Beverage Packaging

BUILDING YOUR BRAND WITH TODAY'S BEVERAGE CAN
Key Elements for Growing Brand Sales and Enhancing Production Efficiencies

Putting an attractive, eye-catching can on the store shelf is a primary goal of any beverage brand. The appearance of a beverage can is a vehicle for building brand recognition and creating customer loyalty through an emotional connection to that brand.

A successful beverage can relies not only on exciting new designs but also on comprehensive product support. Identifying a beverage can supplier who offers cutting-edge decorating technologies as well as product trialing assistance, state-of-the art technical consulting and supply chain management expertise is key to giving a beverage brand a competitive advantage.

The look and feel of a beverage can is not as predictable as it once was. Beverage cans are now hitting the market in daring new styles, thanks to the latest technical capabilities of can suppliers. To ensure a brand is leading market trends rather than struggling to keep up, it is important to select a can supplier with a proven history of innovation.

Many exciting new technologies are available to today's beverage brands to give their packaging greater shelf impact. For example, creative new finishes allow cans to stand out on crowded store shelves. "Wet look" or "tactile" inks differentiate cans with a new fresh appearance and unique texture. Also new is a "soft touch" finish that gives beverage cans a matte look and smooth velvet feel.

New developments in bright steel and tab decorating technologies also allow for the production of beverage cans with strong visual impact. "Bright Steel" technology produces steel cans with measurably brighter colours and higher gloss, allowing beverage cans to stand out on crowded supermarket shelves. Beverage can tabs provide a unique way to target consumers with key brand messages or special promotions such as instant win campaigns, co-branding promotions and tab collection schemes. Tabs can be coloured, incised or laser etched to create high quality, finely detailed designs that catch the consumer eye.

Utilising innovative, creatively shaped packages to attract consumer attention is another increasingly popular and effective marketing trend. The latest generation of can-shaping technology allows for the production of essentially any shape - from subtle to highly innovative asymmetrical designs - with fine detail and significant expansion capability.

Implementing these new technologies need not effect production or product quality. For example, Crown's proprietary blow-forming technology does not require tooling or liquid inside the container during the production process, preventing damage to the internal coatings.

In today's competitive market, time is of the essence in getting a new product to consumers. A quality supplier will provide services to expedite the development of new cans for brand refreshes or new product launches.

Product design support is a key area that can affect turnaround. While almost any design can be dreamed into being, it takes skilled designers to make the dream a reality. Also, the feasibility of a new can design must be assessed before the beverage brand's valuable time and resources are expended on its production.

Crown's Reprographics Studio in Leicester, UK, with its state-of-the-art skill abilities in can decorating and reprographic processes, offers expert advice to beverage brands in the design and development of new packaging. In-depth knowledge of metal packaging technology allows for the creation of innovative and feasible beverage can designs.

Product testing is another area where quality can suppliers have the ability to help beverage brands reduce time to market. Before a new product is sent to the filling line, testing must be conducted to ensure that the product, packaging and filling processes are compatible.

Innovative can suppliers should offer beverage brands access to a fully-equipped, Beverage Pilot Hall where production processes for new product packaging can be carefully tested. Comprehensive analysis should be done to test cans for material pick-up and shelf-life in both ambient and high temperature settings. The ability to conduct short runs for new product trials and fine-tune packaging processes before major product launch dates saves brands both time and money. Valuable production capacity is maintained since existing production lines are free to continue production while a new product is being tested and trialed at your can supplier's Beverage Pilot Hall.

A reliable and forward-thinking can supplier's work does not end when a new can hits the filling line. Support from a can supplier is just as important after a product has been launched as before, and an exemplary can supplier is interested in heading off production problems before they start.

A quality supplier provides support in the form of ample staffing of technical experts who are available to address specific concerns regarding quality, food safety, traceability, logistics, production processes, and seaming. To address such issues effectively, a can supplier requires cutting edge expertise in metallurgy, chemistry and microbiological sciences. A quality supplier follows through to see that technical problems are addressed in a timely fashion, and even makes regular visits to production lines to help predict and avoid any future technical issues.

Seaming is the most demanding element of beverage can production. If not monitored, non-optimised seaming can lead to wasted materials and costly product recalls.

To ensure your brand is protected with top-quality seaming support, look for a supplier who recruits world-class seaming experts, is familiar with food safety regulations around the word, provides regular food safety compliance reviews, and offers top-of-the-line durable tooling kits as well as monitoring systems to continually check seam integrity in real time.

Superior can suppliers will also offer seaming training sessions. For example, at its Seaming School in Perrywood, UK, Crown offers personalized classes on a variety of seaming issues taught by a dedicated Seaming Instructor. Courses can also be arranged at customer plants across Europe when needed. Seaming classes range from a 3-day course on the basics of seam evaluation and risk analysis to intensive 2-week courses that incorporate information on more complex issues such as the assembly and dismantling of seaming equipment.

Access to world-class seaming expertise allows beverage brands to save time and money while protecting their brand image.

Supply chain management is another value-added feature offered by a can supplier dedicated to quality. This means synchronising production efforts with the customer to ensure that the receipt of the cans and ends is timely and efficient. Pro-active beverage can suppliers should work closely with customers to streamline all aspects of the supply chain to ensure maximised production efficiency and product integrity throughout the supply chain.

For example, to enhance product traceability Crown invested in technology capable of applying a unique code on each beverage can end as well as an identifying date and time of manufacture. These tracking codes are etched on ends using laser technology to ensure that they do not interfere with the design or appearance of the cans. This new technology allows beverage brands to quickly and accurately trace each beverage can end, enhancing quality control and production efficiencies.

In today's high-volume, high-speed market, beverage brands rely on comprehensive support at every step in the production process from concept through consumption. A beverage can supplier that offers comprehensive array of customer technical and market support services can give a beverage brand a significant competitive edge.