Case Study Proposal for Coca Cola Amatil Sydney †Blowfill Technology Essay

Subject: Case Study on Coca- Cola Amatil (Australia) I am pleased to submit â€Å"A proposal for the Blow fill technology Packaging Project†. The material described in the attached proposal used the most relative and advance data on implementation of blow fill technology by Coca Cola Amatil. Of the particular interest are the state of the art technologies that are used by the organization to improve the supply chain and make environment friendly. The proposal explains the need to work on analyzing the crucial issues faced by the organization while implementing this technology. Please have a look at the case study proposal and in case you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact. Yours truly, Niranjan R Balikai Project summary The case study would work on analysing, the implementation of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil. Based on the current information, implementation of this technology will reduce the risks associated with quality. The contamination of bottle can be avoided. The use of blow- fill technology at CCA lead to cost reductions along with reduction in carbon footprint at CCA by eliminating the empty bottle storage, transport costs and raw material rise PET resin which was previously used to manufacture bottles. The most important point of focus in this case is to analyse the benefits that CCA derives from implementation of blow fill technology and to examine the extent to which this technology could be used as a means to stay ahead in these competitive times. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil and extensive insight on management at CCA would be required for this project. INTRODUCTION Introduction to Company Coca- Cola Amatlil (CCA) is known as one of the largest bottlers of the various non-alcoholic, ready to drink beverages in the region of Asia Pacific. CCA is one of the world’s top five bottlers of Coca- Cola. The organization has an employee base of more than 15,000 people and maintained access to around 265 million customers among which 700,000 are active customers. CCA is known to have operations in five major countries and these countries include Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The company works on manufacturing as well as selling and distribution of a well-diversified product portfolio. This portfolio includes water, coffee, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juice, energy drinks, flavoured milk and even ready to eat fruits and vegetable products are packaged by CCA (CCA, 2013). Coca- Cola Amatil is involved in the selling and distribution of some of the premium spirits portfolio of the Beam Global Spirits along with premium wines, which takes into account products like Makers Mark and Canadian Club. Coca- Cola Company owns around 30% share of CCA and there are two directors sitting among the eight member board of directors at CCA (CCA, 2013). Coca Cola Amatil head office is located in Sydney. CCA is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The company has a market capitalization of more than $8 billion and the company is among one of the top 50 Australian listed companies (CCA, 2013). Coca Cola Amatil reported a net profit after tax of almost 558$ million in the year 2012 before significant items. This profit observed an increase of around 5% from 2012 (Annual repo rt, 2012). Introduction to Technology CCA decided to open two new â€Å"blow fill† technology lines for production facility in the year 2011. The â€Å" blow fill† technology represented around 35$ million investment in the Coca Cola Amatil South Australian operations which in turn enables the organization to design and manufacture their own PET beverage bottle by utilizing less raw material. Blow fill technology was considered as one of the single largest capital investment made in the history of CCA and this new technology was analyzed to bring change into the entire nature of the manufacturing in the business of CCA (Coca-Cola Amatil, 2011). The attached file in the appendix Coca-Cola Amatil (Aust) Pty Ltd  Australian Packaging Covenant Action Plan provides the benefits and time associated with the implementation of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil. CCA views that by introducing this technology, the organization was enabled to redesign the entire small carbonated soft drink and the water PET bo ttle range. This technological innovation brought some major benefits to the organization, which are very good for Coca Cola Amatil, the customers of the company, and the communities in which they operate. Some of the major benefits include significant savings in cost, production efficiency gains and the increase in shelf life of the product and the product stacking ability (Coca-Cola Amatil, 2011). BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY & PURPOSE OF PROPOSAL Coca Cola Amatil vertically integrated their manufacturing operation in order to enable the PET bottle self-manufacture and to manufacture the preforms and PET caps. There are various investments made in warehouses and production facilities by CCA. However, the largest piece from the Project Zero which is known as the largest of the capital project undertaken by Coca Cola Amatil is on the 450$ million investment on PET bottle manufacture also known as blow fill which is likely to get functional in all the major manufacturing operations of the group most likely in 2015 (Trevor, 2012). This investment made by CCA meant to reduce the PET resin in the environment equal to around fifty thousand trucks off the road and the truck loading reduced to almost 7 minutes which was actually 25 minutes leading to stock accountancy from 80% to now 98% (Trevor, 2012). Coca Cola Amatil works on continuing high levels of automation in their supply chain like including various automated guided vehicles along with artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and various other technologies to provide benefits in the future. The investments in technology made by CCA in their supply chain shows that these investments were instrumental in turning the company in the 90’s characterized at that time as a low technological organization to now as a profitable and customer centric consumer goods business. The question here is to understand that whether investment in blow fill technology would enable Coca Cola Amatil to achieve competitive advantage in these challenging times. If not then is this technology only makes contribution to the business in terms of cost saving and supply chain improvement. Statement of the problem in company Coca Cola Amatil sees packaging of their products as one of the most valuable resource and not as waste. One of the examples is that every single PET bottle is considered as a resource and they are recycled to make other products. Coca Cola Amatil recognizes that they are required to work on sustainable packaging and responsible recycling making an important contribution to the environment. That is one reason that the company main a huge investment in Blow Fill Technology that allows them to product light weighting PET bottles. Making an investment in a technology to this extent enables the organization to reap major benefits including cost saving and production efficiency. However, the point of concern is that whether investing in blow fill technology enabled Coca Cola Amatil to stay ahead of the competition. This case would explore the entire implementation of blow fill technology to identify the critical issues faced by Coca Cola Amatil during the implementation of this technology . Along with that, this case would analyze the benefits that Coca Cola Amatil achieved by implementation of Blow Fill technology and whether blow fill technology would enable the firm to remain competitive in these challenging economic times where the competition is tough and investment of this scale need to deliver significant outcomes. Proposed solutions Coca Cola Amatil aims to implement blow fill technology in all the major manufacturing plants. For this reason, it is extremely for the organization to work on utilizing this technological innovation in a manner that would enable them to achieve a competitive edge and at the same time provide business with benefits like costs saving and reduction in raw material. Therefore, the case would enable CCA to discover the path that they can work on in order to use this technology as a means to stay competitive ACTIVITIES OF IMPLEMENTATION The following flow chart provides a clear picture of the list of activities that are to be performed in a systematic order to complete the case study within the identified period. Activity/ Week| Week 1| Week 2| Week 3| Week 4| Week 5| Week 6| Week 7| Week 8| Week 9| Research background on company | | | | | | | | | | Literature search & Developing Questionnaire| | | | | | | | | | Visit to the Plant| | | | | | | | | | Conducting Interview| | | | | | | | | | Analysis of Primary and Secondary Data| | | | | | | | | | Conclusion | | | | | | | | | | Writing Case Study| | | | | | | | | | Final editing, formatting, and compiling| | | | | | | | | | CONCLUSION This case study would examine the implementation of blow fill technology in one of the significant technological firms Coca Cola Amatil. The case in itself provides the reader with a thorough insight into the implementation of one of the most important technologies and the critical issues faced by Coca Cola Amatil while implementing the blow fill technology. Along with that while analyzing the blow fill technology as a means to achieve a competitive edge, this offers the reader with an understanding as to how an organization can utilize their existing resources to remain competitive in these extremely challenging times. BIBLIOGRAPHY * Annual report (2012). Available at : http://ccamatil.com/InvestorRelations/AnnualReports/2012/CO27_CCA%20Annual%20Report%20-%20A4_220313_FIN_LR_single.pdf[ Accessed 1st April 2013] * Coca-Cola Amatil (2011) . Coca-Cola Amatil Unveils $35 Million Investment In Bottle Self manufacture. Available at : http://ccamatil.com/InvestorRelations/md/2011/Coca-Cola%20Amatil%20unveils%20$35m%20investment%20in%20bottle%20self-manufacture.pdf[ Accessed 31st March 2013] * CCA (2013). Company Overview. (online). Available at : http://ccamatil.com/AboutCCA/Pages/CompanyOverview.aspx [ Accessed 3rd April 2013] * Clarke, T. (2012) Big companies count on technology for supply chain future ( Sydney morning herald). Available at :