Coca Cola Factory Visit

Coca Cola Factory Visit 

Hello! We are six volunteers in Inzpire 12.0 Project for AIESEC in Sri Lanka. In this project, we are visiting several companies. Thanks to this opportunity, we had the chance to visit the Coca Cola Beverages Ltd factory based in Biyagama and observe the whole manufacturing process. The international brand of Coca Cola has the world tour largest non alcoholic beverage company refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. This group is known as the first provider of sparkling and still beverages in the world. It offers more than 4100 beverage choices such as bottles of diverse sizes, cans, etc.. The international group includes different brands like Coca Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid, Powerade, Kinley, Simply, Vitamin Water, etc.. The production site of Biyagama produces only a few variety of all the brands owned by the group; they are about 15 brands. The local plant in Biyagama was established in 1955 and is currently run by the South African Bottling Company (SABCO) under the leadership of SABCO’s first local Country Manager named Kapila Welmillage. The main competitors of the company is the local company called Elephant House Beverages, which produces carbonated soft drinks, caffeine based beverages, known in certain parts of the world as energy drinks and natural beverages. Most of their employees are millennial, so it means that they are born between 1950 and 2000. The operations are separated into two categories : glasses and plastic bottles. The first operation is the cleaning unit, where every bottle get cleaned and steamed to make sure they are clean and brightening. This is done by jet streams and water. Then, by a conveyor belt, they are transported to the next station, which is the filling unit. The ingredients of such beverages are 99% water and 1% syrup based. The first step is to fill the bottles with the different syrups imported from Egypt. Those syrups are stored under different temperatures and diverse storage rooms. The second step is to add the carbonated water. To make the water carbonated, we need to pursue 4 steps : 1. The pure water is put in the bottle by a machine. 2. We add refined sugar to the mixture. 3. We add another secret ingredient and some caramel coloring to the sugared water which makes the Coke one of the most drinked beverage on earth. 4. After adding carbon dioxide to the recipe, the machine shakes the bottles up a bit to make sure that everything is mixed together. Those products are finally packed and loaded. With only a few human intervention, all procedures go smooth and effective. The final output of the production is moved and retained to the garage. When we go through the garage, some clear slogan said like “small or big, TPM for all.” can be seen around. It is just another secret of the high effective in the factory. TPM (Total Production Management) is a strategy of management imported from Japan which is the core principle in this company. It means a system of maintaining and improving the integrity of production and quality systems through the machines, equipment, processes, and employees. To add business value to an organization, they aim to reduce the waste and elevate the production. To contribute in the environmental ecosystem, two recycling systems have been implemented here: 1. Bottles recycling : After the people have finished to drink the products, the glasses will be recycled. They will be refreshed and reused after cleaning by using flashing water in some huge and high-technology machines. In addition, there are some examination machines. Through them, the glasses which have some dirty drops will be send to rejection lines and be cleaned again. And the glasses with several damages will be broken up and sent to other areas for different uses. 2. Water recycling : The second recycling system is the Wastewater treatment system. Everyday the factory needs to wash tons of bottles, the wastewater will be processed through several machines which can settle and drop the dirt and be filtered and turns into cleaner water. Maybe the water cannot be used to drink directly but it can be used in the gardening and for irrigation. The settling materials will be sent to the landfill, which can maximize the environmental protection. By the end of February 2019, the company will generate 50% of its electricity need with the solar energy. On the roof of the company’s building, solar panels are set for that purpose. But we need to pay attention that the electricity cannot be used until selling it to the local electricity production factory and conversing. All in all, it is amazing that Coca Cola can keep the environmental friendly principle while processing.