Conversions Out Of Metal And Into Pouches And Other Packaging Alternatives Have Been Snowballing, But Can Makers Believe Two Can Play The Innovation Game.
North America’s food manufacturers use almost 31 billion metal food cans a year, according to Maggie Springer, marketing strategist with Akron, Ohio-based Ingenium Packaging LLC. Processors have been divesting their captive can-making units in droves since 1990, leaving three firms with 85 percent of the market: Silgan Holdings, Crown Cork & Seal and Ball Corp. “The can industry has sat there for two decades without innovating,” Springer maintains, so the surviving firms are chasing a flat growth curve.