PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2018

BOTTLE MAKING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 05/18 www.petpla.net 42 Soft drinks in Australia by Kay Barton Eastern Creek, just over 40km to the West of Australia’s leading commercial and business city, could be regarded as the ‘gateway’ to Sydney. It is also the location of one of Coca- Cola Amatil’s newest plants. With 36 plants in total, across Australia, New Zealand, Indo- nesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa, it is a true giant in the industry and one of the largest bottling companies in the Coca- Cola network globally. We met: Mr David K.L. Grant, Director Supply Chain, CCA Australia Mr David Chalmers, Operations Manager PSD, CCA Australia Mr Michael Ludemann, General Manager ANZ, Husky Injection Molding Coca-Cola Amatil employs around 13,000 staff, including circa 3500 in Australia. It maintains 126 produc- tion lines across its various national markets and, in 2017, it generated an underlying net prot after tax of AUD$416.2 million. Amatil stands for Allied Manufacturing and Trade Indus- tries Limited; the acronym was rst used in 1977. The 142,000m² site in Eastern Creek has two facilities and houses production for PET preforms and HDPE closures, as well as the NSW Distribution Centre. The business was set up in 1904 and was involved in printing, agriculture and consumer products. The rm entered the pack- aging sector in 1960 and then the food and beverages sector in 1963. In 1965, the decision to purchase Coca-Cola Bottlers Pty in Perth paved the way for further business success. The change in name to Amatil in 1977 marked the start of an ongoing phase of strategic take- overs, and the establishment of plants in Southeast Asia and the Pacic region. Alongside non-alco- holic beverages, the company has also been bottling and distributing beers, spirits and alcoholic mixed drinks since 2006/2007, a segment which – along with coffee – is gener- ating strong sales. At the Eastern Creek facility we were introduced to David K.L. Grant, Director, Supply Chain, with Coca-Cola Amatil, and David Chalmers, Opera- tions Manager PSD. We were also joined by Michael Ludemann, Gen- eral Manager ANZ for Husky Injection Molding Systems. Coca-Cola Amatil started using PET bottles as far back as the late 1980s. In the 2000s and 2010s the company gradually made itself inde- pendent of external suppliers for PET bottles, preforms and closures, and launched its own complete supply division for bottle production. Today, the PSD (Packaging Services Divi- sion of Coca-Cola Amatil) produces 1.2bn preforms and 1.3bn closures in a state-of-the-art facility. Extensive use of fully-automated processes, robot- ics and automated vehicles mean that few human operators are needed. As well as supplying its own needs the plant also supplies other bottlers, with around 200 million preforms and as many closures. It is planned to develop this as a distinct business area. “Our model is highly competitive”, says David Chalmers. “Our injection moulding facilities can produce all models and we have, in principle, no restrictions on quantity. This means, for example, that even small volumes such as 1.5 million are feasible.” Coca-Cola Amatil currently uses ve Husky HyPET HPP4 and three Husky F.r.t.l.: David Chalmers and David Grant of Coca-Cola Amatil with Michael Ludeman from Husky Injection Molding Systems