Industry: An Uncanny Transformation

The tin can, that 154-year-old companion of the housewife, is undergoing an uncanny transformation. The pattern of change began a while ago, but it has picked up such speed that it is affecting both habits in the home and the future of an entire industry. Millions of cans no longer require keys or openers; they flip, zip, pop or peel. Cans now come in thin tin or aluminum instead of hefty old tin plate, and in many cases have evolved into containers of paper, plastic or fiber foil. The aerosol can, once limited to a few household uses, now dispenses everything from cake icing to lotion for poison ivy.

Something Different. All of this means more convenience for the housewife, who totes home an average of 840 cans each year, and more upheaval for the $5.8 billion container industry, which makes 46 billion cans a year. The industry is dominated by Continental Can Co. and American Can Co., which wrestle with each other to lead it: Continental last year narrowly edged out its rival with $1,154,000,000 in sales v. $1,149,000,000, last week announced that its nine-month sales are up 4.4% over last year. But neither, in spite of size, is able to dictate the trends. Says Continental Chairman Thomas C. Fogarty: “The demand for new packages, gimmicks, new opening devices has made our problems 100 times greater than they were a few years ago. The customers all want something that’s different from their competitors.”

To give them something different, the two companies now churn out a confusion of products—bottle caps, plastic containers and paper cartons among them—although cans still account for more than half their sales. Continental is about to open two new plants to make plastic bags, has just come out with a new plastic motor-oil “can”—the fourth switch in its oilcan materials in as many years. American has just introduced tiny aerosol tubes that contain a seven-day supply of such items as hair spray and shaving cream for travelers, is spinning out a line of two-tone scented toilet tissue and conducting a campaign to replace “the dirtiest thing in the American home—the bathroom glass” with its plastic paper-cup dispenser.

No More Squeeze. Both companies have gone strongly into flip-top cans for beer and soft drinks; production of flip-tops has risen from 25 million to 3.6 billion in two years. Designers are now working on flip-tops that will remain on the can after it is opened, thus avoid cutting feet when tops are tossed carelessly on floors or beaches. Recently U.S. companies adopted the Swedish idea of covering vacuum-pack coffee cans with plastic lids that can be used to keep the product fresh. Some companies have already taken the next obvious step: putting advertising stress on the containers instead of on the product, as Chase & Sanborn does with its decorated coffee canisters.

The new products have given the can companies a certain advantage in dealing with both the steel mills and customers, who once squeezed them on prices and deliveries when they made nothing but tin cans. “Unless the steel companies produce a better product,” says American Can Chairman William C. Stolk, “other industries are going to take steel’s place.” On the other hand, many big packers (Green Giant, Libby, Campbell Soup) now make their own cans, and glass and aluminum have proved formidable competitors for the can companies, forcing them to diversify steadily. Toward that end, Continental and American each now spend $18 million a year on research. Both are also looking to overseas markets, where the packaging upheaval is just beginning in earnest. Continental has granted licenses to 60 foreign firms, including one that makes cans for French wine.