Coca-Cola to invest €26m in Ballina, create new jobs

WELCOME INVESTMENT Coca-Cola's commitment to Mayo has been welcomed by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

TWENTY-FIVE new jobs are to be created by the Coca-Cola Company in Mayo, with the news today that they are to make a €26 million investment at their Ballina facility.
The announcement was made by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, with Coca-Cola Company Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, who said that this capital investment further strengthens the company’s commitment to Ireland.
The Ballina facility now becomes the first production site for the company’s innovative Freestyle technology outside of the US. The patented technology is a touch-screen soda fountain, first introduced to the US in 2010. The dispenser features more than 165 different Coca?Cola beverage choices from across the company’s full product range, including a choice of lower-calorie and no-calorie options, as well as sports drinks and fruit-flavoured drinks.

CONFIDENCE
Speaking about the investment, Enda Kenny said the €26 million investment is a significant vote of confidence in Ireland and Mayo by the company .
“Coca-Cola have been an important element of the local economy and significant employer in Mayo since 2000 and across Ireland for over six decades. Today’s announcement is a further vote of confidence in the western region by a major multinational company,” he said. 
Speaking in Ballina, Muhtar Kent said: “The Coca-Cola Company has a long history of investment and employment in Ireland, having first located operations in Northern Ireland in 1934. The Coca-Cola system now employs 1,750 people across six locations in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Today’s investment further underpins our commitment, with Ballina now involved in the production of our innovative Freestyle technology, facilitating its expansion into other key European markets and offering more choice to our consumers.”
More than 40,000 Coca-Cola Freestyle machines can already be found across the US, and in recent years the technology has undergone extensive market testing with customers in parts of Europe.
The investment announced today will facilitate wider expansion of the Freestyle model into key European markets with the demand from ten countries expected to be met by the production team in Ballina. The team based in Ballina has been instrumental in developing the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines produced specifically for the European market.
Coca-Cola first set up operations in the Republic of Ireland in 1952, 18 years after it had done so in the North. The company now has facilities in Antrim, Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Mayo and Wexford.