Containers

Direct sales company Watkins Inc. says it was the first in the U.S. to offer a money-back guarantee: if customers weren't satisfied with their bottle of vanilla extract, they could get a refund--provided the amount in the bottle didn't fall under the "trial mark" line molded into the glass.

With what's touted to be one of the first four-lane end conversion presses in the world, Korean canmaker Hanil Can Co. has revved up to never-before-seen speeds of 2군 can ends per minute on its new can end manufacturing line.

Sales are up for Meridian Clear, a noncarbonated, flavored spring water introduced in late 1993. So far up that Atlanta, GA-based Meridian Beverage Co.

This year speculation around the world says that steel may regain an appreciable part of the beverage can market it lost to aluminum-thanks to steel's favorable costs. European trend may presage a similar shift in the U.S. in the next few years.