I would like to start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. May the new year bless you with health, happiness, and wealth. In this first article of the year, I would like to give you some more detail on tin can manufacturing.
Tin cans come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as you may know. Especially in our field of custom tins, or bespoke tins as some say, clients are known to demand tins specific to their own products. Although we are very much used to creating new tins, it is not as easy as it sounds. We have to make new toolings and sometimes even new machinery.
If you have a cookie tin or holiday tin nearby, take a look at it. If not, you can view the photos on our website. Everything you see on these tins, such as curled edges, embossings, and seamed bottoms are made with toolings. So when we say we need toolings to make a particular tin, we are talking about a tooling set that includes multiple toolings for different parts of the tin.
The number of toolings required for a tin depends on its shape, its complexity, and how fast the production will be. Roughly speaking, we need one tooling for the bottom, one to three toolings for the lid, and two to four toolings for the body. In total, manufacturing this many toolings is quite costly and takes time and effort. Sometimes, we combine two processes into one, which reduces the number of toolings but makes the remaining tooling more complicated to produce. Additionally, automatic lines increase production speed but also require more precision in the tools. There are the optional hinges and embossings which are also done with toolings.
Besides the toolings, not every tin can be manufactured by regular can-making machinery. There are specific standard-sized tins for different industries such as paint, oil, and canned food. In our business, that doesn’t exist. Some of our tins are too tall or too wide or even too small. Sometimes they might even have some features that prevent machinery to work. For those projects, we either adapt our machinery or make custom machines. I guess it is fair to say custom tins need custom toolings and custom machinery.
The quality of the toolings is very important for the quality of the tin produced with them and it is determined by two factors, craftsmanship and material. Technical know-how and precision in tool production combined with top-grade material will ensure precise toolings that will last a lifetime with few problems.
So without toolings, we are unable to produce anything. Every year we make new ones and increase our portfolio. We won awards with some of these new products. If you have a project in mind, don't hesitate to contact us. It could be the next award-winning tin! You never know...
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