Technology That Keeps You Ahead

OCM buys a Soudronic UNISEAL machine. OCM, a successful family-owned company located near Venice, recently ordered a UNISEAL peel-off endmaking machine from Soudronic. Specializing in the manufacture of general line, 65 to 330-mm-diameter pail cans for chemical products, the company employs 140 people and generates annual sales of more than 40 million euros. Another OCM speciality is the manufacture of coffee cans. The company has already purchased a large number of welders, slitters, powder systems and Sabatier bodypack machines from the Soudronic Group.

OCM’s entry into the peel-off sector started two years ago with the introduction of 116-mm multilayer ends for coffee cans. The company has followed this up with an order for the first UNISEAL machine from Soudronic. The machine will be dedicated to the production of compeel® ends for coffee cans measuring from 84 to 116 mm in diameter. Following commissioning of the new machine, we strongly suspect that more coffee company in Italy will likewise upgrade from EOEs to peel-offs.

Photo top (from left):
Matteo Soprani, Soprani Engineering / Marco Bucher, Soudronic AG / Ettore D’Agnolo, OCM

Photo bottom:
Peel-off system UNISEAL HSS

New canmaking line commissioned in la havana, cuba. Cuban state-owned company Envases Occidente (UEB Luis Melian) recently concluded its 2010 investment program with the commissioning of a new SOUDRONIC canmaking line to produce 153 mm diameter food cans (603). Based in La Havana, the company belongs to the Ministero Sideromecanica SIME. The new SOUCAN welding line is equipped with a state-of-the-art SOUCOAT inside powder protection system that produces corrosion-free cans and guarantees a long shelf life for a wide range of Cuban food products. Apart from reducing manufacturing costs, the line will also improve can quality significantly to enable the exportation of Cuban products to other Latin American and Caribbean countries. Thanks to the outstanding commitment and cooperation of the local management and employees, installation and commissioning of the line went very smoothly and was completed in the shortest possible time.

Photo (from left): Erich Rimann, Soudronic Mexicana /
Marco Bucher, Soudronic AG / Isabel Morejón González, Envases Occidente

Soudronic at FISPAL exhibition. The annual FISPAL Tecnologia show, which mainly attracts exhibitors from the general packaging field, was held in S. Paulo, Brazil, from June 8 to 12, 2010. As usual, the Soudronic Group teamed up with its exclusive agents in Brazil, Canpac Comércio e Representaçoes Ltda, on an attractive booth that attracted many visitors. The Soudronic Group has already supplied over 150 individual machines to Brazil, including welders, body blank slitters, CAN-O-MAT combination machines, END-O-MAT high-speed endmaking lines, UNISEAL peel-off end machines, Sabatier BODYPACK systems for corned beef can production and pails, as well as sheet feed presses for the production of two-piece fish cans. As every year, many of its customers headed straight for the Canpac booth to catch up on the latest news and information about the company’s high-end products and general trends and tendencies in the packaging field. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their interest and loyalty to us and our products over the years.

Photo: Representatives of Metalurgica Mococa S.A. pictured here with members of Canpac and the Soudronic Group.

CHinaCan 2010 . The 2010 China International Packaging Fair (CHIPF 2010) was held in Beijing from June 2 to 4. Hosted by the China Packaging Federation, it is the Chinese region’s premier exhibition of packaging and processing machinery, materials and associated technologies.

Running parallel to the main show was ChinaCan, organized by the China Metal Packaging Association, which offered a two-day series of talks on technical issues of special interest to metal-packaging professionals. The exhibition – and the Soudronic stand – attracted plenty of visitors among them quite a big number from outside China. Pride of place at the Soudronic booth went to our top-of-the-line SOUCAN 1080 FB high-speed canbody welder, which has a top speed of 1000 cpm and runs with a sheet thickness of 0.12 mm. The best and fastest welding machine available made a deep impression on many visitors, who were keen to have more detail. Specialists and customers from a wide range of industries were generous in their praise of the new machine, which, judging from the number of enquiries and ongoing negotiations, appears to have a very promising future in China. At the ChinaCan conference, three of our top specialists – Mr. Yitao Xu (Soudronic China), Mr. Rolf Geide (Cantec) and Mr. Christophe Robert (Sabatier) – teamed up to give a fascinating one-hour presentation on a variety of topics that was very well received by their audience. Soudronic’s success in the Chinese market suggests that the industry professionals hear the message loud and clear: Soudronic means «Technology that keeps you ahead».

GREEN'S THE WORD . Ask the average consumer about their idea of eco-friendly packaging and what answers do you expect? Glass jars? PET bottles? Tetra Pak containers? One thing's for sure: most won't think of steel cans. At Soudronic, we think the time has come for manufacturers in the canmaking industry to put the record straight.

Consider the facts. Apart from the obvious convenience reasons for using cans, metal is a reusable material that can be recycled infinitely without losing any of its essential properties. In 2007, the EU recycled 59% of its steel cans and 58% of its aluminium drinks cans, putting it way ahead in the recycling stakes. The only metal lost is the metal consumers don't recycle. What's more, cans made from recycled material save a full 75% of the energy used to make new ones. Cans are now lighter than ever before, which means we use fewer natural resources. In short, metal packaging offers advantages that make it attractive both short- and long-term.

And these are the points taken up by the new Soudronic advertising campaign. Initially consisting of four subjects, the campaign highlights the ecological benefits of metal packaging in general. But it also shows how Soudronic's push towards downgauging and even lighter cans will further cut the industry's use of raw materials, save natural resources and help reduce the world's carbon emissions footprint. All of which is good news for responsible customers looking to make the right environmental choices.

A business-to-business offensive, the new Soudronic campaign was designed to make canmakers aware of the largely unspoken – or unperceived – ecological benefits of their product. If this ultimately helps to change consumer perceptions about metal packaging – and push up recycling rates still further – Soudronic will have more than achieved its objective.
See the first ad of the campaign
See the second ad of the campaign
See the third ad of the campaign
See the fourth ad of the campaign
See the fifth ad of the campaign
Flyer 'Green's the Word'