Bowen and Bowen Speaks On Shortage Of Product
For the past few weeks, various business establishments around the country have been reporting challenges obtaining soft drinks and in some cases bottled water from Bowen & Bowen Limited. And as the days go by, even their flagship product, Coca Cola is rumoured to be scarce. All those shortages and supply breakdowns fuelled a storm of speculation which is culminating in the recent rumour that Belize's biggest bottler was on the verge of collapse. And since there has been much allegations of the situation, we spoke with Public Relations Officer at Bowen, Christelle Wilson who says the availability of their soft drink products has declined due to the speed of their bottle washer mechanism.
Christelle Wilson - Public relations officer, Bowen and Bowen Group of Companies
Wilson - Bowen
"I know that there has been a shortage on the availability of soft drink due to the slow production speed of our washer and that is the reason that why we are replacing our washer and not due to any quality issues of our products but because we want to speed up the production so we are only aware of a shortage of some soft drink."
Maria Novelo - Reporter
"How long will it going to take you to get it to normal again?"
Wilson - Bowen
"I spoke to the manager in charge and he informed me that we should have the new washer in place in about a month to a month and a half but you might experience a little bit more shortage but it is temporary but we are working as fast as we could to get the new washer installed but the equipment has to come from abroad and it has to be installed and it has to be checked to make sure it has to meet the standards to operate and then we will be able to start producing with that washer."
Maria Novelo - Reporter
"A lot of people are asking why it is that the company has been sensitizing the public on the issue that you guys are facing in terms of that, installing that machine, how will you compensate for this, I mean the demand is still there."
Wilson - Bowen
"We know that the people are demanding the soft drinks and we are working our best on what they need and we do 24/7 to try to get the soft drinks out for our customers for them to sale to their customers and I honestly think that t is a greater demand for soft drink has gone up and that is the reason why we trying to get and even more efficient washer to meet those needs."
Another issue which has been brought to light by consumers is floating particles in some of their products including coke and lighthouse. Wilson says that the company has little to no margin of error for that to occur and so those concerns are unfounded.
Wilson - Bowen
"We have such a strict protocol in place to ensure that there is nothing than other what is supposed to be inside those bottles, we follow international guidelines, we are ISO certified for quality and safety, there is even an automated bottle inspector that checks the bottle inside out and the entire surface to ensure that no contamination is within those bottles, we take all measure and we have proper measures in place to ensure that there is no contamination, we are audited by the Coca Cola company, the parent company, so we don't have any room for error so I am not sure if these customers who have found particle have actually opened the bottle but they leave our plant they are sealed and there is nothing inside them."
Wilson says any complaints should be addressed with the company so that it can be looked into. Tomorrow we'll have a first-hand glimpse at how the flagship product, Coca Cola is made.
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