SIC 3411 Metal Cans

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT.
• ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE.
• BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT.
• CURRENT CONDITIONS.
• INDUSTRY LEADERS.
• WORKFORCE.
• RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY.
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 3411

The metal can and shipping container industry includes companies engaged in the manufacture of metal cans from purchased materials, primarily steel and aluminum. The majority of the cans and containers produced in this industry are used to package various foods and beverages. Foil containers are excluded from this classification.

NAICS CODE(S)

332431

Metal Can Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

After declining to $11.52 billion in 1999, metal can industry shipments rebounded slightly. Shipments were valued at $14.6 billion in 2003, which also included revenues from metal box and light gauge metal containers. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, aluminum cans faced fierce competition from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles that came to claim a greater share of the beverage container market each year. However, by the mid-2000s the can was coming back into use, driven by new shapes and uses. The entire metal can industry had consolidated, as companies sought to remain profitable. The long-term outlook for the maturing metal can industry depends on the industry's ability to exploit burgeoning foreign markets, new production technologies, and recycling opportunities.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

The metal can industry was divided along the lines of the raw material used in manufacturing: steel and aluminum. Of the two types of cans, steel proved less expensive to produce, easier to heat, and stronger, while aluminum offered a greater strength-to-weight ratio, making it less expensive to transport. Moreover, consumers generally preferred aluminum cans over steel for some products, particularly beverages. Technological advances in the recycling industry generally applied to aluminum rather than steel cans.

The manufacture of steel cans typically involved three pieces—a top, bottom, and body. The body of the can was rolled and then soldered, welded, or cemented at the seam, and the can's top and bottom were later mounted to the ends of the body. Tin-plated steel cans, on the other hand, were generally constructed from two pieces, including a body and bottom, which were stamped and drawn from one piece of metal, and a top that was later attached. Aluminum cans were also produced from two pieces of metal, but usually featured a slight "neck" at the top of the body, which reduced the amount of material needed.

Because of its packaging properties, steel was used to produce the vast majority of all food cans and containers made from metal in the late 1990s. Steel also comprised about half of all non-food metal containers. Vegetables, pet food, aerosol cans, fruit and fruit juices, seafoods, and baby food were all commonly packaged in steel cans.

Aluminum cans were used primarily as beverage containers, largely because they were recyclable and held a greater appeal for consumers. Aluminum can manufacturers used more aluminum than any other U.S. industry. Of containers used by soft drink manufacturers in 1998, 48 percent were made of aluminum, while about 53 percent of the beer industry's containers were aluminum.

Recycled cans provided an important source of production material for manufacturers. Of the 102 billion aluminum cans produced in 1998, 63 percent (or 64 billion) were recycled, according to The Aluminum Association. While both steel and aluminum cans were nearly 100 percent recyclable, aluminum can manufacturers favored the process due to the high price of new aluminum, which was nearly double that of steel. Recycling saved 95 percent of the energy necessary to produce finished aluminum, and eliminated altogether the mining, shipping, refining, and reduction processes. While new steel production was a less expensive process, many steel can producers were also using recycled materials, given its cost-effectiveness and the country's increasing concern for environmental conservation.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

The canning industry traces its origins to 1809, when French confectioner Nicolas Appert developed a method for preserving food using glass jars that had been boiled in water. The ability to keep raw food from spoiling over long periods of time proved an important discovery, of particular benefit to...