Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has announced it is investing GBP42.3m (USD53 million) in a new automated storage retrieval system (ASRS) warehouse to be built at its Wakefield site.

The site, CCEP says, is currently Europe’s largest soft drinks plant by volume with the new ASRS warehouse expected to take two years to build.

CCEP says the system stands at 30 m tall and will maximise warehouse capacity “to hold and move an additional 29,500 pallets on top of its current capacity of 29,000 pallets”. 

Vanessa Smith, director of Wakefield Supply Chain Operations at CCEP says: “The new ASRS warehouse ensures we continue expanding our production capabilities as we look to the future, and operate as efficiently and sustainably as possible”.

This latest expenditure is the latest in a wide-ranging investment strategy in its assets by CCEP which has seen GBP103 million (USD129 million) spent since 2019.

The company has replaced its materials handling equipment, including its fleet of 75 gas-powered forklifts powered with new forkilfts powered by lithium-ion batteries.