Coke Canada Bottling opens new tech-forward warehouse in Calgary

Coke Canada Bottling has opened a new tech-forward, high-density warehouse in Calgary's northeast as a way to centralize company operations.

Coke Canada Bottling has officially opened its new tech-forward, high-density warehouse in Calgary.

The soft drink giant’s newest venture — a 60,000-square-foot bottling plant — sits beside its existing northeast manufacturing facility and distribution centre.

“The investment we are making here really does demonstrate our long-term commitment to the city and to the province,” Coke Canada Bottling president Tony Chow said.

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The company calls the development its largest single-facility investment since 2018.

It’ll help centralize storage within Coke Canada Bottling and reduce reliance on third-party warehousing and transportation.

But the ‘Crown Jewel’ of the $75 million project, according to Chow, is the company’s first-ever automated storage and retrieval system.

The use of new technology should allow operations to speed up and get substantially larger.

Chow promises there will still be room for human jobs, too.

“We’ve got 500 employees here in this facility, and we’re always upskilling,” he told CTV News. “(Workers) can actually run the new equipment that we are investing in and putting into this building.”

“So the jobs that we have here are going to be in perpetuity. “