Coke has real thing in Waterford

They're called "walkie riders," and each business day these nimble pallet trucks whisk around the cavernous Coca-Cola warehouse in Waterford, grabbing cases of beverages to load onto awaiting delivery trucks or stacking them onto Home Depot-like racks that rise three levels high.

It's all in a day's work at the newly opened Coca-Cola distribution complex off Waterford Parkway South, where compact forklifts are a necessity for getting around the expansive facility. The centralized location now allows the soft drink distributor to combine operations formerly housed in New London, Middletown and West Greenwich, R.I., into a more efficient, and productive, building than its former longtime home in New London.

Steven K. Perrilli, the general manager for the sprawling 85,000-square-foot complex, says the new "green" facility that opened in late May offers a host of benefits for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Southeastern New England, which operates the site.

Its proximity to nearby Interstate 95 gives the fleet of Coke delivery trucks easy access to their many daily stops. Each day, the large trucks sporting the distinctive red Coca-Cola colors and logos trek toward 28 different routes to service a growing clientele that's spread across central and eastern Connecticut and into nearby Rhode Island.

Besides its large warehouse space - it includes a truck-maintenance depot, a large repair shop for the various Coca-Cola vending machines as well as a drive-through area where the trucks load and unload daily - the new Waterford complex includes space for administrative, marketing and sales associates.

"Everybody's now centrally located," says Perrilli as he walks a visitor through the new state-of-the-art facility, which even includes a fingerprint-identification system for access to various parts of the building. Today, nearly everything the Coca-Cola staff does is computer driven. There are various hand-held computers that the drivers use to make their daily deliveries, and all inventory is controlled by computers. When the drivers deliver their Coca-Cola products to, say, a local restaurant, they can print out via the hand-held computer a customer invoice and can even accommodate electronic signatures. The Waterford building has large meeting areas and room for marketing and point-of-sales displays that the teams can then use at their customers' locations, from local mom-and-pop pizza shops to large supermarkets and warehouse-club retailers.

The Waterford complex stocks a variety of Coca-Cola beverages, from its signature Coke brands to Powerade drinks, Dasani bottled water, energy drinks and more. The Atlanta, Ga.-based Coca-Cola Co. is the world's largest beverage company, with more than 500 brands globally including well-known staples like Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater and Minute Maid.

Perrilli, a longtime veteran of Coca-Cola, says much has changed over the years, from product offerings to the taste habits of its customers - many of whom now prefer Coke's various water products, energy drinks or ice tea-related drinks.

Those varied tastes mean that the Waterford facility must stock huge inventories. Perrilli estimates that the 75,000-square-foot warehouse has anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 products available at a given time. "It's lower in the winter, and higher in the summer," he says.

"This business continues to grow," says Perrilli as he watches warehouse staffers ride by on their walkie riders stock full of cases of Coca-Cola. "This warehouse is so big," he quips to a visitor, "that it takes you forever to walk it." When the Coca-Cola inventory arrives by tractor-trailer, the pallet trucks quickly begin the job of replenishing the three-level-high stacks that hold voluminous amounts of soft drinks, energy drinks, iced teas and water products.

The Waterford distribution complex employs 110 workers, the majority of them working in marketing and sales or deliveries. The warehouse itself has a team of 15 workers responsible for ensuring the right products end up with the right customers. The overall complex covers about eight acres of the 34-acre parcel. The Waterford distribution site is owned by the New Hampshire-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England.

Coca-Cola of Northern New England is part of the Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. based in Japan. The New Hampshire firm began as a single bottling operation in Laconia in 1977. Through a series of acquisitions, it has grown into one of this country's largest regional Coca-Cola bottlers. Today, it operates 16 distribution centers, including the new Waterford complex, and a large bottling-and-production center in New Hampshire that supplies those distribution centers. Besides the Coca-Cola products, it also markets those by Cadbury-Schweppes, Rockstar, Campbells and Cornucopia.

Coca-Cola of Northern New England acquired the New London Coca-Cola operations in 2006 from the Kitchings, a well-known local family who ran the bottling-and-production facility since 1938 and whose numerous philanthropic works are evident throughout southeastern Connecticut.

A 'green' commitment

The new Waterford distribution center guarantees a 24-hour turnaround for its largest customers, and a 48-hour turnaround for its smaller stores. Because of the complex's commitment to the environment, empty products can be recycled - including those in glass, plastic and aluminum containers. "We recycle as much as possible," says Perrilli. Any slightly damaged or blemished inventory - mostly minor dents in the cans - are donated to local soup kitchens and shelters.

As Coca-Cola has diversified its product mix, it also has diversified its ways to sell it, from its standard red Coca-Cola vending machines to its latest computer-driven machines that tout video displays, touch-screen ordering and personalized messages, depending on the selling locale. A.J. Mitchell, who works in the vending shop, says demand for the new video-driven vending machines is growing. As Mitchell and co-worker Jake Phillips prepare the new video vending machines for installation at local customers, they say the future of Coke vending machines will surely employ these new electronics and computer-driven technologies. The video vending machines are in use at the Crystal Mall in Waterford, the Coast Guard Academy in New London and are planned for the Mohegan Sun casino. "They're a big hit," says Mitchell.

Perrilli says his company is excited about its new distribution center in Waterford. He says the town of Waterford was helpful with the construction phase and has offered the new employer a warm welcome. He says employees are happy, as well, and Perrilli gives his workers all the credit for the rapid, and smooth, transition from their former home in New London.

Perrilli does admit he and his team - many of whom are longtime Coca-Cola employees - have fond memories of their former New London home on Bank Street in the iconic Coca-Cola building, now up for sale. That building, home to the local Coca-Cola team since 1938, was instrumental in the bottler's phenomenal growth over those many decades.

"We do miss New London. We were there since the 1930s," says the general manager. "We loved being in New London, but we outgrew the place," he says of Coke's former home. "But this is a new state-of-the-art facility," says a proud Perrilli, "and we've already seen a rise in our sales and productivity."

a.cronin@theday.com