US – Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, the second largest privately held Coca-Cola bottler in North America and the third largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the US, has broken ground on its US$85 million Macon, Georgia facility.
In the project, Coca-Cola UNITED will expand its Macon Coca-Cola warehouse by approximately 260,000 square feet, as well as install the leading-edge Vertique warehousing system that is among the most advanced in the beverage industry.
The company will also optimize its distribution operations, which will benefit associates, customers, and communities in the greater Macon area.
Macon Coca-Cola Sales Center Manager Eddie Cummins said: “This expansion will enable us to provide a higher level of service and is a tangible example of our commitment to Macon-Bibb and surrounding areas for years to come.”
The facility serves 18 counties and sells and distributes about 7.2 million cases of Coca-Cola products annually.
Coca-Cola postpones Northampton bottling site shutdown to December
Elsewhere, Coca-Cola has extended the closure timeframe of its Northampton city manufacturer, located at the Northampton Industrial Park, until the end of this year.
“We still plan to close the facility, but it will continue operating at least through the end of 2023,” Ann L. Moore, a spokesperson for the Atlanta-based company, said in a statement.
Coca-Cola initially announced the closure of the facility this summer in August 2021. At the time, there were 319 people employed at the site.
Then-Mayor David Narkewicz said the closure was tied to a corporate restructuring plan that will also shut down a plant in Napa Valley, California.
As reported by Daily Hampshire Gazette, State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, called the delayed closure of the Northampton plant “good” news considering that Coca-Cola is among the city’s top employers behind Smith College, which employs more than 1,500 people.
The closure will come just 2 years after a 13,000-square-foot expansion, which was completed in 2011 at US$50 million and added 100 jobs.
The plant is also the city’s largest water customer and one of its largest taxpayers. According to city tax records, the Coca-Cola property is assessed at US$17.7 million, and the company pays about US$306,000 in annual property taxes.
In 2010, Coca-Cola struck a tax deal with the city called a TIF, which expires this June that saw the beverage giant have a reduced tax burden on the 2011 expansion by 50% for the first seven years, then 25% for the remainder.
Sabadosa argued that if the plant does eventually close, “it is critical that Coca-Cola respect its commitment to help all its employees find new jobs,” as the company is currently hiring for 22 positions.
Explaining the eventualities associated with the closure, Moore said the Northampton plant will continue to fill open positions as needed while working with third-party co-packers and other system companies to proactively identify job opportunities at surrounding locations for impacted employees.
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