American Canning is bringing technologically advanced, globally-trusted Aluminum Toyo Ultimate Can (aTULC) manufacturing to Austin, Texas, with the opening of a printed can facility in 2022.
True to American Canning’s vision of finding innovative and approachable advances in can packaging supplies, the aTULC line was developed by Toyo Seikan (Japan) to match the environmental impact of the manufacturing process to the infinite recyclability of an aluminum can.
American Canning CEO and co-founder, David Racino, said, “We saw an opportunity to meet evolving demands within the beverage industry with new technologies. We were inspired by Toyo Seikan’s concept of developing a compact, environmentally friendly process for producing premium beverage cans and are excited to introduce this new technology to the North American market.”
The relationship between Toyo Seikan and American Canning was created in 2020 as Racino, along with COO and co-founder, Mike Daniel, sought a solution to the shortage of can packaging accessibility for the craft beverage space. Simultaneously, Toyo Seikan was pursing the American craft beverage market to introduce their newly developed compact manufacturing line.
“Ultimately, we concluded that our company values align, and core competencies complement each other. This led to an easy decision to develop this collaborative effort that combines a proven, high-quality process and with the innovation that drives our solutions,” said Daniel.
The aTULC can making process has been in practice for two decades, produced across nine manufacturing plants globally and used by brands large and small. It applies concepts of high functionality, low cost and low environmental impact in order to create a life cycle of sustainability for aluminum while providing premium beverage packaging solutions.
The line to be used by American Canning is the world’s first compact-concept aTULC manufacturing line, making it possible to produce printed cans to meet demand with a smaller footprint. This production model allows American Canning to produce up to approximately 300 million cans per year in response to demand for smaller-scale beverage packaging.
The strengths of the two companies, combined with the premium benefits of aTULC cans, will ensure greater quality and accessibility, not only for craft brewers, but for the United States’ most steadily growing beverage markets, including wine, spirits, health and wellness and specialty beverage product offerings as well.
Differentiating from other printed can providers, American Canning’s minimum order quantity is expected to be one truckload to best fit craft producers with small-batch, multi-SKU packaging operations. Manufacturing is set to begin in late 2022, with expanded sales in early 2023, initially producing 12oz standard cans, adding 16oz standard cans quickly thereafter.