‘Bottle Can’ Takes To Steel

DSC based its coil-to-can proprietary technology on similar methods used for the revolutionary “bottle can” introduced about five years ago by Daiwa Can Co. That container, however, is PET-coated aluminum rather than steel.

27/01/07 From the uncoiler to the presses to decorating and palletizing, the twin can-making lines at DS Containers in Batavia, IL, are marvels of power, precision, and automation. The finished product—two-piece steel cans currently used for aerosol products, though later uses outside of aerosols could include such things as lotions and gels—are every bit as impressive. No side seam mars the sidewall, an integral dome adds a touch of elegance, and litho printing in up to eight colors delivers shelf impact galore.

DSC’s 236 sq’ plant is special, too, largely because of what’s missing: noxious emissions. Because the firm makes its cans from PET-coated steel, the coatings typically found in can-making are not involved in the process. And with no coatings comes no ovens to cure those coatings. Thus, far fewer emissions are produced.

DSC based its coil-to-can proprietary technology on similar methods used for the revolutionary “bottle can” introduced about five years ago by Daiwa Can Co. That container, however, is PET-coated aluminum rather than steel.

The connection with Daiwa helps explain DSC’s name, as the DS stems from Daiwa-Seikan. “Seikan” is the Japanese word forcan-making. DSC is an affiliate of Japan’s Daiwa Can Co.

Another connection behind the scenes is that Bill Smith, chairman and CEO of DSC, was executive vice president of American Can Co. in the 80s and helped manage the technology and licensing agreements between Daiwa and American Can. Later, as CEO of U.S. Can, Smith stayed in close connection with Daiwa and served in an advisory capacity as the aluminum bottle can was being developed by Daiwa. It was Smith’s idea to bring the bottle can to the U.S.

Steel’s price advantage

In bringing this proprietary technology to the U.S., DSC switched from aluminum to steel because the cost of steel is so much lower, roughly in the 20% range. The PET-coated steel comes from Corus Packaging Plus, an Anglo-Dutch organization that applies the PET coating as part of its coil-making process.

To fully appreciate the significance of this container, it helps to point out that most aerosol containers in use today across the U.S are three-piece steel. Making them requires multiple steps and involves a lot of work-in-process logistics, including:

• Converting coils of tin-plate steel into sheets  

• Printing sheets of steel and cutting them into individual blanks for can bodies

• Making can ends

• Forming cylinders with a welded side seam

• Seaming on the ends

• Coating and curing

DSC, on the other hand, makes its two-piece cans in a single pass that takes about 20 minutes from uncoiler to palletizer. Even eight-color offset decorating is included inline. According to Ron DeSimone, director of corporate marketing at DSC customer Chase Products Co. in Broadview, IL, the simplicity of this in-line can-making process greatly shortens time to market. He says that where it might take six weeks to get a shipment of three-piece steel aerosol cans, it takes about two weeks to get their two-piece steel counterparts from DSC. Other advantages, notes DiSimone, include these:

• The elimination of the welded seam necessary on three-piece steel cans produces a much sleeker container and also

eliminates any chance for rust along the sidewall.

• The PET coating on outside and inside prevents rust from forming along the can bottom

• Minimum orders for three-piece steel cans run around 50 with its logistically simpler in-line process, DSC can produce in quantities of 4.