By Andrew Starke
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has today (June 10) launched a $57 million bottle preform and closure facility at its Eastern Creek distribution centre in Sydney.
The plant will manufacture plastic bottle closures, or caps, and PET resin ‘preforms’, which are test-tube shaped moulds used to manufacture CCA’s PET plastic beverage bottles.
The Eastern Creek facility is the final stage in CCA’s vertical integration of its manufacturing facilities in Australia and New Zealand.
Currently, CCA is investing $450 million in bottle self-manufacture, or ‘blowfill’ technology across the Group.
The technology enables the company to make its own bottles on production lines within its facilities.
Preforms are fed into the ‘blow-fill’ machines and bottles are blown to CCA’s specific design.
CCA’s new facility, which will initially produce 1.4 billion preforms and 1.4 billion closures per year.
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) group managing director Terry Davis (right) and Mayor of Blacktown Alan Pendleton at the sod-turning ceremony.
Davis said the company was pleased to be able to add the facility to its ‘significant investment’ in food and beverage manufacturing in Australia.
“This facility enables us to bring in-house all the intellectual property associated with innovation in design and light-weighting which was previously not exclusive to CCA,” he said.
”It also enables us to help reduce our carbon footprint because we are making bottles with approximately 20% less PET resin and reducing our need to transport preforms, closures and empty bottles from suppliers.
“As part of our Project Zero capital works program, this facility will help us deliver on our goal to develop the most efficient and customer-centric fast moving consumer goods supply chain in the country.”