Coca-Cola is the brand name everyone knows, but perhaps less well known are the many companies around the world that bottle the famous drink, alongside many other beverages both within and outside of the Coca-Cola brand. Coca-Cola HBC Hungary is a subsidiary of Coca-Cola HBC AG that serves 29 member countries as one of the largest bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company, the brand owner’s products. Coca-Cola HBC Hungary itself owns two production sites, its headquarters in Dunaharaszti, near Budapest and a water plant in the quiet town of Zalaszentgrót. These premises are accompanied by eight logistics sites across Hungary, one of which is the country’s largest warehouse storing food & beverages. Besides soft drinks, juices, ice teas, energy drinks, sports drinks, and natural mineral water, the company also offers premium spirits, coffee, and snack products.
“This broad product portfolio enables us not only to be the leading soft drink company in Hungary but also to be a 24/7 beverage company,” says László Békefi, General Manager of Coca-Cola HBC Hungary. “The products we sell can be found in around two-thirds of Hungarian households.”
Békefi started working for Coca-Cola HBC Hungary in 2003 through the company’s Management Trainee program, an initiative targeting young talent interested in the FMCG business.
”Coca-Cola is undoubtedly an attractive name and, to be honest, I just secretly dared to think that one day I would have the honour to lead this company,” Békefi says. ”I was appointed to be General Manager in 2019 after spending 16 years in different positions and different countries learning and gaining business knowledge. Coca-Cola HBC has given me more than a workplace or an impressive career path; it brought me together with many amazing people whom I can call long-time friends and it even played a part in me meeting my future wife!”
In his time at Coca-Cola HBC Hungary, Békefi has come to appreciate the company’s strong portfolio of products.
“Our portfolio is one of the strongest, broadest, and most flexible in the domestic beverage industry,” Békefi says. ”We call ourselves a 24/7 beverage company as we are able to offer the right products for all kinds of consumption occasion that arises 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Today the company sells more than 100 different products including Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Kinley, Fuzetea, Smartwater, local water brand Naturaqua, Cappy, Costa Coffee, Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia, and The Macallan. All of these brands are geared towards the needs of the customer.
”In everything we do, whether we sell or help to sell, we always start with the customer,” Békefi says, ”In 2022, we launched a new customer satisfaction survey called Customer Gauge Survey. Last year, we (regularly) received valuable feedback from more than 3,000 customers. According to customer feedback, the main strengths of our company are the professionalism and acumen of our business developer colleagues as well as our leading 24/7 portfolio.”
New Investment
However, while Coca-Cola Hungary has a great deal to offer its customers, like most businesses it has felt the pinch of a tumultuous economic period. 2023 has been a challenging year for the Hungarian economy. The market of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages decreased by 13,8% in volume between May 2022 and May 2023. The Hungarian GDP is forecast to fall by 1-1.5% this year, driven primarily by slowing domestic demand.
At the same time, the raw materials used to make Coca-Cola HBC Hungary’s products, such as sugar and carbonic acid, have risen significantly in price. Rising energy and transport costs have exacerbated issues still further.
”We have prepared a scenario for this year, trying to optimise the duration of our contracts according to price and predictability,” Békefi tells us. ”We have little control over these external circumstances, so we are dealing with what can control – the high quality of our products and their popularity among consumers”
This is one of the reasons why Coca-Cola HBC Hungary has made its second-largest investment in its history. This spring the company began construction of a new production facility in Dunaharaszti. With ongoing investment, Coca-Cola HBC Hungary will upgrade its production and logistics capacities for a total of around 8.7 billion HUF (EUR 23 million). The recent investment will result a huge increase in production capacity as the new line will top the current rates the existing multi-serve line is capable of by 50%, and the overall carbonated soft drinks production capability of the company will be increased by 30%.
”We are expanding our Dunaharaszti headquarters with a new production hall that will house a high-performance, modern production line by the end of the year,” says Békefi. ”We are making improvements to boost loading and warehousing efficiency while supporting increased production capacity.”
Greener Prospects
But this is not just about cost saving during a time of economic uncertainty. It is also about pursuing the company’s sustainability goals. New state-of-the-art technology will improve productivity and reduce energy and water consumption.
”The Dunaharaszti plant is drawing 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. The energy used for producing one litre of product has been reduced by 30%, and water by 20% since 2014,” Békefi points out. ”Increasing production efficiency also means developing logistics capacity. To that end, we are expecting to finish road improvements and the construction of new loading areas at the Dunaharaszti plant by the end of the year.”
”Sustainability is at the heart of what we do,” Békefi says.
This is not just talk – the 2022 Dow Jones Sustainability Index – one of the world’s leading global sustainability benchmarks – has ranked Coca-Cola HBC AG (Coca-Cola HBC Hungary’s parent company) as the world’s most sustainable beverage company. But the company continues to find ways to improve.
”Our main goal is to use sustainable packaging solutions, thereby reducing the environmental impact of our products,” explains Békefi. ”We can achieve the recyclability of our products through the conscious, innovative design of packaging, transforming our use of raw materials, and the development of new and environmentally friendly packaging technologies.”
The most recent of these is the 800 million HUF (2 million EUR) KeelClipTM innovation introduced last February, replacing the shrink film previously used for multipack aluminium cans with 100 percent recyclable cardboard packaging.
The company’s approach and goals for the greater sustainability of packaging have been consolidated in the “World Without Waste” global sustainability strategy which has a local arm called ”Zero Waste Tisza River” program. The initiative has removed more than 100 tons of waste from the river since 2019 and has also introduced a number of technological innovations to help clean up the Tisza such as a special water purifier or a GPS tracking system that detects the path & extent of riverine plastic.
Applying Technology
Coca-Cola HBC Hungary’s upgrades go beyond increasing capacity and efficiency, however. The company has made continuous investments in modernisation, including the introduction of robot picking technology in its central warehouse in Dunaharaszti.
”The artificial intelligence-based robot system was installed with an investment of HUF 730 million (1.8 million EUR),” Békefi says. ”Industrial robots handle part of the picking process involved in logistics automatically in a 1,000 square meters area that is completely separated from employees. This technology handles our company’s top 20 best-selling products based on their position in the warehouse with zero error.”
The three robotic arms can assemble up to six pallets per hour, working twice as fast as the company’s human workforce. By combining human and robotic resources, Coca-Cola HBC Hungary has increased its picking efficiency by 15%. The company has also equipped its staff with smart glasses for the picking processes, helping employees to assemble customer orders using voice-guided instructions. Up to 24 people can work safely at the same time with a picking accuracy of 99.9%, increasing the efficiency of order assembling by 10%.
Equipping its staff with tools like this is one of the ways that Coca-Cola HBC Hungary has made itself an appealing destination for new employees.
”We are an employer of choice. We have been honoured by PwC with the Most Attractive Workplace Award in the FMCG category for the fourth consecutive time in 2022 and we were appointed the most attractive workplace in the FMCG sector according to Randstad’s employer brand survey,” Békefi says proudly.
As Békefi knows from experience, new employees will be in for quite the journey.
