Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S., is leveraging Atlantic Packaging’s MUST Stretch Film Management System to optimize its stretch wrapping operations. With 65 production lines across 16 manufacturing plants, nearly 700 SKUs, and more than 100 packaging sizes, consistency, efficiency, and sustainability are top priorities.

“…It helps us consistently wrap the pallets the same, making sure that we’re wrapping certain pallets the right way,” says Melanie Sabella, Coca-Cola Consolidated Vice President of Technical Services.

Why It Matters

The MUST platform brings advanced data insights to stretch wrapping operations, optimizing material usage while enhancing load containment and product protection. Coca-Cola Consolidated highlights several benefits:

1. Standardized Wrapping

   MUST ensures consistent wrapping standards across all pallets, helping identify and address variations in how different products react to wrapping. This data-driven approach eliminates guesswork and improves operational reliability.

2. Improved Traceability

   By integrating MUST with warehouse operations, Coca-Cola Consolidated can trace issues back to specific production lines and individual stretch wrappers. This visibility allows for swift corrective actions, improving overall system efficiency.

   “We actually started connecting the dots between a down load at a warehouse coming from a production center and what line that happened on, and then, we actually tied it back to information in MUST,” says Melanie. “As we kind of grew with the whole MUST System, those opportunities kind of came to light, which we couldn’t see before.”

3. Sustainability Gains

   MUST’s ability to reduce stretch film usage contributes to significant environmental savings. Coca-Cola Consolidated reports measurable reductions in plastic waste, aligning with its sustainability goals and cutting its carbon footprint. 450,000 pounds of stretch film was eliminated in 2024.

4. Future Growth Potential

   With real-time data and actionable insights, Coca-Cola Consolidated can continuously refine its processes, ensuring even greater efficiency and environmental impact over time.

Strong Partnership

Atlantic Packaging, in partnership with Coca-Cola Consolidated, has launched a Stretch Film Recycling Program to create a closed-loop system that transforms used stretch film into post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin, promoting sustainability by reducing virgin material usage, lowering emissions, and advancing a circular economy. This highlights the businesses commitments to creating a more sustainable economy for future generations.

Optimizing Operations

The MUST Stretch Film Management System exemplifies how innovation can drive both operational excellence and sustainability. For Coca-Cola Consolidated, the partnership has uncovered opportunities to reduce material usage, save money, and optimize production — critical wins in a competitive market.

This collaboration not only underscores the transformative potential of IoT-driven solutions but also sets a benchmark for how industries can simultaneously cut costs and contribute to a greener future.

Mackie and the MUST Quality Control Team ensure our customers’ stretch wrapping programs are standardized, consistent, and precise.

A quick, but detailed, inspection of your facility’s machines, films, and processes allows our experts to provide you with long-term savings. Our Quality Control Team develops strong relationships with operators and plant personnel in addition to setting goals and expectations.

Mackie and his team then optimize the stretch wrapping program by adjusting the type of film used, wrapper settings, wrap patterns, and machine parts while providing recommendations on process improvements. Atlantic provides its partners with tailored documents for their stretch wrapping procedures and in-plant training to ensure the quality of any business’ unique stretch wrapping program. Optimization is critical to improving the productivity of every line!

Mackie and the MUST team are constantly working behind the scenes utilizing MUST’s monitoring software and real-time data to ensure every load is wrapped to the correct standard every time. Atlantic will alert you when we detect severe deviations from your benchmark standards and work with you to identify and fix the issue. MUST allows both the customer and Atlantic’s specialists to view current and historical data on every load wrapped from every wrapper monitored. MUST also provides actionable data and insightful alerts delivered straight to your inbox, so your business can increase performance, prevent damage, save money, and meet its sustainability goals.

Mackie is passionate about the mentorship aspect of his role leading the MUST Quality Control Team. While at Clemson, he worked under Dabo Swinney, and he attributes this to part of his success as a mentor. Mackie works tirelessly to advise, train, and bring out the full potential of his team.

The MUST Management System is the fastest growing stretch film program in the industry. Mackie and his team helped Atlantic customers reduce their stretch film usage by over 30 Million Pounds in 2021 while saving more them more than $50 Million.

Atlantic will soon be introducing the first Closed Loop System for stretch film. This team will be integral in working with Atlantic’s MUST customers to effectively manage the process to ensure we continue to reduce plastic packaging waste without compromising the delivered quality of their products.

One of the most notable projects that Mackie spearheaded was for a beverage conglomerate in one of its Texas facilities. The organization was using too much stretch film and not stretching the film tight enough around their pallets causing it to have the most load failures out of any other plant in the company.

After 4 strenuous weeks in the summer heat, Mackie and his team were able to install MUST systems on their wrappers, optimize the wrappers, and train the plant personnel in using MUST. This took the facility from the worst-performing plant in the company to near 0 load failures and 25% cost savings!

They truly bought into the MUST program and have since been one of the best performing plants Atlantic monitors.

As the MUST program spreads and countless clients adopt a data-driven approach to their stretch film programs, Mackie and his team of specialists will be behind the scenes ensuring that businesses become more efficient, eliminate unnecessary film application, save money, and meet their sustainability goals.