Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Frans Heemskerk officially opened the wholly new Coca-Cola Enterprises Nederland can production line in the Brabant town of Dongen on 7 October. He took the opportunity in his opening speech to praise the Brabant Development Agency's role in bringing about the expansion of Coca-Cola's production capacity. "In doing this, the BOM has demonstrated that attention is not only focused on bring new foreign companies to the region, but also on assisting those already here," Heemskerk said. He added that in his view the efforts of the BOM and of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency mean that when foreign companies decide to expand or consolidate their European activities, they often opt for the Netherlands and in many cases specifically for Brabant. With regards to Coca-Cola it was not only the cooperation with local, regional and national authorities that played an important role, said the State Secretary, but also the central location and logistical expertise provided by the Netherlands in general and by Brabant in particular. Heemskerk likewise praised the pioneering character of Coca-Cola in Dongen when it comes to sustainable business practices. The company is a European frontrunner in terms of decreased water consumption per litre of product, thereby making a significant contribution to its environmental objectives. That involves taking the greatest possible care in extracting water from the ground in Dongen. The commissioning of the new can production line is also positively influencing the environment, with no less than 85 percent of a can being reused and the can production process using 70 percent less energy than it did 15 years ago. Moreover, because road haulage of can packaging has been halved now that it does not only have to be shipped from France, CO2 emissions have likewise decreased. Coca-Cola has invested some 14 million euros in its Brabant expansion, and the number of jobs at its factory will now exceed 300.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Nederland has spent tens of millions of euros on the production lines in the Dongen bottling plant in recent years, making it one of the most high-tech plants in Europe. Dongen was once one of five Coca-Cola production plants in the Netherlands, but now it is the sole remaining one.