May 2010 - Brazil Symposium Report

Since staging their first technical symposium in China in 2004, canmakers have been enthusiastic about these unique informational and social events.  Continuing this successful formula, Stolle held its first Latin American Symposium in Brazil on April 13 & 14 at the beautiful Royal Palm Resort in Campinas (about 83 km / 52 miles north of São Paulo).  Once again, everyone left with new contacts, invaluable information and warm praise for a wonderful event.  Canmakers from around the continent learned about new technology and techniques that will help them cut costs and increase quality, as well as detailed stories of installations that they can use as blueprints to enter new markets.

StolleTech Latin America was held over two days to give separate focus to beverage and food canmakers, and nearly 100 canmakers attended Tuesday’s session on beverage canmaking.  After introductory remarks by Stolle CMD President Gus Reall, guest speaker Renault Castro of the trade association Abralatas opened with an insightful talk on the current and projected state of the beverage can market in South America.

Mr. Castro was followed by Gus Reall with a brief background on Stolle, then a presentation on “The Future of the Beverage Can” by Stolle EMD President Greg Butcher.  Following a short coffee break, Stolle got to the heart of the topic with “Ways to Reduce the Cost of Ownership” presentations by Stolle EMD executives Greg Butcher, Dave Bolek and Greg Williams.  Topics included the new X1 beverage tab, reduced cut edge shells, the Tetrad 4-out shell system, single-action rotary curling, servo stock feeds, and more.  Joining the Stolle execs on stage were Greg Stueve from Minster who gave insights on various press options, as well as Eric Shields from Sencon, who discussed applications of their end light testers.

The afternoon session kicked off with presentations on Stolle cupping technology.  The highpoint of the afternoon were announcements of two exciting new products: Greg Butcher announced a new dome technology for beverage cans that can save at least $.30 per 1000 cans, and Gus Reall introduced the new Standun B7-400 Bodymaker that can make any popular beverage can height at high speed without a changeover.  These announcements caused a lot of buzz during the afternoon coffee break, which was followed by a presentation by Chris McAlpine on Stolle’s new MicroFlex lower volume can body line, and a presentation by Rick Steigerwald, President of Belvac Production Machinery.  The Tuesday beverage can symposium was concluded by Stolle do Brasil Manager Arnaldo Costa, who discussed the Stolle do Brasil facilities in Indiatuba and Manaus that support canmakers throughout South America with parts, field service, machine assembly and rebuilding.

At the conclusion of the StolleTech beverage can session, everyone moved to another hall at the Royal Palm for a late afternoon reception.  Participants enjoyed several hours of networking, discussion and socializing with each other and with the representatives of 15 can industry suppliers invited by Stolle to attend the reception.  After a break and a chance to refresh, the days guests were joined by additional canmakers from the food can industry and everyone gathered for a gala industry-wide dinner hosted by Stolle.  The beautiful room and warm, cordial atmosphere was a perfect setting for the delicious food, live music and festivities of the gathering.

On the following day, the symposium changed track to focus on food can makers.  The guest speaker of the morning was Fernando Mourão of CSN who talked about the state of 3 piece cans in the South American market.  After Mr. Mourão’s fascinating presentation and a repeat of the “about Stolle” presentation, the rest of the day was delegated to three case studies of food end and can making lines in Colombia, South Korea and Malaysia.  For each case study, the Stolle, Minster and Sencon executives described the customers’ objectives and existing resources, details of the equipment and tooling selected and installed, and the results and assessments of the three lines.  After a brief coffee break, Arnaldo Costa concluded the food can session with a presentation about the facilities and services of Stolle do Brasil.  As with the beverage can session the day before, the attendees eagerly attended an afternoon reception and exhibits by key can industry suppliers.  The Wednesday reception was a perfect conclusion for the two day StolleTech Latin America Symposium, and the attendees left Campinas with valuable knowledge and contacts that will help improve their canmaking operations.

Stolle plans to hold more StolleTech technical symposiums in different parts of the world – please watch the Stolle website for updates as future symposiums are announced.