in this case, are good for CCA, our customers and the communities we operate in. They include significant cost savings, production efficiency gains, increased product shelf life and stacking ability.”
At a Group level, CCAA says it is committed to spending approximately A$450 Million to install “blowfill” technology at all of the Company’s production facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Mr White said that “blowfill” technology is capable of meeting the environmental goals set by CCA in both energy and water savings and is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s beverage containers by over 20%. He said a significant portion of these savings will come from bottle redesigns that use less PET resin, with others from the elimination of the need to transport empty bottles to CCA bottling facilities, and energy savings on the line.
“This investment continues our lightweighting journey – a journey which has already seen CCA achieve a 20% increase in packaging raw material efficiency since 2004,” Mr White said.
CCAA’s Thebarton facility produces the full CCA range of beverages including brands under licence from The Coca-Cola Company (including Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Powerade Isotonic), along with Coca-Cola Amatil-owned brands. The Thebarton facility currently produces approximately 110 million PET bottles a year.
