*To boost export capacity
*Plans to add additional bottling lines at Kano plant in 2021
WorldStage Newsonline– The Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (NBC), the bottler of Coca-Cola products in Nigeria has announced the successful installation of a new high-speed canning line at its Ikeja, Lagos plant, as it forges ahead with its business transformation and optimisation plan.
In the transformation and optimisation plan which commenced in 2015, Coke System in Nigeria, comprising NBC and The Coca-Cola Company was said to have invested over 650 million euros in the expansion and extensive upgrade of its manufacturing plants in Asejire, Ikeja, Abuja, Owerri, Challawa, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Benin .
In a statement over the weekend, Director, Public Affairs and Communications, NBC, Ekuma Eze, said new high-speed line at the Ikeja is expected to significantly increase the company’s production capacity for canned products, thereby reducing production time and making more Coca-Cola can products readily available to refresh Nigerians across the country. In addition to the increased production capacity, all Coca-Cola products from the line will come in modern sleek cans.
The spokesperson said the new line and its supporting capital investment were in line with the company’s commitment to continue investing in the country.
Eze said, “As a leading consumer packaged goods company, NBC is committed to supporting the Nigerian economy and its people. In addition, as our products continue to cater to a growing range of tastes, we seek to continue to offer our consumers a wider choice of healthier options, premium products and increasingly sustainable packaging.
“This is why we’ve made this significant investment into the installation of this new can manufacturing line at our Ikeja plant. This is just one level of our ongoing organizational transformation and optimization plan. For example, in the same vein, we recently scaled up operations in Challawa plant, Kano State, with the development of a greenfield factory which commenced operations in February this year with plans in place to install additional bottling lines at the plant in 2021.”
Eze said the successful installation of the new line is also expected to boost NBC’s export capacity, allowing it to meet up with increasing sales demand.
