PATS was formed in 2007 when the Pan Africa System Council (PASC) of the Company’s eight key Bottlers in Africa and leaders responsible for the continent formed this department within KO responsible for managing and developing the import and export of KO products across Africa.

The bottlers involved in making this decision were Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, SABMiller Africa & Asia, SABCO, ABI, Heineken, The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Egypt, CCHBC/Nigeria Bottling Company and BGI/Castle Group.

Their core reason for forming PATS was to leverage excess production capacity in Africa to provide Bottlers and Distributors in Africa with KO imported beverages. PATS was also established to assist Coca-Cola Africa Business Units in growing brand portfolios and driving innovation across the continent.

Currently the PATs team provides a service to about 43 countries within Africa. PATS provides end to end supply chain solutions: ensuring compliance with KO, country regulatory and legislative requirements; facilitating export enquiries; preparing value chain analysis and feasibility assessments; facilitating transport and logistics solutions and ensuring successful completion of export/import requests.

PATS vision for its business in Africa is to,