Industry Visit at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited, Ghaziabad

17th November 2009. MBA students from Skyline Business School went for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited visit at Ghaziabad. It was a pleasure to be there and have a first hand experience of the processed being employed by the American Multinational. We learnt about the beverage industry and Coke’s strategy to continue at the top. Coke had entered the market way back in 1993 and has long years of customer trust and awareness backing it. In order to sustain this faith Coke has done stupendous work to ensure that its manufacturing facilities are one of the best in the world. Ghaziabad is the largest manufacturing facility for Coke in India and covers an area of 80 acres. The plant manufactures more than 2 million units a day during peak season which extends from March- September. All the drinks under the coke stable are manufactured at Ghaziabad.

(Posted by: Skyline College a premium MBA, BBA, Mass Communication and Travel & Tourism institute in Delhi and Gurgaon.)





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Now let us have a look at the step by step process followed at Ghaziabad for the manufacture of the final product
Ingredient Delivery: As with any manufacturing facility Coke also begins with procuring the raw material for products

1. Sweetener:

A team of professionals, work on selecting, auditing, approving and then authorizing the sugar suppliers and the list of such authorized suppliers with approved sugar lots and along with the certificate of analysis are sent across to all the bottling units for procurement. As a matter of fact Coke is so careful on where it takes its sugar from that out of the 181 sugar manufacturing factories in India only 14 have been authorized by Coke to supply sugar to them

2. Secret Formula:

Created in special concentrate plants, it's delivered, held and used under strict controls to maintain its integrity and security. Each unit of concentrate is especially identifiable to allow the "history" of each component to be researched at any stage of production, storage or use. Throughout the world no one knows of this Secret Formula. This formula is written on a simple paper and safely locked in an American bank.


3. CO2 Formula:


When delivered to the plant, carbon dioxide, or CO2, comes in cylinders for easy delivery and storage.

4. Water:

Since water is a key component to all our beverages, its quality is critical. This means that before water is added to any of the beverages; it's rigorously filtered and cleansed.

5. Materials:

Ingredients are not the only things delivered to the plant. Other materials such as bottles, labels and packaging are also delivered. The plants in India use refillable and rewash able bottles, PET etc. in the Production Process, when bottles are delivered to the plant; they are carefully inspected to ensure that they meet Coke’s exacting standards. This careful inspection involves use of both technologies in the form of a computerized machine fitted with about 10 Cameras which check for any faults in the bottle

such as broken bottle necks, etc

Mixing and Blending

Mixing and blending begin with the steps of mixing pure water with refined sugar, which creates simple syrup. The syrup is then measured for the correct amount of sugar. The secret formula or the concentrate is now mixed with the syrup prepared in the previous step. With the syrup nearing its final state, Coke mixes it with pure water, creating the finished uncarbonated beverage. Adding CO2 or carbon dioxide gas is the final touch that carbonates the beverages. Carbon dioxide not only gives the beverages their effervescent zest, but it also adds to the distinctive and familiar taste everyone has come to expect from Coca-Cola beverages.


Once all the ingredients have been mixed and blended and the bottles have been cleaned and sanitized, every thing is ready to start filling. This is a surprisingly complex process requiring precision at each step. Once filled, bottles are then capped. Coke uses different caps for different bottles. Each cap type then moves through different parts of the machine, which ensures each cap stays scratch free and is in the right position to be precisely placed on the bottle.


Once the bottles have been filled and capped, they move on to be labeled. A special machine dispenses labels from large rollers, cuts them and place on the bottles. For special labels such as commemorative bottles for football championships, the labels are sent to the bottling plants for approval, and then used for packaging. The bottle is now ready to be coded. Each one of Coke’s beverages is marked with a special code that identifies specific information about it. The codes simply identify the date the beverages was bottled or canned. These codes identify the date, time, batch no. and the MRP. Coca-Cola inspects bottles at many points during the process. With refillable bottles, it happens they are first brought into the plant. They are also inspected after they are washed and again after they are filled. Inspectors look for external bottle imperfections and make sure each bottle has the right amount of beverages. Even after filling, each plant samples bottles for analysis in its lab to ensure quality is up to standards.

Once Coke’s filled beverages have passed final inspection; they are ready to be packaged for delivery. Because the needs and tastes of the consumers are so diverse, the packaging varies depending on where the beverages are being sent

In order to make sure the freshest beverages possible get to the customers, each warehouse must efficiently manage the thousands of beverages cases produced each day.

It was a great industrial visit. It was very useful as for as our course is concerned. We have learnt application of production and operations management concepts. Thanks skyline for arranging the visit
Pervaiz Ahmad MBA L1S2

 About Skyline College

Skyline College is a premium MBA, BBA, Mass Communication and Travel & Tourism institute in Delhi and Gurgaon.

The faculty of Skyline Business School is primarily drawn from the best B-Schools of the country like IIMs, XLRI, MDI and many more.

Skyline Education Group comprises Skyline Business School, Skyline School of Communications, and Skyline Institute of Travel & Tourism.

The mission of Skyline is to provide its students with the best professional career prospects in the emerging global workplace and to equip them for more effective and organised contributions to their chosen professions and fields.
Source: www.skylinecollege.com