Traveling through the Russian cities in search of a secret recipe

15:05, November 28, 2020

GSEM Autumn School students visited Coca-Cola HBC factories in Russia and suggested creative solutions to environmental problems for the regions

Participants of the GSEM UrFU International Autumn School, as part of their visits to international and local companies, traditionally go to the Coca-Cola HBC Russia plant in Yekaterinburg to learn about the company's activities, the process of producing favorite drinks and about the sustainable development strategy. This year, despite the limitations and distance format of the School, was no exception! In a few hours, the participants saw how Coca-Cola HBC works in Russia in live mode.

Polina Dzyubenko, Head of the development of excursion programs, spoke about the history and activities of one of the most famous brands in the world market and showed all the stages of production - from water preparation to the packaging process, outlining the features of each step. Yana Lopatkova, co-organizer of the school, lecturer of the International Economics and Business program, noted the originality of the presentation of information:

«Students learned a lot of interesting facts about the global brand, for example, what products are included in the company's portfolio, in which country the company does not do business, how Coca-Cola is connected with a trip to space, why the syrup recipe is considered secret and where it is brought from to Russia».

Alexander Gorbachev, Sustainability Manager for Coca-Cola HBC Russia, spoke in detail about the company's initiatives within the framework of its commitments to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the period up to 2025.

In order for students of international business schools to gain a practical understanding of the industry and to connect concepts and theory with practice to acquire applied knowledge, they visited Coca-Cola HBC Russia and got acquainted with the company's production process. The School participants virtually visited the factories and, in a live format, saw how the process of bottling and packaging of different types of drinks is going on. The online broadcast aroused great interest, students asked questions related to the production of various types of packaging, the amount of products manufactured, water consumption, clarified about CO2 emissions, the peculiarities of organizing the process in different cities and countries.

School participants suggested creative ideas for the implementation of external and internal sustainable development projects related to the introduction of innovative systems for monitoring and purifying water resources, highlighting the problem in social networks, attracting students from leading Russian universities to the topic of responsible water consumption, the participants also expressed their interest and desire to participate in social and environmental projects of the Coca-Cola HBC company.