| Spring 2012 |
What’s New
The first quarter of 2012 is now behind us. 2012 has been a unique year so far in many ways.
We almost did not have a winter here in the east and spring actually arrived in February: very strange.
The first quarter was very busy with customers releasing cans at a very aggressive pace. The level of activity and the broad number of industries represented (industrial, chemical, beverage, snacks, food, confections, etc.) shows a true recovery across the board. Thank you to everyone.
Independent Can Company is in an industry that many people consider “traditional, smoke stack, not innovative, old”. These beliefs are so wrong. The innovations in the can business are dramatic:
| Beverage | Aluminum bottle cans, lighter gauge, fully 100% recyclable and more | |
| Food Sanitary Cans | Shaped cans, lighter gauge, fully 100% recyclable and more | |
| Specialty | Faster concept to delivery of new shapes, sizes and designs than ever before, 100% recyclable, lighter gauge (lower cost) |
The can manufacturing business is global. Steel mills are located in all developed and developing countries in the world. Can manufacturers are located in these same countries. This is why we participate in organizations and meetings globally. In the past year we have attended meetings in the following countries: Italy (2 trips), England, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey (several trips), China, Dubai and Israel. In the next 3 months we have meetings scheduled in China, Holland and Germany. In addition to attending meetings and conferences we have bought equipment from 6 countries.
Steel: 90% or more of the steel we use is produced in the United States. Unfortunately the global investment in the production of tinplate is being made in the developing countries (China and India). In the future we may have to import more tinplate to meet our needs.
The most exciting development in the past 2 years has been the shift in where tins are being made. In the past 2 years we have begun making tins in our plants in the United States that were previously made in China. We are currently installing and will have a line operational in May that will be directed specifically to replace tins that are currently 100% imported (more to follow).
I hope that you can feel the excitement that we have for the business and the future of the can business here in the United States.
Sincerely,
Rick Huether