{
  "id": 9031206,
  "title": "Swire Coca-Cola gets robots for heavy lifting in satisfying Chinese consumers’ thirst",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/swire-coca-cola-gets-robots-for-heavy-lifting-in-satisfying-chinese",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-21T23:00:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "SCMP Business",
    "slug": "scmp-business",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3368217/swire-coca-cola-gets-robots-heavy-lifting-satisfying-chinese-consumers-thirst"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Swire Coca-Cola is investing in robots to handle heavy lifting in their Chinese factories, aiming to meet the growing demands of consumers for diverse drink options. In Zhengzhou, Henan province, the company launched a robotic system for order picking this month, with an investment of 900 million yuan (US$134.3 million). Peter Mills, Swire Coca-Cola's chief supply chain officer, explained that China's changing consumer habits necessitate a more flexible and responsive supply chain, including emerging sales channels like convenience stores, vending coolers, and snack stores. The traditional method of manual labor for order picking is inefficient and costly, according to Mills. Swire Coca-Cola currently operates in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, with mainland China being its largest market, despite sharing franchise territory with the state-owned Cofco. Three sets of robots developed by Seth Robotics, a Hangzhou-based start-up, are deployed at the Zhengzhou facility. These robots can identify products from live orders, calculate efficient warehouse routes, and perform heavy-duty picking for various products, boasting the highest payload and fastest picking speed in the global market. China is one of the markets driving Coca-Cola's global volume growth, alongside India, the US, and Brazil, as per the company's second-quarter earnings report. Swire Coca-Cola's mainland sales volume increased by 12% in the first half of the year, while profit rose by 24% to HK$727 million (US$93 million) due to rebounding demand following a challenging 2025. The company's priorities in China include emerging sales channels, digital platforms, tourist destinations, and continued investment in sparkling drinks, particularly the low- and no-sugar segment. Swire Coca-Cola has a 12 billion yuan investment plan for the mainland market, covering new facilities and equipment over ten years, with two new plants opening in Kunshan and Guangzhou in late May. A new facility in Haikou, Hainan province, is under construction and set to open in December 2027.",
  "summary": "Chinese consumers are demanding more variety from the drinks sections in their local stores, and Swire Coca-Cola is employing robots to help quench this increasingly diversified thirst. The company began using a robotic system for order picking this month in a factory in Zhengzhou, capital of central China’s Henan province, where it has invested 900 million yuan (US$134.3 million). “China is a…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}