MANILA, Philippines - Publicly listed Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) firmed up further its foothold in Mindanao with the start of commercial operations of a newly completed P500-million expansion and systems upgrade project for its existing bottling plant in Zamboanga City.
PCPPI senior vice president for Technical Operations Daniel D. Gregorio Jr. said the project, which involved the installation of a state-of-the-art bottling line, new water treatment and filtration system and added inventory of containers, has substantially increased Pepsi’s presence in the region.
”This sophisticated bottling line which is capable of producing carbonated soft drinks in returnable glass, will triple the company’s production capacity and enable it to provide stable supply of Pepsi products to the provinces Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur and the islands of Basilan, Jolo, Tawi-Tawi and Bongao,” Gregorio stressed.
According to him, PCPPI’s continuing investments in Mindanao manifest the company’s solid confidence in the entire Southern Philippines.
Earlier this year, the PCPPI commissioned a similarly modern P500-million bottling line in Cagayan de Oro City, and has purchased a prime lot in Davao City for the same capacity expansion purpose.
The construction of the new bottling facilities at the Pepsi plant in Barangay Mercedez, Zamboanga City started in Aug. 2011 and was completed last month, bringing to two Pepsi’s bottling facilities in Western Mindanao.
For 2012, PCPPI has earmarked a total of $75 million (roughly P3.22 billion) in capital expenditures to expand its production capacity and product distribution network including those in the entire Mindanao.
Over the last 30 years, Pepsi has considerably helped heighten commercial activities in the South, including job generation and creation of new business opportunities for the downstream industries such as trucking, sugar farming, groceries and other retail establishments.