British logistics management firm Wincanton has agreed to continue to operate Britvic Soft Drinks’ national distribution centre (NDC) in Lutterworth, Leicestershire for an additional three years.

A contract was signed by Wincanton and Britvic to extend their existing partnership from the past 20 years.

Wincanton currently operates a dedicated factory clearance operation in the form of a shuttle between the Rugby factory and the NDC, by transporting 44 million cases annually.

Additionally, the company has agreed to upgrade the site architecture and technology at the NDC to improve throughput and increase automation from the existing 82 million cases per year.

The company has also installed an on-site energy consumption system in order to reduce the impact of operations on the environment.

Wincanton manufacturing managing director Chris Kingshott said that the company has continuously updated, evolved and improved its service to meet market demand, since 1994.

"The heat wave last July was an exceptional challenge but due to our flexibility and capability to quickly scale up our operations we helped Britvic capitalise on one of its busiest periods in recent years," added Kingshott.

During July 2013, the NDC has recorded a throughput of 17.6 million cases.