Coca-Cola Europacific Partners - Career acceleration in supply chains

Created by VERCIDA for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners 

 

Cait Simper started with CCEP as an apprentice out of college and now she is demonstrating that supply chain and distribution management is a career for everyone.

When you’re at school, you don’t really think about what goes into a bottle of pop and how it reaches the store, but now that I’ve been working at CCEP for almost eight years, I’ve learned about all the different functions and have an appreciation of the complexities and the career opportunities it creates.

After finishing college, I applied with CCEP, and became their first business apprentice. A scheme that’s grown in success over the last few years. We studied business administration and management while completing various six-month long placements in different areas of the supply chain.  I worked within some fantastic teams and had a hands-on approach to roles in manufacturing, distribution, planning and customer service.

After completing the three-year apprenticeship I secured a full time role in the QESH team (Quality, Environment, Safety and Health) where I looked after food safety and raw material quality for the site. From there, I moved into a secondment role within the operation excellence team and worked at the GB sites on various projects.

My first-ever apprentice placement was in distribution on the shop floor, and I really enjoyed it. The team was so inclusive and the work was dynamic and challenging – but in a good way! I always intended to return to a career in distribution, I just didn’t know what role I wanted.

About three years ago, I started my first people management role looking after a small team in the case picking warehouse. I am now a senior distribution professional at Wakefield, one of the country’s biggest warehouses. At the moment, there are 40,000 pallets in there. I oversee one of four shifts in a 24-hour operation, I manage four team leaders and 45 team members. Each day ,we’re responsible for up to 380 vehicle loads and 20,000 individually picked products leaving the site. I work a three-days-on/three-days-off shift pattern, which includes night shifts. I was definitely apprehensive about moving from a Monday to Friday pattern but, surprisingly, these shifts, and the days off work so much better for me and my family.

The workplace landscape is quite different to when I first started with CCEP, it’s still in parts male-dominated, but there has been a lot of proactive changes in recent years and our workforce has definitely become much more diverse. Being a woman or neurodiverse hasn’t held me back. It is such a supportive environment and everyone is treated equally. There are also a lot of support networks and mentoring programs for women and their allies in supply chain – a few I have enjoyed engaging with this year include a CILT’s Women in Logistics, Everywoman and IDG mentoring program.

We have an even split of men and women in our management team, but still have some work to do to ensure our wider team is a reflective demographic. We have a big focus on recruitment to try and bring more women into supply chain roles and, once they are here, retain them and further their careers.

I’m fortunate to work with lots of inspirational women who refuse to accept the restrictions of gender stereotypes. For me, it’s really important we continue to break down the barriers, increase representation and continue to demonstrate that women belong in every part of our supply chain.

When I ask someone outside of the business what they think our work in distribution looks like, people tend to have a perception of uncomfortable environments, unskilled work, manual tasks and long hours, but that’s not the case at all.

Working in a busy 24-hour operation, there are a variety of different work patterns available, so there is usually something to suit everyone. It’s a busy operation, but safety always comes first. It's reassuring that CCEP takes a direct approach on safety, creating a culture that ensures you leave work the same way you arrived.

There are so many different jobs in supply chains that many people might not even be aware of. It’s not just about moving pallets of stock – although it’s important we do this well. Supply chain work often presents tough mental challenges, from labour planning to material supply, which are best solved collaboratively, so we definitely need a diverse skills set within our team to succeed. 

Distribution and warehousing has advanced so much in recent years and technology, such as robotics and automation has replaced so many manual labour tasks. There are still some manual activities, but plenty of women are succeeding in these roles today – there is no reason why more women can’t join us.

Since working in supply chain, I’ve developed a completely new skill set that I never anticipated before coming into this role. I’d encourage anyone interested in any part of the supply chain to explore the opportunity. One thing I love about working at CCEP is that our business never stands still and there’s always lots of interesting work to be done. I see myself having a long career with CCEP, I’m surrounded by a fantastic team and have been given some fantastic career opportunities. In the next few years I’m aiming to move into a senior management role working centrally.

 

To learn more about the inclusive culture at CCEP and to see a full list of vacancies please click here.