Wipotec and Coca-Cola: How They’re Closing the Loop

A meeting at a GS1 event in Brazil laid the foundation for their collaboration. Today, Wipotec – a company based in Germany’s Palatinate region – and Coca-Cola Latin America are strong partners. Together, they have launched an exciting project to make the circular economy a reality in the region. And this is far from the end of their business relationship.

Coca-Cola was actively looking for a partner to realize its vision of direct bottle marking. While other companies gradually dropped out, Wipotec stayed the course.

"The development took about two years and included not only Wipotec’s hardware, but also the business case and the data management pool," says Thomas Krämer, Global Account Manager Product Marking at Wipotec. "Our experience in pharmaceutical serialization was extremely valuable here."

Operations are already underway in Chile. “In Brazil, another production line is currently being installed. Next up is Costa Rica as a pilot for Central America. A rollout across Latin America is also in planning,” says Krämer, who is closely involved in driving the project forward. He adds, “Latin America is quite active when it comes to the circular economy. The market is large and offers strong potential for better resource utilization. Additionally, some of the regions are geographically quite isolated, making them ideal for regional pilot projects.”

Krämer also reveals that a scaled use case for Europe – with a pilot in Germany – is already in development.

The next big step for Wipotec and Coca-Cola is laser engraving on glass bottles. The team in Kaiserslautern is currently working on marking cold glass bottles – making it possible to track bottles already in circulation.

By the way: According to Krämer, the system can also be adapted for other producers, sectors, and industries.