Coca-Cola HBC Adds Extra Fizz to its Partnership

Coca-Cola HBC, the strategic bottling partner of the Coca-Cola company on the island of Ireland, has extended its long-term partnership with Wincanton, the leading supply chain partner to UK businesses. 

The contract extension until the end of 2026 builds on the two brands’ strong partnership which began in 2016 and marks a decade of collaboration.

As part of this collaboration, Wincanton will continue to provide warehouse operations management at Coca-Cola HBC’s dedicated facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which handles over 52 million cases of popular brands such as Coca-Cola, Fanta and Monster per year.

Wincanton is also responsible for delivering operational efficiencies, incorporating volumes driven by the Deposit Return Scheme in the Republic of Ireland whilst also bringing logistics expertise to the facility to support the company’s ongoing growth.

Joanna Sneddon, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland Supply Chain Director said:

“Delivering high-quality products and service to our customers is our priority. We are pleased to grow our partnership with Wincanton on our journey to develop world class logistics service over the coming years.”

James Hurrell, MD for Grocery & Consumer at Wincanton, added:

“With its vision to be the world’s leading 24/7 beverage partner, we’re delighted to be supporting Coca-Cola HBC and its unique portfolio on its journey to exponential growth. 

“We look forward to continuing our work together and celebrating a decade of growth, innovation, and automation together.” 

The extended partnership also reflects a shared commitment to sustainability and innovation. Both companies are actively investing in greener supply chain practices, with Wincanton introducing initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and Coca-Cola HBC advancing its World Without Waste goals. This continued alignment on responsible logistics and environmental stewardship ensures that the partnership not only delivers operational excellence but also supports broader sustainability objectives.

Alongside its extended partnership with Coca-Cola HBC, Wincanton is undergoing significant transformation as it strengthens its market position through strategic acquisitions and partnerships. In early 2024, the company was acquired by GXO Logistics in a £762 million deal, which is currently under review by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). While the regulatory process continues, Wincanton remains focused on innovation and operational excellence. In a move to advance its automation capabilities, Wincanton also acquired inteq, a UK-based specialist in warehouse execution software and robotics integration. This acquisition brings inteq’s proprietary technology and expertise into Wincanton’s portfolio, enhancing its ability to deliver cutting-edge, efficient logistics solutions across its network.

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Voice rollout across 92 Coca-Cola bottling sites

The Ehrhardt Partner Group (EPG) has boosted its reputation with the successful rollout of its LYDIA™ Voice technology to 92 CONA locations, a total that is set to rise to over 100. CONA is the IT services company for the Coca-Cola bottling business in North America, with over 160,000 sales orders and an average of 30000 users per day. Its implementation and rapid rollout of LYDIA™ Voice is a fantastic endorsement for EPG, the Germany-based global supply chain software provider and voice picking innovator.

“LYDIA Voice is the best thing we have ever rolled out to the warehouse. Where has it been these last five years?” This is the valuable feedback coming directly from the bottlers of Coca-Cola who use EPG’s software on a daily basis. And this user experience is backed up by a number of facts. According to CONA, LYDIA Voice has brought productivity gains of up to 7% as well as clear voice recognition, the elimination of voice template training, and a more coordinated system architecture compared to the previous voice system. “The implementation of LYDIA at Coke One North America is of enormous significance for us,” emphasises Marco Ehrhardt, President of EPG. “The rollout to the 92 locations was completed in just twelve months.”

Consistency and clarity

CONA recognised the need to consider new voice solutions in 2019. Its previous system was prone to weak or intermittent connections. CONA required a solution that would al-low for continuous picking – independent of the network connection – should the Wi-Fi signal be weak or lost.
“Our previous voice system had a complex architecture and required the software to be hosted and run on individual servers at each deployment site,” explains Baron Jordan, CONA Chief Product Officer, Supply Chain. “There were also issues concerning inconsistent voice recognition.”

After an intensive eight-month investigation by CONA and a real-world test against an-other provider, LYDIA Voice emerged as the clear winner due to being able to meet all the tough requirements of Baron Jordan and his team. LYDIA Voice immediately resolved the architecture and support challenges across the 92 bottling sites thanks to its ability to directly integrate with SAP via a remote function call (RFC) without middleware.

The solution also offers an unsurpassed level of voice recognition, which is enabled by its deep neural network voice recognition. Training requirements are swept away altogether due to its immediate ease of use and its versatility. LYDIA is able to recognise more than 50 languages and a multitude of dialects.

A further advantage of the product is that it is device-independent, meaning that each location can select its preferred mobile voice device according to environment or preference. Customised adaptions in the voice dialogue can be independently created by the customer without having to call on EPG technicians or developers.

https://www.lydia-voice.com/gb/voice-know-how/case-studies/cona-services-success-story/

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