The Lifecycle of an Aluminum Can Nick Severino Michael Tang Alex Kazior Paul Dellamonica

Research and Product Development  Research is conducted to find which materials can be used to ensure environmental friendliness and how the material will be reproduced and shaped into the end product of a can.

Marketing  This aspect determines what shape the can will be made into for customer appeal and the cost of the item. This team will be the salesmen.

Manufacturing  During this stage bauxite is mine and shipped to plants where the alumina is separated. The alumina is then transformed into sheets of aluminum. From here the aluminum is shipped to factories where the end product is pop-top beverage cans.

Manufacturing Continued…  There are two parts of the can that need to be created in the manufacturing of cans: the can body and the can lid.  The first step in making the body requires coils of aluminum. The coils are stretched out then fed to a lubricator. This allows the aluminum to flow over surfaces in the forming processes.  The aluminum is moved through a cupping press. The cupping press as the name implies forms the aluminum into cups.  The scraps of aluminum leftover are recycled. Then, the cups move to a “bodymaker” where the can takes shape. After that, final details are added to the can. The end goes through the “uncoiler”, and then goes through a shell press. To connect the ends to the body, the can goes through liquid sealing.

Packaging  Cans are then shipped to bottlers where they are filled and sealed by whichever beverage company is using the product whether the company is using soda or adult beverages.

Sales, Distribution, and Transportation  Sales are determined by the beverage company themselves based off of the beverage that will be inside of the cans. Alcoholic beverages more expensive than soda.  Filled cans are then transported to retailers where they will be sold.  Most of the time alcoholic beverages will be shipped to beer distributors and soda will also be shipped there and to store such as Wal- Mart.

Consumer Use and Final Disposition.  Depending on the item consumers of all ages will purchase the items. Obviously under 21 customers can only purchase non-alcoholic beverages.  After consumer use the aluminum cans will either be thrown away with normal trash products or the product will be recycled. The environment benefits from the recycling versus the trashing of the cans.

Sources  3.htm 3.htm  Pictures:   real-estate-agents-like-car-salesmen-7-lessons- learned/ real-estate-agents-like-car-salesmen-7-lessons- learned/   campaign/2009/07/hemlock-donates-2m-for-che- lab.php campaign/2009/07/hemlock-donates-2m-for-che- lab.php 