Soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola Consolidated has injected $25m into its production facility in West Memphis, Arkansas, to increase its capacity and bottle production capabilities.
The sum has been used to build a new bottling line at the West Memphis site. This fourth line at the facility increases its capacity from 26 million cases per year to 29 million.
The site is also being kitted out with blow mold production equipment for manufacturing plastic bottles. Instead of transporting ready-made plastic bottles to the West Memphis site, the bottler will now ship in smaller pieces of 100% recycled plastic, called "preforms", which can be expanded into a full bottle.
Coca-Cola Consolidated said that the Arkansas facility is also now able to produce “new lighter-weight” packaging and bottle designs. The group added it would now be packaging products like Coca-Cola, Fanta and Fresca in a “consistent bottle” design called the Harmony bottle.
“We’re excited to grow in West Memphis,” Coca-Cola Consolidated VP of manufacturing Steve Funderburke said in a statement. “This investment in our teammates and production capabilities is a long-term commitment to improving how we serve the world’s best brands and flavours to our communities.”
The company will be hiring 14 operators, two mechanics, two quality control staff and a forklift driver as part of the plant’s expansion.
Coca-Cola Consolidated is an independent bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola Company products that covers 14 states and the District of Columbia. It essentially covers roughly 60 million customers annually in the US southeast, mid-west, and mid-Atlantic regions.
The company operates ten manufacturing facilities in the US and 60 distribution centres.
It also distributes products for brands such as Dr Pepper and Monster Energy.
In the first-half of its fiscal year ended 28 June, 2024, Coca-Cola Consolidated booked net sales of $3.4bn, up 2.3% year on year. Gross profit increased 4.8% on 2023, to $1.4bn.
The group's income from operations sat at $474.5m, growing 7.9% on the previous year.
