Coca-Cola Singapore, on Wednesday, announced the opening of a US$57.5 million (S$79 million) storage and distribution centre in Singapore that leverages on automation and digitalisation.

The new 6,000 sq m facility, which is located across the road from its concentrate plant in Tuas, is designed to drive efficiency and support the company’s growing business in Asia Pacific, the company said in a statement.

It is the first warehousing facility in Singapore where the automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is built on top of the loading and unloading bays, it said. This utilises approximately 50 per cent less space than conventional warehousing operations.

The warehouse likewise features an enclosed overhead bridge with a two-way conveyance system that transports products and ingredients from the manufacturing facility to the storage warehouse, and vice versa.

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Coca-Cola says the new facility can store up to 14,000 pallets at a rate of 126 pallets per hour. Storage time under the new system is 65 per cent faster, taking just 7.8 seconds from the 23 seconds previously.

Mr John Murphy, president of Asia Pacific Group of The Coca-Cola Company, said the new facility marked another “significant milestone in the company’s 81-year presence” in Singapore.

He said that as part of its migration to the ASRS, the company provided more than 1,100 hours of training for its workers, with training hours split between classroom-style training sessions and on-the-job sessions.

The Tuas facilities, operated by subsidiary Pacific Refreshments, will produce and distribute more than 200 different concentrates for brands such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Schweppes, among others. (ChannelNewsAsia)