Coca-Cola Amatil's Packaging Services Division has opened a new injection moulding and assembly line at its Eastern creek facility for making a three-part HDPE closure for its Powerade brand.
The launch of the new production line at CCA's Eastern Creek preform and closure plant on 31 August marks a significant step forward in CCA's sustainable packaging commitment, notably its pledge to reducing the volume and variety of plastic content in its beverage containers.
The new Sylon [Mercury] Sports closure is an advancement on the original Mercury closure that CCA previously imported for its Powerade sportsdrink. CCA accounted for one third of the global demand for the Mercury closure, according to CEO Alison Watkins, in her address to the CCA PSD team, business partners and suppliers attending the opening.
Watkins paid tribute to the team at PSD who she said had “found a way to to make the closure here and make it better”.
The PSD team, led by operations manager David Chalmers, was behind the design, testing and prototyping of this Australian-grown innovation. It's the first closure of its kind to receive approval from The Coca-Cola Company and also the only one in which all three parts – the base, slider and overcap – are made of the same material, high density polyethylene (HDPE).
Watkins said CCA has made a significant investment in this plant to date [$57m since its opening in 2011] and this new line in particular, but the business case was attractive.
“This is an Aussie manufacturing success story,” she said.
“Not only do we now have reliability of supply, without being subject to the vagaries of global exchange rates, we also have a fully recyclable solution that is produced cost effectively.
“Until now, we have imported closures from Europe and faced challenges with global supply. Our Packaging Services Division team at Eastern Creek took initiative and designed, tested and prototyped a closure which is more cost-effective, better for the environment, and will be made in Western Sydney.
“Our team said they could develop a reliable closure without compromising our commitment to sustainability – and did.” Watkins said.
CCA's Eastern Creek facility manufactures preforms and closures for the company's beverage operations in Australia, New Zealand, PNG and Fiji. The plant will produce more than one hundred and twenty million SyLon sports closures and the same number of preforms per annum.
Coca-Cola Amatil’s presence in Western Sydney also includes its largest NSW manufacturing facility and distribution centre located at Northmead, and a facility in Seven Hills where it manufactures Australian Bitters Company’s Aromatic Bitters, the world’s second largest bitters brand.
