Technology certainly played a large part in the growth of soft drinks in the second half of the twentieth century.
The development of cans, plastic bottles high speed packaging lines and improvement to distribution systems have been largely responsible for the increase in availability, the decrease in real term cost and the resultant increase in consumption.
The advent of of railways and large steam ships in the 1800s made transportation feasible and indeed drinks were exported from the UK to the USA as early as 1800.
The export trade continued to expand and by the mid-1800s significant trade was being done with far corners of the Empire.
This must have involved considerable cost and on a domestic basic the trade was on a much more local scale.
The industry evolved as a multitude of local businesses operating in a small geographical area, though some larger companies operated several production plants in different parts of the country.
The UK Bottlers; Year Book 1933 listed more than 2000 soft drink manufacturing companies but by 1983 the list had shrink to less than 400, and the number is now down to less than 100.
Likewise the number of bottling plants in the USA grew to reach a peak of 7920 in 1929, remaining fairly constant until around 1950 and then halved to 3727 by 1965 as improved productivity and distribution started to have a significant effect.
This having of the number of bottling plant took place over a period in which per capita consumption rose by over 60%.
The growth of cans and PET bottles at the expense of returnable glass has played a significant part in this continuing productivity improvement, which has been truly amazing.
As recently as 20 years ago a typical returnable glass bottle line producing, 300 bottles/min, required about 25 operating personnel.
Highly automated PET bottle blowing and filling operations have also improved production efficiencies significantly.
Other factors contributing to improved operational/ distribution efficiencies (both in time and cost) include:
- Use of shrink wrap in place of crates or boxes
- Micro-processor controlled equipment, for example, for palletisation
- Automated syrup room operations
- Centralized computer-controlled warehousing systems
- Automated bar-coding and traceability systems
History of Technology: Soft drink