Manufacture and molding of the hottest steel bottl

Manufacturing and forming of steel "bottle shaped cans"

the "bottle shaped cans" made of aluminum coated with pet, originally born in Japan, have now been introduced to the United States, and their materials have been replaced with steel in a new factory

the two canning production lines of DS containers, located in Batavia, Illinois, USA, from unwinding, stamping to printing and stacking are simply miracles in power, accuracy and automation. The finished products produced by them are impressive in every inch of the two-piece cans currently used in aerosol products (of course, they can also be used in lotion or gel products in the future). There is no joint that will damage the side wall; A complete round top shape increases the touch feeling; And the offset printing with up to 8 colors greatly increases the shelf influence of products

DSC's 236000 square foot factory is also very special, mainly because it avoids the release of toxic substances. Because the company uses pet coated steel to produce metal cans, the coating used in traditional can making is not used in the whole production process. Because there is no paint, there is no need for an oven to remove these paints, so the release produced in the production process is very small

the patented technology of "from coil to can" owned by DSC company is a similar technology based on the revolutionary "bottle can" Technology launched by Daiwa can company five years ago, but the material used in the latter is pet coated aluminum, not steel

and Daiwa also explains the origin of the name of DSC company, which is contrary to the results of the initial article, because DS comes from Daiwa Seikan. "Seikan" means can making in Japanese. DSC company is a member of Daiwa can making company in Japan

another connection behind this is that Bill Smith, chairman and CEO of DSC, was the executive vice president of American can company in the 1980s. He was responsible for managing the technology and licensing agreement between Daiwa can company and American can company. After Smith later became the CEO of American can company, he still maintained close contact with Daiwa company, and he also acted as a consultant in the process of Daiwa developing aluminum bottle cans. It was Smith's idea to introduce bottle shaped cans to the United States

advantages of two-piece cans

in the process of introducing this patented technology to the United States, DSC replaced aluminum with steel. Because the cost of steel is cheaper, about 20% lower than that of aluminum. The steel coated with pet is provided by Corus packaging plus, an Anglo Dutch steel company, so that we can rent office space. In the process of producing steel coils, the company will coat the steel with PET materials

in order to fully realize the uniqueness of this container, it is necessary to point out that most aerosol cans in the U.S. market are three piece cans. This makes them need multi-step production process and involves many logistics work in production, including:

● processing the mouthed iron coil into sheet

● print the sheet and cut it into the required size of a single can body

● manufacturing tank bottom

● manufacturing cylindrical tank body with welded joints

● connect the tank bottom with the tank body

● coating and drying

however, DSC company adopts one-step method to produce its two-piece can, which takes only about 20 minutes from unwinding to stacking. Even the 8-color offset printing process is online. According to Ron Desimone, marketing director of DSC customer chase products in Illinois, USA, this online can making process greatly shortens the time to market of products. He said that generally, it takes six weeks for three piece steel aerosol cans to be produced and delivered to customers, while it only takes about two weeks for two-piece cans of DSC

other benefits include:

● eliminating the necessary welding joints of the three piece tank, which makes the tank body smoother and eliminates any possibility of rusting the tank body

● the pet coating on the inner and outer walls can also prevent rust along the bottom of the tank

the minimum order production quantity of three piece cans is about 50000; The connection process of DSC two-piece can is simpler, and its minimum order quantity can be 4000

for one reason or another, chase products became one of the first companies to commercialize the two-piece aerosol tank of DSC

manufacturing of metal cans

the simple and smooth production process of these two can production lines gives people a deep impression, and the new two-piece cans produced with high floating force are satisfactory

in addition, these two production lines are impressive because of their unimaginable production speed. Rolled steel can be stamped with extremely high precision and 600 pieces/minute. The metal can processing system provided by Fleetwood, a subsidiary of Barry wehmiller company, uses vacuum and magnetic methods to transfer these cans from one machine to another. Can forming, cutting and crimping equipment are provided by Shin Nippon Koki, a subsidiary of Daiwa company

when 8mil thick steel passes through a stamping machine, the production process begins. This press uses a 6-tooth tool to make the sheet made of coil into a cup-shaped billet with a diameter of about 5 inches and a depth of about 2-3 inches

when passing through the second press, these cup-shaped billets will be stamped 6 inches deep on the production line of 211/604 (18 ounces) cans and 7 inches deep on the production line of 211/713 (22 ounces) cans. Then a magnetic conveyor belt will send them to an oven at a much lower cost

"this oven will carry out some chemical treatment on the polymer coating, just like the drying process, to ensure the stability of the coating." Mr. Smith, CEO of the company, said

after leaving the oven, a cutting table will cut off the excess edge of the can mouth piece. Then the metal cans can be printed, and the two offset Rutherford printing opportunities provided by Stolle machinery company complete these works. Next to the printing workshop is a drying oven, which is used to dry the ink

"when manufacturing traditional three piece aerosol cans, a big bottleneck is the printing part." Smith said. Because it is an off-line sheet metal printing process, it is only suitable for producing long version jobs, and short version jobs will take up too much product conversion time. In DSC, this is not a problem at all

"each production line has two high-speed metal printers," Smith said. "To convert to another printing pattern, we just need to convert the printer to continue production."

next on the production line is the third press. This press is responsible for shaping the can shoulder and neck of the inclined plane. Followed by another oven for drying pet coating. A conveyor belt will send the metal can to the cutting table again, and the edge of the opening sheet will be cut off a little. Then a conveyor belt installed on the upper part will send the metal can to a combined machine, which will cut off the top of the can neck, then curl, then curl, and finally curl for the third time. A vision system with four cameras will check the curling pieces, and any defective metal cans will be removed

the forming of the bottom of the can

left the metal can of the first combination machine and then was sent to another combination machine. This time, the processing object is the tank bottom. Similarly, four unique worktables shrink necks, form curls, and then form a joint at the lower part of the tank body, and then combine the tank bottom with the tank body. The tank bottom is automatically sent to the welding machine through a Fleetwood feeder

two vision systems are used here to detect metal cans. One is responsible for checking the integrity of crimping, while the other is responsible for checking the inside of the metal can. If any lace or scratch is found, the metal can will be removed. Not far from the downstream of the production line is the removal device. An air testing device will apply 120 psi pressure to each tank, and any metal tank with pinholes will be detected and removed

the operation at the end of the production line is also automatic, just like the previous can making process. Goldco palletizer provided by Barry wehmiller company neatly stacks metal cans on pallets layer by layer. Two Signode packers make each layer very stable. Finally, a Lantech stretch packer packs the whole pallet

"the leveling operation will make the aluminum bottle tank thinner, but here we are more concerned about ensuring the thickness of the tank to achieve sufficient strength," Smith said. "Remember that it must be able to withstand the pressure of aerosol products. We hope it can be as strong as a tank."

source: international packaging business information

from: packaging world magazine