SLMG Beverages Private Ltd., Coca-Cola’s biggest independent bottler in South Asia, said it had nearly fully commissioned it’s biggest ever bottling plant located at Trishundi in Amethi, UP. The last line will go into production in the second week of May and would help cater to growing needs of its products in summer.
The plant with total manufacturing capacity of 4,600 bottles per minute has come up with an investment of ₹700 crore.
This unit has capability to produce beverages in cans, tetrapack and plastic bottle to cater varied choices of customers. It also runs a line for packaged drinking water.
The company has also announced to invest additional ₹200 crore for capacity expansion at the same location..
S.N. Ladhani – Chairman & Managing Director, SLMG Beverages Ltd. said,” This is a world class bottling unit. Even the U.S. does not have this kind of a technical facility. Our plant and machinery is the latest. And in the U.S., the plants were set up 10 years back. So, their plant and machinery is not as good as ours.”
Stating that India was a growing economy, he said, “We feel the potential is very high because the per capita consumption of India is still very, very low as compared to the neighbouring smaller countries like Bangladesh. So,we ensure that we do the right thing so that people buy our products,” he added.
Costin Mandrea, CEO, SLMG Beverages Ltd. said, “This is our model to grow the business.”
“We are selling more beverages. But it’s also good news because it’s showing all the investments that we made in the previous years in production lines, in warehouses, in transportation vehicles, these are paying off. So, we are ready to supply and to serve more consumers,” he added.
He said if the industry was growing this year at 15, 16%, “We are growing more than this. Because we are also gaining market share. We are number one and we are growing.