FDBusiness.com

Britvic has officially opened its most recent canning line at the soft drink manufacturer’s its largest production site at Rugby in England. The state-of-the-art line, already producing internationally known brands including Tango, Pepsi and 7UP, saw Britvic invest a further £26.9 million in the Rugby factory and create 20 new jobs. This brings the total number of employees at the site to over 340.

Based on Glebe Farm Industrial Estate, the factory boasts some of the fastest lines in Europe, with the new canning line turning out around 120,000 cans per hour. Bringing the site’s total to four canning lines, the most recent line boosts total capacity by around 20%. This takes total production to an impressive rate of just under half a million cans per hour.

The multi-million-pound investment in Britvic’s Rugby factory comes as the company celebrates 35 years in the town.

Nigel Paine, Supply Chain Director, said: “Britvic knows that a strong supply chain is fundamental to its continued success. Having created a modern supply chain for the long-term with our Business Capability Programme, we’re now supercharging it with further investment. Consumers love the convenience and sustainability credentials of our cans and, with the increased capacity this new line brings, we’ll be able to put even more of them in their hands this summer and in summers to come.”

Aluminium cans are 100% recyclable and on average contain 74% recycled material. Many of the cans used by Britvic also benefit from a considerably reduced carbon footprint due to their arrangement with metal packaging manufacturer Ardagh Group’s neighbouring factory, who send cans to Britvic through a tunnel linking the two factories.

Britvic operates factories in Great Britain, Ireland, France and Brazil with strong management teams on the ground alongside teams located in the US, Benelux, Asia and the Middle East.