As part of Coopers’ $10.5 million expansion program to boost capacity at the company’s Regency Park site, two new beer fermenters were installed on August 17 at Coopers Brewery, bringing the company’s total to twenty.
Each fermenter holds approximately 170,000L of beer, the equivalent of 18,000 cartons.
According to Coopers, the capital expenditure program, which began in April, also involves the construction of additional office and warehouse space, along with the commissioning of a new high-speed labelling machine and the purchase of 8500 beer kegs.
The upgrade of facilities is in line with increased demand for Coopers beer in Australia and overseas, as well as the company’s overall strategy to grow its share of the national beer market from 3% to 5% by 2011.
A total of $6 million is being spent on the warehouse expansion and new offices, and $2 million has been invested in a new German-built KHS labelling machine which, when installed in September, will boost the speed of the bottling line from around 1000 bottles/minute to 1200 bottles/minute.