Manufactured for Dutch brand owner Concept Drinks at Ardagh Group’s Deventer, Netherlands, plant, the exquisitely-designed shaped can has already made an instant impact on the UAE (United Arab Emirates) market and will soon be launched in other Middle Eastern markets. The development of this unique can was made possible by several innovations along the supply chain. The Deventer plant, where the industry’s first blow molding process was pioneered, expanded the can size by an impressive 26 percent under 40 bar pressure to achieve the desired shape. Another distinguishing feature of the patented design is gold printing on both the lid and the base of the can, complementing the gold speckled printing over the sophisticated dark green body.
Prior to full manufacture, the can was fully tested on Ardagh Group’s prototyping and pilot production line at its Research and Development center at Crosmières, France. Martin de Olde, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Ardagh’s metal division, is justifiably proud of the company’s latest, and one of its most innovative, projects: “What is really pleasing about this development is to achieve such an exciting result in terms of shelf differentiation and added value by stretching the boundaries of packaging design and manufacturing.”