The Coca Cola Plant

The Coca Cola Plant

I am sure at one point in everyone's life, that they have seen a Coca Cola

distribution plant. But, unless you have been inside one, you probably do not know how

the whole process works. My father is the General Area Sales Manager for the

Chattanooga Coca Cola plant. He has done various jobs around the plant in his twenty-

seven years there. In Elementary School, he used to set up field trips for us to come see

the inside of the plant. When my brother turned eighteen, my dad encouraged him to

work there in the summer to make and save some money. He did for two summers and

then he wanted an easier summer job. As well as my brother, my father also encouraged

me to work there. I did and I have worked there for two summers and it is an awesome

summer job. Needless to say, I have been in the plant a time or two and basically know

how the whole production process works. We have so much coke memorabilia it is

ridiculous. At Christmas, we even have a separate coke tree with all coke ornaments.

The first part to explain about the plant is the production line because that is

where the product is assembled. If you have ever seen a production line before the

atmosphere is usually the same. Employee's must where ear plugs in this area because it

is constantly loud. Also, they must where hairnets to ensure that no hair will get into the

product. Employees have designated spots where they watch for defects in the product.

All of them must stand to ensure that that stay awake and alert. The bottle or can,

whichever is being run, goes through each station of the production line until it is

complete. From the production line you can see the big syrup bowls for the soft drinks.

There are different bowls of syrup for the different flavors. There are employees that

regulate and watch these. There are also people who decide which drink should be run

and for how long. This might seem like a difficult task. However, by looking at previous

year sales and taking into consideration if it is on sale, they can estimate pretty good. The

Chattanooga plant does not produce every type of bottle or drink. The only ones that do

that is the huge one's like Birmingham and Atlanta. Chattanooga produces everything

except twenty ounces and two liters. Twenty ounces and two liters are some big sellers

and we buy them through the Birmingham Plant. However, this does not mean that ours

does not produce many things. We produce cans, powerades, energy drinks, juices, and

water. That is a lot of stuff considering all the options you can buy them in; six-pack,

twelve pack, twenty four pack, and many more for different drinks. There is no way I

could list all the products that they make at the plant because there is entirely too many.

Anyways, after they come off the line and into whatever type of package, they are

stored in the humongous stock room. The stock room is near the production line so the

fork lift drivers do not have to drive them too far. When they make a product, they make

it a pallet at a time. So when they drive it to the stockroom it can be placed where it

belongs and it is organized. The stockroom has a huge ceiling for storage of drinks. There

are