EDITOUR PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 09/22 www.petpla.net 14 eight years. In 2018, he finally moved as Operations Manager to Karlsruhe. “I was attracted by the exciting task of expanding the site, the large-scale production and the opportunity to build a new team fit for the future,” he remembered. Part of being fit for the future included the single-use PET line, just coming into operation. “Initially, we combined the investment in the site’s new line with production capacities,” said Dederer. “At the CCEP site in Liederbach, near Frankfurt in Hesse, we couldn’t see any expansion options and so decided to bring the single-use PET line there dating from 2013 into line with the latest technology and relocate it to Karlsruhe, where the necessary expansion options were available. The plan was to further extend the factory for strategic reasons, with the aim of expanding PET manufacturing, but nevertheless to keep production in the south of Germany, which was possible through this relocation. Here in Karlsruhe, this enabled us to increase the overall efficiency of the company, i.e. greater volumes and more staff, and we created around 70 new jobs,” summarised Andreas Dederer. Currently, a total of 248 employees work on the 56,000m2 Neureut production site, where there are further expansion possibilities. Production, products, key figures Coca-Cola and Coke Zero account for about 80% of the overall production, some 15% for Fanta Orange, Sprite, Mezzo Mix, and Coke Light and circa 5% for other products - all in 1.25 l PET bottles. Up to 36,000 bottles pass through the bottling system every hour. Almost 2.5 million leave the factory each week for the south and west of the country. For its upgraded Liederbach lines, operation relies on blowing and bottling technology from Krones. PCO1881 preforms of 31.5 g are produced inhouse on six Netstal PET-Line systems, not at the Karlsruhe site but at the site in Halle. Blowing in Karlsruhe is on a Krones Contiform Bloc C316. CCEP purchases the caps from Bericap and these are to be gradually replaced by tethered caps. Mr Dederer said: “In Karlsruhe, we are planning to adapt the PET line accordingly in calendar week 9. This line conversion should take place on site over 2.5 weeks.” To supply the new production lines and so we can produce more on the can lines, production-related supply areas have also recently been modernised and expanded. This includes the tanks in the Coca-Cola syrup room that can now supply two production systems at once with syrup for drinks bottling. Water treatment has also been reworked and expanded so two production lines can be operated at once. Six new loading ramps have been constructed in logistics, which should ensure that from now on, twice as many lorries can be loaded at the same time. Furthermore, the company fills 330ml sleek and standard cans, as well as the Monster Energy range in 500ml and 568ml. A total output of 342 million cans and 115 million PET bottles is planned for this year. Mains water is used and in 2021, consumption was around 2.377 litres per finished drink, we were told. Trends, sustainability and coronavirus lessons Compared to last year, water consumption has increased slightly, Mr Dederer explained. “This was caused by installation, new process techniques and validation processes. But the aim in 2022 is to reduce water use by 25 per cent. Furthermore, we have our own mineral well available, which currently isn’t in operation. However, this will also be used in future for reasons of sustainability and efficiency,” continued Mr Dederer. “We are also pursuing the aim, besides converting to tethered caps, of manufacturing our entire CocaCola bottle portfolio from 100% rPET in the upcoming years.” In 2019, the company responded to a generally stronger demand in the glass sector by investing US$5.3 million in a new 1l glass multi-use line in Deizisau. The Neureut site offers the opportunity to expand further in future but there are no expansion plans, at least for the moment. The pandemic that started in 2020 was an endurance test for the drinks manufacturer. “We’ve learned to work more flexibly with regard to time and location. But it was a challenging time overall for the factory,” said Dederer. “However, we’re proud of our employees because they all pulled together, which has had a positive effect on team spirit. As the only factory in Germany producing the Monster products, we were under particular pressure to maintain production and
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