Saturday, October 27, 2007
Coca-Cola Enterprises NYSE: CCE is the largest bottler by volume in the Coca-Cola System. It is the anchor bottler for North America and parts of Europe.
The company is the bottler of Coca-Cola and its other soft drink products, and in some areas a few other soft drink products, often Dr Pepper, in about 90% of Canada, 75% of the United States, all of the United Kingdom, except Northern Ireland, and all of France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. The primary areas under the control of other bottlers include most of the mountain west, most parts of the south, northern New England, Alaska, and the Canadian arctic.
The company was founded in 1986 with the purpose of consolidation of bottling in the Coca-Cola System. Previously independent businesses in small geographic areas, generally a central city or town and its hinterland, bottled Coca-Cola products and distributed these to stores. The Coca-Cola Company began to buy up these bottlers in 1980 and then spun this function off to anchor bottlers in various parts of the world.
Today the company is 36% owned by the Coca-Cola Company, while the remaining interest is floated on the stock market. Coca-Cola Enterprises is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia but is separate from The Coca-Cola Company.
The company produced in 2002 the equivalent of 4.4 billion unit cases of soft drinks. A unit case is 192 ounces, or 24 standard servings. This represents about 21% of the total Coca-Cola production of Coca-Cola worldwide.
Production facilities are located in The Netherlands (Dongen), Belgium (Antwerp, Ghent and Chaudfontaine (mineral water only)), France (Socx, Grigny, Clamart, Les Pennes-Mirabeau and Castanet-Tolosan), and the UK (Wakefield, Sidcup, Milton Keynes, Edmonton, East Kilbride and Colwall).
Similar anchor bottlers are the south Pacific area's Coca-Cola Amatil, eastern Europe's Coca-Cola Hellenic, and Latin America's Coca-Cola FEMSA.
Coca Cola Enterprises: Wakefield (England)
Coca Cola Enterprises, Wakefield, consists of 9 lines of production (1 line for the sole purpose to bottle the Oasis bottles.) A new line is currently being built, also for the sole purpose to fill Oasis bottles, as the demand for that product is greatly rising. 7 Million liters of water daily is needed to supply the largest bottling plant in England.