On Monday 30 September 2013, Queenswood’s Year 11 Design andTechnology students were welcomed to Coca Cola’s Edmonton factory by their
education officer, Joseph Bradford. Girls enjoyed an interesting fact-filled talk before touring
the factory.

They learned that the
Edmonton manufacturing site can produce up to 142,000 litres of drink per hour
and that the production of one bottle of drink takes just 10 minutes from start
to finish. They were able to watch five manufacturing lines, including Coca
Cola, Oasis and lemonade being bottled in either plastic or glass. They saw blow fill
technology, where the same machine blows the bottles and fills them with
product. They visited the futuristic, and slightly spooky ASRS (Automated Storage
& Retrieval System) where 24,000 pallets of finished drinks bottles are dispatched every 24 hours
entirely operated by robots in total darkness.

The visit gave the girls a really useful insight into production lines,
packaging and delivery systems, and brought to life the theory which they have
been learning in lessons.