Cardiff Canning has installed a second production line that will take annual capacity to around 35 million cans, expanding its Cardiff manufacturing operation after existing equipment spent much of the summer running close to capacity.
Cardiff Canning has invested £400,000 in the additional line and moved into an adjacent unit at Freemans Parc Industrial Estate. The expansion increases production and storage space while giving the contract manufacturer room to handle higher volumes from existing customers and new drinks brands.
UKSE, a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has taken an equity stake in the business as part of the expansion. Cardiff Canning’s business plan forecasts turnover increasing by 50% during 2026 and employment rising from seven people to around 30 over three years, alongside training and upskilling as automation increases.
The new production equipment adds approximately 18 million cans of annual capacity. A full-height depalletiser, lowerator and further automated handling are also being introduced, increasing throughput without relying on the same rate of manual intervention as volumes rise.
Managing Director Paul Miller said: “We are very pleased to be working with UKSE in what we are sure will be a long and fruitful relationship.” The investment arrives after demand pushed much of the existing production schedule towards its practical limit.
Contract drinks manufacturing has to carry spare capacity if it is to accommodate customers whose volumes can change quickly after new listings, distribution agreements or product launches. A plant scheduled continuously near its theoretical maximum has little room for cleaning, product changes, maintenance, quality interventions or urgent additional production.
Adding a second line gives Cardiff Canning more flexibility between installed capacity and committed output. It also reduces the consequences of a stoppage on one line, provided blending, packing, warehousing and other supporting operations can keep pace with the additional filling capacity.
The company provides more than can filling. Its operations include blending, carbonation, nitrogen dosing, pasteurisation, packaging, bonded storage and dispatch support for alcoholic and non-alcoholic products including ready-to-drink cocktails, hard seltzers, functional drinks, energy drinks, soft drinks and low or no-alcohol beverages.
Bringing those processes together allows brands to move ingredients and packaging through fewer external handovers before finished products are dispatched. Smaller drinks companies in particular can avoid coordinating separate blending, filling, packing and warehousing suppliers while still accessing industrial production equipment.
Higher throughput increases the cost of inconsistency. Depalletising, container movement and repetitive handling become obvious areas for automation, while production planning and quality systems have to absorb more products, more packaging formats and greater quantities without allowing traceability or process control to deteriorate.
Cardiff Canning says its quality controls include fill-weight verification, carbonation monitoring, seam analysis, sensory assessment and production reviews. The company is SALSA accredited and handles slim can formats including 150ml, 200ml and 250ml sizes alongside tray, shrink-wrapped, four-pack, shelf-ready and boxed formats.
Storage also becomes more significant once filling capacity increases. Empty cans, ingredients, secondary packaging and finished goods can all occupy space simultaneously, particularly when customers require stock to be held ahead of distribution. An expansion that adds output without additional warehouse space can merely move the production constraint from the line to staging and dispatch.
The business currently operates from a 25,000 sq ft facility with around 10,000 sq ft of warehousing. Its move into the neighbouring unit increases the room available as production grows from the smaller volumes around which the company was established in 2019.
The investment therefore combines line capacity with changes to the wider production environment. Filling, automated handling, storage, quality control and staffing all have to expand together if the nominal 35 million-can figure is to become reliable commercial output rather than a maximum equipment rating.
That integration also determines how quickly the new line can recover its capital cost. Higher filling speed has limited value if labour, maintenance or warehouse constraints prevent finished cans from moving through the rest of the operation at the same rate.
UKSE says the additional space and automation should support further customer acquisition as the company increases capacity. The planned headcount growth also shows that automation is changing the type and scale of labour required rather than removing the need for people altogether.
Cardiff Canning expects meaningful additional capacity to become available from mid-November. If the order profile that filled much of the existing schedule continues, the second line will enter service as working capacity rather than equipment installed in anticipation of demand that has yet to materialise.
