Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ site in Edmonton recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Located just off the North Circular, the facility operates seven production lines, producing 262,000 litres an hour. Alongside plastic bottles, it also supplies the hospitality industry with bag-in-box products.
But as Katie Hutt, GB manufacturing director at Coca-Cola Europacific Partner tells Food Manufacture, its Edmonton’s significance goes well beyond production volumes.
Q: What’s unique about CCEP Edmonton?
A: It’s one of our key manufacturing sites in Great Britain and a significant economic engine for the local area, with over 300 people employed directly at the site.
Over those 50 years, Edmonton has become a great example of the legacy that our local sites create for their communities. We’ve supported 15 charities through Edmonton, donating £42,500 to local causes through the CCEP Community Fund since 2019.
What I find most exciting is that Edmonton has become a blueprint for how modern manufacturing can evolve. We’re balancing traditional priorities – efficiency, quality, safety, output – with our commitments to sustainable manufacturing, skills development and inclusivity. We’re showing it’s possible to run a high-
performing manufacturing operation while creating an environment where our workforce reflects the communities we serve.
Q: Tell us about your role and highlights at Edmonton
A: I’m responsible for manufacturing operations across Great Britain, which means overseeing production and efficiency, while building teams that can adapt and grow. I’ve spent over 20 years in supply chain and manufacturing, and for me, operational excellence and people development aren’t separate things - they go hand in hand.
A favourite part of all my roles to date has been the opportunity to be part of people’s growth and development, which has given me the ability to ‘pay back’ the support that has been offered to me by colleagues and mentors over the years.
This is why I’m particularly proud of our apprenticeship and early careers programme. We currently have 11 apprentices and graduates on our career builder and early careers programmes at Edmonton, and watching people come in at entry level and grow into skilled professionals is always rewarding.
Another highlight has been watching Mohammed Koheeallee, our accessibility ambassador, drive change within the business. Mohammed joined CCEP as a merchandiser and, then looked to change career paths and pursued a health and safety apprenticeship, which allowed him to identify opportunities to improve accessibility at the site. This ultimately led to the transformation of Edmonton into a facility where 75% of the site is now wheelchair accessible. He turned lived experience into lasting change, which is something to be really proud of.
The data tells a powerful story, too. Across our business, colleagues identifying as having a disability has increased from 7% in 2021 to 13% in 2024. The work at Edmonton has been central to building that trust and creating an environment where people feel they can be themselves at work.
Q: How have things at the Edmonton site changed over the decades?
A: Our core focus remains constant – to produce quality beverages safely and efficiently. But almost everything about how we deliver that has evolved.
Traditionally, manufacturing has been largely about maximising output from existing assets – equipment, processes, workforce – with the focus being optimisation within those constraints. What’s changed is how we maximise that output, by investing in new technology, adapting our processes and rethinking our workforce strategy to meet changing market demands.
The infrastructure changes at Edmonton reflect that evolution. The £22 million we’ve invested since 2019 hasn’t gone into a single big project, but instead deployed across multiple areas to modernise the entire operation such as upgrading equipment to improve efficiency.
We’ve also been focused on aligning to our ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ philosophy and living that culture. Our allyship network gives colleagues genuine channels to shape how the site operates. We run regular accessibility audits now, not as a box-ticking exercise but as genuine opportunities to identify and remove barriers.
Q: What investment has gone into the site and how has this supported the facility and its team?
A: The £22 million we’ve invested in Edmonton since 2019 has been about future-proofing one of our most important manufacturing and distribution facilities.
On sustainability, we’ve made significant progress. We’ve upgraded equipment and processes, so the site now runs on 100% renewable electricity, utilising a solar panel array on our factory roof. We have also been zero waste to landfill for over 10 years.
We’ve invested almost £1 million specifically on accessibility improvements – automating more than 50 heavy doors that were barriers for wheelchair users and colleagues with mobility challenges to repositioning equipment and improving signage throughout the site. This has included rethinking everything from how high we position ID touch panels to how we communicate safety information, making sure it works for everyone. And we’ve also created quiet spaces for colleagues who need them.
Following investments in skills development, we have 11 apprentices and graduates currently at Edmonton, which represent a pipeline of talent that will drive the site forward for decades. Our ‘Career Builder’ programme gives colleagues at any life stage the opportunity to learn new skills and progress their careers.
Since we introduced it, 144 CCEP colleagues have used the scheme – that’s 144 people who have been able to grow their skills with us, rather than needing to look elsewhere to advance.
The return on investment has been clear. Our colleague engagement has improved, we’re recruiting from a wider talent pool and many of these changes have actually improved operational efficiency too. When you design for everyone, you often end up with better solutions overall.
Q: What have been the key lessons learned?
A: Last year we launched our ‘Accessibility Matrix’ – developed with AccessAble and endorsed by the Business Disability Forum – which is a step-by-step guide that demystifies accessibility and translates complex rules into practical, easy-to-use guidance. We’ve chosen to make it publicly available because we want others to learn from our experience.
Perhaps the biggest learning would be that we shouldn’t be afraid of making bold choices. We should challenge ourselves to make sure any new additions to facilities are ‘accessible by design’ and encourage different approaches to attracting talent into teams.
Q: What’s next for Edmonton?
A: Edmonton is a great site, with a fantastic team, in a brilliant location close to many of our customers. We can look forward to continued evolution as we adapt to serve market needs and take advantage of advances in technology.
As we celebrate 50 years in operation, we’re continuing to look at how we can improve and update the site to make sure we’re at the forefront of the industry and that we continue to place the safety of our colleagues as a top priority.
Q: What advice would you give other manufacturing leaders looking to future-proof their sites?
A: If there’s one constant in manufacturing, it’s change. And while we don’t know what the future will look like, we can be certain that it will be different to today. So, the key to future-proofing lies in agility and adaptability.
Your workforce and their capabilities are absolutely foundational to this, and the skills that we need for the next 20 years will not be the same as the ones that have served us well for the last 20. At the same time, demographics and the talent pool are changing, with refreshed expectations from both employees and employers.
You need to adapt by supporting learning and growth in your existing team whilst also attracting new talent.
I strongly believe that diversity plays a role here. The best teams I’ve worked in are those with a breadth of experiences and perspectives. So, think about inclusion from a business perspective, not just a social responsibility one. Manufacturing faces significant skills shortages, and by making your sites accessible to a wider range of people, you’re future-proofing your talent pipeline.
Our apprenticeship programme, for example, aims to challenge the under-representation of young people across all communities, including gender, ethnicity, and disability. Having the right mix of talent is vital for business sustainability.
Create channels that give colleagues a voice, and act on what you hear. Use data to track your progress. It helps you to see how far you’ve come and holds you accountable. We’re proud to be a ‘Disability Confident Leader’, a signatory of the Disability Employment Charter, and to be included in Stonewall’s Global Workplace Equality Index and Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index. But what matters most is the difference these efforts make every day for colleagues on site.
