THE WORLD'S LEADING TRADE FAIR FOR METAL PACKAGING, MESSE ESSEN, GERMANY

METPACK CONFERENCE, 3 May 2023 from 9am to 1pm
“Modern Can Making Technologies”

Nine renowned international speakers will deliver technical papers and presentations. The conference in English language will cover with 2 sessions on the following subjects:

1. Innovations in Metals and Surfaces
2. New DWI, 2pc and 3pc Techniques

Keynote speaker Dr. Daniel Abramowicz of CROWN Holdings opens the conference by highlighting radical historical technical innovations in metal packaging over the last quarter century such as reduced spoilage during manufacturing and lightweighting as well as some yet-to-come step-changes for the industry in the can’s performance and/or economics.

Dr.DimitriosTsimpoukis of Chrotex in Greece explores the scope of cost wise optimizing the lacquering processes in can manufacturing, within a framework of safeguarding quality by taking a holistic point of view. Highlights are thrown on the interplay among requisite lacquer properties for good quality can manufacturing and their tradeoffs, as revealed through physicochemical concepts.

Plasmatreat, a technology leader from Germany, developed a technique to improve metal surfaces like tinplate by increasing dramatically the wettability and thus enabling UV materials being directly applied. Backed by project partners in Brazil, the canmaker Brasilata and the coatings manufacturer Actega, Plasmatreat will show how inline plasma jets can substantially improve adhesion of UV coatings.

Neil Finley, Head of Global Food Safety for Henkel (UK) and Chair of the CEPE Can Sector Group will discuss the challenges in performing food contact risk assessment of BPA-NI coatings for metal packaging. He demonstrates how improved communication through the supply chain can support BPA-NI coatings for metal packaging.

Nippon Steel Corporation from Japan has developed a new procedure to passivate tinplate surfaces without hexavalent chromiumin order to further improve the health and safety conditions of workers and employees. Their presentation will cover the main technical information about Process, Product and Food Contact Safety of EZP™ tinplate by detailing basic principles, the structure of the Zirkonium passivation layer, the toxicological profile and much more.

Koenig & Bauer MetalPrint GmbH will speak about challenges when developing the next generation of coating machines. Inline measuring technologies have advanced to the point that the re-coupling of data can lead to an automatic process, controlled in a closed loop.

Ian Scholey, CTO of Stolle Machinery from the US, will share his thoughts on how today’s demands for energy savings coupled with maintaining and improving output using the same machinery is driving us to accept new technologies. Small increases in efficiency through data analytics driven by sophisticated and available algorithms are within easy reach.

Tim Clarke, the CEO of Enpack Europe, will speak about an intelligent factory for Easy Open Ends and how we must adapt business and manufacturing processes to align with digital natives. Fundamental shifts in the global production and supply network through the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology, large-scale machine-to-machine communication and the internet of things will help us succeed in an increasingly competitive world.

Business Development Manager Rainer Berkefeld for SLAC from China talks with his colleague Jeff Harper from OKL/USA about new bodymaker design.The bodymaker is the machine at the heart of the DWI technology- the leading technology for beverage cans – development in the USA in the 1960’s. SLAC’s new development The Boxer arises from the engineer’s quest to eliminate unnecessary energy in the industrial process and has twice the output of conventional bodymakers.