Spraying growth

The Canmaker
September 2008

Aerosol cans are more than 80 years old, and are still going strong. Mónica Higuera reviews recent developments for tinplate aerosol cans in Europe

In 1927, Norwegian engineer and inventor Erik Rotheim patented a pressurised metal container he had designed to help him apply wax evenly onto his skis.

More than 80 years later, the convenience behind Rotheim's invention remains at its core and today there are more than 200 different uses for aerosol cans, particularly for personal care and household products, with 12.7 billion units  filled in 2007 worldwide.

By country, the US is the largest producer: 3.65bn aerosol cans were filled last year, followed by the UK with 1.37bn, according to data by the Consumer Specialty Products Association and the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association respectively. They are followed by Germany, China and Argentina (see Figure 1).

By market, Europe is the world's largest for aerosol cans - last year it filled 5.41bn units, up 5.4 percent on 2006. Tinplate cans currently have 54 percent of the sector, of which canmaker Impress became the leading supplier in 2006, when it took over the operations of USC Europe.

In the last few years Impress has also expanded to Central and Eastern Europe by buying local aerosol canmakers such as Poland's PAK, Ukraine's Himpack and Russia's Global Investment.

Paris-based Crown Aerosols Europe comes a close second with a canmaking capacity of about 1 billion tinplate aerosol cans a year at its plants in the UK, Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company recently installed a second line at its plant in Belgium in response to increased demand for industrial products, such as polyurethane foam, in aerosol cans.

According to the company's sales director, Luc Bosschaerts, "Germany has experienced significant growth in demand for industrial aerosols in recent years, in part because of higher energy costs driving consumers to better insulate their home with products like PU-foam."

From the UK, Crown is offering aerosol product manufacturers a seven-day tinplate can turn round service which will be expanded to other European operations.  The service applies to standard tinplate cans from the time of order placement to customer delivery. Usual lead times have been up to four weeks, or eight weeks with overseas suppliers.

Crown plans to offer the same service from its Italian and Belgian plants by the end of 2008.

The sector of contract manufacturing and filling of aerosol cans has witnessed consolidation too. Portugal's Colep, which five years ago was third in the sector, is now number one, having acquired its two competitors.

First, Colep merged with industry leader CCL's Custom Manufacturing European operations in 2004, and three years later bought its co-packer out. With plants in Portugal, Poland, the UK and Germany, ColepCCL made about 230m aerosol cans and filled up to 400m in 2007.

Then last July, the Portuguese company agreed to buy Czewo, the second largest in Europe, with three contract filling facilities in Germany. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by end this month, when the company also plans to adopt a new name.

Also in contract manufacturing and filling, Ukrainian Aerosols commissioned a tinplate can line in February this year. The line features equipment supplied by Switzerland's Soudronic and Germany's Lanico and has an annual capacity of 20m aerosol cans.

Another fast-growing company is Turkish three-piece canmaker Sarten, which this summer commissioned its first canmaking operation in Russia with one aerosol can line at Stavropol, in the south. The company makes more than 220m tinplate aerosol cans annually.

Meanwhile in Italy, the third largest aerosol canmaker after Crown and Impress, European Aerosol Can (EAC) moved to a new facility near Milan at the end of 2007. EAC now boasts three lines with total canmaking capacity of 140m units.

Impress
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