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Published on 14.02.2025 
The Socx production site,near Dunkirk, is owned by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France,the French subsidiary of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), the leading producer and distributor of soft drinks in France. CCEP produces, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of beverages, including some of the world’s best-known brands. Interview with Arnaud Lallemant, Socx production site manager.
Our Socx production site near Dunkirk in the Hauts-de-France region was built in 1989. It employs 470 people, covers 5 hectares and has 914,923 sq. ft. of buildings. This year marks the plant’s 35th anniversary. It was originally a single-product plant, which produced canned beverages. Thanks to successive investments, we now produce a wide range of 10 brands on 8 lines. which allows us to manufacture all types of formats (glass and plastic bottles and cans).
We produce beverages from the Coca-Cola range, as well as the Fanta and Sprite brands. Our production site is strategic for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in France.
More recently, we’ve been producing Fuze Tea iced teas, Tropico juices, Monster energy drinks and Powerade sports drinks, for example.
The Hauts-de-France region, and Dunkirk in particular, has enabled us to be as close as possible to our suppliers. Our aim was to create an innovative and ambitious ecosystem of quality, local sourcing. As you know, the Dunkirk area is a beet-growing region.
So we contacted local sugar manufacturers, an essential raw material for our production. The same is true for metal companies. We also invited packaging subcontractors to move into the industrial zone so that they could be even closer to us.
« Today, our site is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of beverages from The Coca-Cola Company’s portfolio in France, with 8 production lines that operate 24 hours a day, with the capacity to produce up to 5 million bottles or cans per day ».
First and foremost, we use the main regional roads for part of our distribution, thanks to our direct access to the highway. The rail infrastructure allows us to ship 75% of our volumes to the South-East of France by train via the railroad network.
The presence of a port in the immediate vicinity is also crucial, since we use sea transportation to deliver our products to the Benelux countries, Scandinavia and England. We benefit greatly from these industrial assets.
When we set up in the North of France, we knew we could count on a workforce with technical know-how and industrial experience.
I can confirm that the employees who work at the plant today have these skills, which are well known and recognized throughout the Coca-Cola Europacific Partners group, and have been for 35 years.
« 95% of our beverages consumed in France come from our 5 Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France plants. Products from our Socx site travel only 280 km on average to their place of of consumption. At a time when we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in terms of transportation, this is a point worth emphasizing. In fact, we are committed to reducing our emissions by 30% by 2030 (in relation to 2019) and are aiming for “Net Zero” by 2040 ».
We have a large number of employees who have spent or are spending most of their careers at the plant. As the site has evolved over the years, they have had the opportunity to change jobs and take advantage of professional opportunities.
In addition to this solid base, we have invested 150 million euros over the past five years to transform our production site, support our diversification strategy, sustain our decarbonization trajectory, and strengthen the local production of our beverages.
In response to this reindustrialization strategy for our products consumed in France, we have created 100 additional jobs in Socx over the last 18 months.
These operators and technicians live mainly in the regional area, stretching from the Dunkirk basin to the Lille region.
For managers, we recruit more widely, depending on the profiles needed.
As our product ranges are diversified, quality is at the heart of our processes, which means we have to manage additional complexities. I mentioned the quality of sugar, but we also need to talk about the quality of water, the other key raw material in our production.
These are two ingredients for which we set the highest standards. Our production meets stringent internal standards and is subject to quality controls and unannounced audits by representatives from The Coca-Cola Company.
This quality culture is confirmed on a daily basis by our highly operational standards. Our 35 years of experience have allowed us to build an
industrial ecosystem with quality suppliers that inevitably helps us to meet the brand’s culture of excellence, which is to guarantee the same perfect taste in every one of its containers, wherever they come from.
« In Dunkirk and the Hauts-de-France region, we benefit from infrastructures that are essential to our shipments and that support our multimodal transportation strategy ».
With the closure of the Chantiers de France shipyard in Dunkirk in 1998, local shipbuilding went down with it. Dunkerque Promotion then sought to create jobs for the many employees who had been hit by the economic downturn. Our arrival dates back to this period, and to the construction of the industrial estate where we are currently based. We also worked with the Hauts-de-France region on the “Passport to employment ” program co-created by CCEP France. Thanks to this initiative, we welcome more than 400 young people from the Hauts-de-France region every year, so they can discover industrial professions.
We are still supported by these same stakeholders, particularly for our recruitment campaigns. On a broader front, we are currently working with local economic partners and other local companies to create synergies that will benefit our economic and social fabric, in a spirit of territorial coherence.
« The industrial culture of employees in Hauts-de-France played a major role in the decision to invest in the site to secure its development and consequently, its local and regional presence. Our employees are very attached to “their plant” and they prove this to us every day ».
Dorothée LEPOUTRE
Rémi Benamer
Dorothée (Project Director) and Rémi (Project Manager) are your privileged contacts for any project relating to the food industry.
They will be happy to provide you with support throughout your development project in the Hauts-de-France region.
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