Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Papua New Guinea : Bottling Brilliance

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Papua New Guinea has amassed a proud history as a local bottler, with a focus on beverage products, pushing boundaries, blazing trails, and creating possibilities for more than 100 years. We get the full story from Sales and Commercial Director, Tim Solly.

BOTTLING BRILLIANCE

On 8th May 1886, Dr John Pemberton brought his perfected syrup to Jacobs’ Pharmacy in downtown Atlanta, US, where the first ever glass of Coca-Cola was poured.  

From that one iconic drink, the company has evolved into a comprehensive beverage behemoth. Today, more than 2.2 billion servings of its drinks are enjoyed in more than 200 countries and territories each day. 

The brand, whose first official advert read “Coca-Cola. Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!”, has since become one of the most prolific successes in marketing history, enjoying global fame as well as having a notable and major impact on popular culture and society. 

A crucial component of this worldwide industry titan is Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP). Serving customers in 29 countries, CCEP’s dedicated team of 33,200 employees work together to make, move, and sell some of the world’s most loved soft drinks. 

As a global business and one of the leading consumer goods companies in the world, CCEP helps its 1.75 million customers grow and constantly invests in exciting new products, innovative technologies, and fresh ideas.  

This positive approach helps to delight the 600 million people who enjoy CCEP’s drinks every day, as it combines the strength and scale of a large, multi-national business with the expert, local knowledge of the customers served and communities supported. In this way, CCEP remains international in presence but local at heart. 

As a crucial cog in this vast machine, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Papua New Guinea (CCEP PNG) is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of soft drinks in the country and is proud to help over 19,000 customers across PNG grow their businesses. 

“We are the face that makes our nation’s favourite beverage brands a reality. Firmly invested in our local economy and the communities we love, our focus is on building portfolios defined by relevance and choice,” introduces Tim Solly, Sales and Commercial Director at CCEP PNG. 

“Our range of beverage brands includes the iconic Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Sprite, Fanta, Solo, Schweppes, Bu Energy, Minute Maid Refresh, and Nature’s Own Water,” he adds. 

PNG’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is a challenging industry to be involved in given the current volatility within the nation, which extends to areas such as electricity supply and law enforcement. 

“Our business has become highly resilient, and while we face challenges on a daily basis, we take this in our stride and are proud to ensure that we are able to produce, distribute, and sell high-quality, world-class products all year round. Despite this challenging environment, we have a safety-first mindset and have had 640 days incident-free as an organisation,” he enthuses.

GREAT PRODUCTS, EVEN GREATER SERVICE

CCEP PNG is proud of the unrivalled portfolio of brands that it now locally produces, packages, sells, and distributes to consumers every day. 

“Our success is built on great people, great service, and great beverages. We want to deliver sustainable growth, create value for all our stakeholders, and build a better future for our business, communities, and the planet,” acclaims Solly. 

In CCEP’s PNG operations, the company now boasts 545 employees, two production plants, and four distribution centres across the nation.   

Keen to capitalise on this forward momentum, CCEP PNG’s core priorities are to ensure that it continues to build both the business and its people while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability. As such, the company is focused on going carbon neutral across its total value chain by 2040.  

Other key focus points include expanding the company portfolio to ensure it provides comprehensive beverage choices to customers today and into the future – through both sugar and diet products.  

“We are constantly reviewing our production, logistics, and sales network to ensure we have the right focus across the right areas and are resourced appropriately to meet the demand for today and tomorrow,” Solly explains. 

“While we believe we are an employer of choice in PNG, we also want to ensure we are constantly evolving our employment offering to secure the best talent in the market,” he cites.

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE

CCEP PNG places sustainability at the heart of its business while creating value for its customers. Thus, the company is changing the way it runs the business to limit its impact on the climate and environment, and to equally give back to the communities it works in. 

As the nation’s leading beverage manufacturer, CCEP PNG believes it possesses a responsibility to ensure a long-term commitment to the sustainability of its packaging. 

Packaging waste is a major, ongoing challenge; to tackle this, the business has partnered with Branis Recycling to collect polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic beverage bottles to prevent them from entering landfill, waterways, or harming the broader environment.  

“Our ultimate goal is to help collect and recycle the equivalent of one bottle for every bottle we bring to the market by 2030,” Solly sets out. 

“However, we cannot achieve our goals alone; it requires collaboration between industry, the public sector, and civil society to address plastic waste,” he stresses. 

At present, CCEP PNG is working with different stakeholders in Port Moresby to raise community awareness on protecting the environment and how this collection programme contributes to the ultimate goal of maintaining a healthy planet.

ASSEMBLING AN UNBEATABLE TEAM

Every year, CCEP PNG takes the opportunity to acknowledge and reward its employees for their unwavering commitment, celebrating milestones in five-year increments.  

This year, the company had the honour of celebrating a remarkable 1,055 years of service collectively, contributed by employees from various departments across the PNG business. 

Solly believes that the dedicated and hard-working people at CCEP PNG represent the heartbeat of the entire operation, and as such, the company wants to develop and evolve its team members to allow them to grow in parallel with the business. 

“We offer development opportunities that are centred around on-the-job experiences and projects, mentorship, and formal education programmes,” he elaborates.  

“We have also developed and run localised technical academies in sales, manufacturing, and logistics to ensure that our people are equipped to undertake the roles that they hold and to use this as a springboard for future career growth.”  

Alongside this, the company runs intern, graduate, and apprentice programmes with the intention of building the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.  

Furthermore, to drive, develop, and promote leadership at all levels, CCEP PNG’s matrix of development sessions help guide its people through the complexities of operating in a country like PNG.  

“In addition to this, to support our diversity agenda, we also have a very specific and discreet leadership initiative called the FACE programme that aims to develop and support females throughout our business,” Solly expands. 

Undoubtedly, CCEP PNG is always looking for innovation to drive business growth; as such, it has sown the seeds for many exciting plans over the next years.  

In particular, CCEP PNG is looking forward to joining the celebrations of PNG’s 50th independence anniversary in 2025, which will serve as a perfect summation of both the nation and the company’s growing prosperity and ever-enhancing legacy of success.

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