05.07.2005

70 years beverage can: history of an eternally young container

70 years ago the beverage started out from America to conquer the whole world.

Ratingen, July 5, 2005. 
The history of the can started 70 years ago in the USA.  The Gottfried Krueger Brewery from Newark/New Jersey first launched "Krueger's Beer" in cans in 1935.
The town of Richmond in Virginia was selected as the trial market.  The first producer of beverage cans was the American Can company.  Year one in the history of the bevcan resulted in the sale of 200 million beer cans. The following year, in January 1936, the Heidelberg daily newspaper reported: "Interested circles in Europe have followed the development of the beer can extremely closely.  The advantages of this innovative packaging are obvious: it is light-weight and stable and consequently there is no danger of breakage.  It permits weight and space saving of some 50 per cent both of which mean cash savings for the breweries." In Germany, the company Schmalbach (now Ball Packaging Europe) presented the first prototype in 1936 - a "bottle can" with crown cork as seal.  After the war, the cylindrically shaped beverage can was put on the market throughout the country: The Henninger Brewery which was the first German brewery to supply their export beer in the rounded tinplate container, initially decided to use the can in order to supply the American troops stationed in Frankfurt.
The first beverage cans required an opener.  A triangular hole was punched into the can end using a so-called "church key".  That did not change until the American Ermal Fraze went on a picnic with his family in 1963.  He had forgotten his "church key" and had to open his can using the bumper bar of his car.  During a sleepless night, the annoyed Fraze then invented the "easy opener", a tear-off tab which was already integrated in the can end.  He applied for a patent for his invention, finally enabling the beverage can's breakthrough as a "convenience packaging".

In the meantime beer is by no means the only beverage drunk from a can; the range covers soft drinks, including juices, wellness and energy drinks, ice teas, coffee- and milk-based drinks and even wine.  The beverage cans has also undergone several "rejuvenation processes": ongoing research and development have enabled the amount of material required to be continually reduced whilst retaining the same filling volume. The tinplate can is therefore slimmer and lighter than ever before: in the 1930s the 330 ml can weighed around 100 grams, in 2005 it is merely 21.4 grams.  This enormous weight reduction is due primarily to the down-gauged wall thickness of currently just 0.07 mm, corresponding to the thickness of a human hair.
The development potential for the beverage can has by no means been exhausted:  at the interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf this year, Ball Packaging Europe presented, amongst other things, the "communicating can".  It indicates to consumers whether the contents are already at the optimal drinking temperature or whether the can should remain in the refrigerator a little while longer.  The latest attraction: a wellness can which can store the sensitive ingredients such as vitamins separately.  Increasingly sophisticated printing technology right up to digital printing makes beverage cans the ideal promotion packaging for trendy beverage brands.  In many European countries the can is therefore experiencing constantly growing demand - and is on the point of making a comeback in Germany.
 

Forward looking statement
The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied. As time passes, the relevance and accuracy of forward-looking statements contained in this release may change. The company currently does not intend to update any particular forward-looking statement except as it deems necessary at quarterly or annual release of earnings. Please refer to the Form 10-Q filed by Ball Corporation on November 10, 2003, for a summary of key risk factors that could affect actual results or outcomes. Factors that might affect the packaging segments of the company are: fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; competitive packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; the weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; company and industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; regulatory action or laws, including the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws and environmental and workplace safety regulations; availability and cost of raw materials, energy and transportation; the ability or inability to pass on to customers changes in these costs, particularly resin, steel and aluminium; pricing and ability or inability to sell scrap; international business risks (including foreign exchange rates and tax rates) particularly in the United States, Europe and in developing countries such as China and Brazil; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that may affect the aerospace segment are: funding, authorisation and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with aerospace segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures and the integration activities associated therewith including the integration and operation of the business of Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, now known as Ball Packaging Europe; the inability to purchase the company's common stock; insufficient or reduced cash flow; regulatory action or laws including those related to corporate governance and financial reporting, regulations and standards; actual and estimated business consolidation and investment costs and the net realisable value of assets associated with these activities; goodwill impairment; changes in generally accepted accounting principles or their interpretation; litigation; antitrust, intellectual property, consumer and other issues; strikes; boycotts; increases in various employee benefits and labour costs, specifically pension, medical and health care costs incurred in the countries in which Ball has operations; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; interest rates and level of company debt, including floating rate debt; terrorist activities, war or catastrophic events that disrupt or impact production, supply or pricing of the company's goods and services, including raw materials and energy costs, or disrupt or impact the credit and financing of the company's businesses; and U.S. and foreign economic conditions.

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