Virojanglor Wins the Can of the Year Award for 2015

18 Nov 2015 --- French canmaking specialist Virojanglor has won The Canmaker magazine’s Can of the Year award with a striking golf-club shaped tin to contain a bottle of Ballantine’s whisky.

It is the second time in four years that the Paris-based canmaker has clinched the prize, the most prestigious in the metal packaging world, after success with a Chivas Regal container in 2012.

Again, spectacularly high design demands were achieved by Virojanglor, with an irregularly-shaped container featuring a drawn lid in the shape of a golf club signed by golfing star Ian Poulter, founding captain of the Ballantine’s Golf Club.

Paris-based Jean-David Curiel was unable personally to receive the silver Can of the Year trophy during a gala dinner at The Gleaneagles Hotel in Scotland on 28 October. The Cans of the Year Awards were one of the highlights of The Canmaker Summit.

It was instead accepted on his behalf by Simon White, project manager of Ballantine’s, the whisky distiller based at Dumbarton.

Hearing that Virojanglor had won again, Curiel said: “It is a great honour for Virojanglor to receive this award, not only for the great job done by our engineers and packaging technologists during many months to come out with this unique shape and incredible lid shape, but also because Virojanglor’s story as a manufacturer is closely linked with Ballantine's great brand!

“We all feel it as a wonderful accomplishment after all these years of great professional and human relationships.”

Design input for the tin’s concept was provided by London-based Nude Brand Creation.

“Luxury packaging should demonstrate expertise in craft, and in investment in skill and time. The classic, iconic shape of a golf club head became our inspiration – with a bespoke, luxury tin being formed around the shape to directly appeal to consumers that have a shared appreciation of good whisky and golf,” said Sophie Wagstaffe of Nude Brand Creation.

The overall Can of the Year winner from Virojanglor was just one of a number of brilliant Gold Award recipients that represented the very best of canmaking technology produced commercially over the past year.

While the Ballantine’s metal container showed the level of quality that could be achieved with a combination of fabrication techniques, the other Gold Awards were given for a number of breakthrough techniques, such as label design, recycled content, new market development, process application, coatings technology, and sheer audacity.

And it was this that drew the attention of The Canmaker magazine’s expert judging team who agreed that the Virojanglor container best represented the highest standards in canmaking. “This was beautiful use of materials. This is definitely my winner,” said one of the judges.

A close runner to Virojanglor for the Can of the Year 2015 was Foshan Humei Group in China for its spectacular 18-litre rectangular tinplate tin for Deligao Industrial adhesive, which won the Gold award in the General Line category.

With striking holographic effects, Humei’s tin is manufactured using polyester-laminated tinplate. The PET film is pre-printed, enabling cost savings to be made in stocks, and laminated on demand before fabrication.

Humei is a relatively young canmaker based in southern China that has never used conventional lithography in its manufacturing operations. One of the judges said: “This spectacular 18-litre rectangular can, normally a dowdy product, now sparkles thanks to the film-lamination and holographic effects. It’s a highly impressive manufacturing achievement.”

In the Aerosols category, Gold was won by Ball Corporation for its impact-extruded aluminium can for Schwarzkopf & Henkel’s deodorant brand Fa. Ball was able to reduce the container’s weight by 11 percent with the use of an aluminium alloy that included 25 percent recycled content derived from beverage can process waste. “The can is thinner but stronger,” said a judge, “so you can use less material.”

There was an interesting story behind the winner of Gold in the Two-piece Beverage can category, which was won by Kaveh Aluminum Can, the canmaker in Iran that is owned by Middle East bottling giant Aujan Industries.

Although an otherwise conventional 330ml D&I aluminium can for the Doogh yoghurt drink produced by Pakban Food Industries, it played a part in expanding a growing market for the product.

Pakban’s Doogh yoghurt was already popular in Iran but a better package with longer ambient shelf life was needed. Kaveh rose to the occasion by developing processable coatings to increase the shelf life to 60 days, 15 more than with PET bottles. Sales far exceeded original estimates. “This can is a success story and that’s why I like it,” said one of the judges.

Another candidate for the Can of the Year award came from the Bottle category, which frequently provides innovative new styles of metal packaging. This time Gold was won by Japan’s Daiwa Can Co, last year’s overall winner, for its new approach to a Coca-Cola bottle.

Daiwa’s take on the Coke signature shape uses its long-standing New Bottle Can technology which uses redrawn polyester-coated aluminium coil, and incorporates smooth necking and waisting processes. “It’s about getting better economics and use of material,” said one judge. “The original is an iconic glass bottle and this is the first time it’s been replicated with this technology.”

Daiwa also won Gold in the Beverage Three-piece category for its 200ml welded tinplate can for ready-to-drink Demitasse coffee produced in Japan by DyDo Drinco.

The market for canned coffee sold from vending machines in Japan is a huge 10 billion units a year, and the quality of the packaging is spectacular, with Daiwa’s shaped can being an impressive example. A judge said: “It’s a beautiful can, I like it because of the quality of it, and the density of its decoration and lacquering.”

In the Ends Caps & Closures category, Can-Pack Metal Closures in Poland repeated its Gold award win from last year with a clever crown cap printed with gloss and matt finishes for Beck’s beer, which is produced in Germany by Anheuser-Busch InBev. It’s the first time, says the company, that such a finish has been used to create a distinctive and premium effect.

The traditional-looking tinplate can with a screw-top entered by Pirlo in the Three-piece Food category concealed a secret. And once revealed, it was enough to win the Gold award.

The hot filling of viscous products such as syrups could collapse a can’s body as they cool. But the can from the Austrian canmaker uses an aluminium membrane seamed into the bottom that draws into the can to prevent collapse. There’s a small hole in the base to let the air in. “This is a very cleverly made concept,” said a judge.

Even more subtle to the uneducated eye was the Gold winner in the Two-piece Food category. The performance of D&I tinplate cans for tomato products relies very much on the internal lacquer. In the can produced by Ardagh for ConAgra’s Hunt’s brand in the US, the internal lacquer is partial at the top and bottom, and is said to better protect the tomatoes from oxidation, even after two years.

Recognition for Decoration & Print Quality is also covered in the Cans of the Year. Gold winner was India’s Shetron for its superb reproduction of confectionary on a three-piece welded can produced for GRB Dairy Foods.

Canmaking designs that are under development are covered in the Prototype category. China’s ORG Packaging, which is developing film-lamination techniques, won the Gold award for the way it had incorporated the feature into the ends of a 200ml heat-process three-piece welded can with an embossed body.

Finally, Sustainability is a subject close to the hearts of all canmakers, and is found in many aspects of the business. Kaveh Aluminum Can won the Gold award this year because its Doogh yoghurt cans extend the shelf life of the product. “That ticks the sustainability box for me,” said a judge, and the others on the panel agreed.