Cost Advantages of Lightweight Aluminum Aerosol Cans

Abstract:

The market size of Global Aluminum Aerosol cans is around ~$ 3.5 billion where the emerging markets driving the industry growth.  With the advent of protectionist tariffs measures on aluminum and steel in the USA, the cost of aluminum slugs to make aerosol cans have increased by 5-10%.  Along with the tariffs and sustainability measures, the aerosol can makers have introduced lightweight aluminum aerosol cans in the mature markets like the US and Europe.  The cost saving could be significant for FMCG, Pharmaceutical organizations who procure aluminum aerosol cans for the personal care products (deodorants, hairspray, shave cream) and Pharma products like anti-fungal spray & pain-relief sprays. 

Overview

• Aluminum Aerosol can is made by impact extrusion of Aluminum slugs.  The slug is punched in the forming die to make clean can.  The can goes through several steps like trimming, necking, body shaping, washing, Oven Curing, Coating & printing into a finished product.
• The production process is highly automated and high speed impact extrusion line with the annual capacity of 60 million units.  The capital investment required to deploy the production line is around $ 8.5 million
• Global Aluminum Aerosol Can body market is around ~$ 3.5 billion (9.4 billion units) and it is growing with CAGR of 5-6%.  The growth is driven by the increasing disposable income and increase in urbanization in emerging economies like India, China, Indonesia & Thailand
• The North American and European market are highly mature in terms of growth and innovation.  With the introduction of tariffs on Aluminum and Steel by US and other protectionist measures, the prices of aluminum slugs have increased by 5-10% 
• Along with the tariffs and sustainability initiatives, Can makers like Ball Corp, Moravia Cans have introduced lightweight aluminum aerosol cans which are made with an alloy based recycled aluminum.  It increases strength and reduces weight without affecting package integrity.  The cans are ~15-20% lighter than a standard aluminum aerosol can 
• The benefits of lightweight aerosol cans over conventional aerosol cans are lighter in weight, lesser carbon footprint, lesser transportation & material cost and sustainable    

Key Findings

• For an instance, the weight of a conventional impact extruded Aluminum aerosol cans with a fill volume of 150 ml is around 27 grams and the weight of a light weight cans with similar fill volume is around 18 grams.  The weight reduction is mainly due to the reduction of the can’s thickness and introduction of alloys similar to the beverage cans with higher recycled content.
• When compared to the conventional impact extruded Aluminum aerosol cans, the light weight cans allows occupying 20% more cans per pallet and reduces 20% of pallet and truck movements.
• Based on the analysis, the cost saving when opting for light weight cans instead of conventional cans would be around ~5-7%.  This could easily increase up to ~10-15% if the operating rate or the plant utilization is more than 85%
• A fortune 100 pharmaceutical company in the US with an annual spend of $ 25 million per year, choosing to replace 20% of their conventional aerosol cans with light weight cans could save at least ~$ 500,000 per year

Conclusion

• By choosing lightweight aluminum aerosol cans over conventional impact extruded aluminum aerosol cans, can enable procurement organizations to save 5-7% of their annual spend on aerosol can body in short term and ~10-15% cost savings in long term.  It also decreases transportation cost by occupying lesser space in pallets or trucks.
• The Lightweight cans are less polluting and sustainable due to less aluminum consumption per cans, lesser  total landed cost over traditional aluminum aerosol cans

References

1. Moravia Light Weight Cans - https://www.moraviacans.cz/
2. The Can Maker Portal - www.canmaker.com/online/moravias-lightweight-aerosol-can-wins-the-can-of-the-year-award/
3. Beroe Cost Model – Aerosol Cans & Filling

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