Swire Coca-Cola switches on robotic order picking at 900 million yuan Zhengzhou plant

The automated system, which began operating this month, handles shrink-wrapped order picking — a task the company said had been a heavy challenge in markets that still depend on manual labour.

The facility sits in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan province, where Swire Coca-Cola has put 900 million yuan (US$134.3 million) into the site.

Peter Mills, the company's chief supply chain officer, outlined the thinking behind the move during a briefing in Zhengzhou on Friday. "China is a growth market, and consumer habits are changing," he said, adding that the business needs a more flexible and responsive supply chain to keep pace with shifting demand.

Mills pointed to emerging sales channels — convenience stores, vending coolers and snack stores — as the source of increasingly diverse orders that the robotic installation is designed to accommodate.

The company said the new automated facility is intended to meet that broadening demand across those channels, as shoppers seek more variety from the drinks sections in their local stores.