Encirc reveals blueprint for transforming the UK drinks supply chain

Richard Lloyd, managing director of Encirc Beverages, reveals why “bulk wine is the future” and how he intends to revolutionise the supply chain in the United Kingdom.

In September, dozens of suppliers descended on Encirc Beverage’s Bristol site to hear Richard Lloyd, the company’s managing director, reveal his bold vision for the coming years.

With Encirc having purchased The Park in February 2023, creating a new, expanded Encirc Beverages, Lloyd was keen to outline his radical ambitions, not only for the company but for the broader drinks industry.

“We’re looking to find new ways of bringing suppliers, customers and retailers together,” Lloyd said.

“We’re also looking to go out and disrupt”.

Referencing the fact that the world is changing at pace and, with it, the beverage trade, Lloyd declared: “We don’t see this as a drawback. We see this as an advantage,” and revealed that Encirc Beverages intends to completely “re-imagine the supply chain”.

With two facilities in the UK, as well as three glass furnace sites supporting, Encirc Beverages is a one-stop shop for drinks brands selling their products in Europe, and is responsible for 460 million litres of liquid – predominantly wine, alongside some beer and soft drinks. The business accounts for more than half of the UK’s glass filling.

For this reason, there is perhaps no company betterplaced to shake up the UK beverage supply chain, but Lloyd was keen to stress that he needed the support of the organisation’s valued suppliers, from bag-in-box manufacturers to closures firms, to join Encirc Beverages in pushing for lasting change.

Supplier buy-in to his vision is incredibly important because Lloyd is intent on driving “true alignment in purpose across the whole supply chain”. If all players have a shared vision across the supply base, he said, “we can generate transformational improvements for our customers.”

ACTION PLAN

So how will Encirc Beverages go about doing this?

First and foremost, through further growing its share of the UK drinks industry.

According to Pete Ball, head of planning at Encirc Beverages, the company plans to see 28% growth over the next three years. Putting that into context, he said, “that is an additional 100m litres, or enough liquid to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools”.

Partner Content

Wines of Hungary renews campaign in China and South Korea

Local biodiversity proves the secret to new Viña Artesano wines

Fuller’s celebrates 180th anniversary with limited-edition porter and new gift packs

Why Cava is ‘undergoing an exciting renaissance’

In order to achieve this impressive growth, Encirc Beverages will look to expand its presence in categories other than wine, where it already holds a dominant market position. Encirc Beverages now intends to capitalise on its glass-filling expertise to grab a larger stake of the beer and spirits sectors.

“We already have the glassmaking business of many of the top beer and spirits brands,” said Ball.

Secondly, Encirc Beverages will employ the best available technology to improve speed and efficiencies. The company already utilises state-of-the-art tech to facilitate an extremely high level of automation. In Lloyd’s words: “Our factory floor is like a cross between a Formula 1 pit garage and a hospital operating theatre, with stock accuracy so precise it rivals the accuracy of DNA testing.”

He sees machine learning and AI being used increasingly throughout the site in the coming years. A new highspeed bottling line is expected to go live in 2024, which will play a key role in helping to facilitate the business’ extra growth.

In addition to snatching a larger share of the UK drinks industry and using sophisticated technologies, a detailed and transparent dialogue with suppliers regarding the performance of their own products and procedures, that in turn feeds into the wider Encirc ecosystem, will be paramount. Detailed scorecards completed by multiple workers at every stage of the production process will provide precise analysis and a neverbefore-seen window into how a supplier ’s product is working, as well as taking into consideration matters such as stock availability and prompt delivery. Being able to enact such specific feedback via data and analytics will be a gamechanger across the whole supply chain.

Finally, Encirc Beverages intends to establish a cross-country rail network, enabling products to be delivered directly to the customer.

This all-important transport link will connect the company’s sites in Cheshire and Bristol, meaning that glass can be made and moved to the filling site, and from there completed products can be delivered to retailers, ready to go on shelves.

“Bullk wine is the future,” said Lloyd. “Bringing wine into the UK in a case is the past. You pay more excise duty than with bulk, and you can fit in half the amount of product.”

Encirc Beverages will also need its suppliers’ help in order to meet its ambitious green goals.

Lloyd explained that the Science Based Targets initiative has now approved the commitment of Vidrala (Encirc’s parent company) to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2045.

Furthermore, the aim is for “all major components to be delivered to the bottling line on returnable packaging”, said Lloyd. As the visionary managing director puts it: “The future is ours.”