Crown Teams with Velox to Launch Fastest Digital Beverage Can Decorator

YARDLEY, Pa., Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading metal packaging manufacturer Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) (Crown) (www.crowncork.com) has announced collaboration with Velox Ltd., an innovative developer and manufacturer of direct-to-shape digital decoration solutions, to provide beverage brands with game-changing digital decoration technology for both straight wall and necked aluminum cans. Crown and Velox brought together their expertise to unlock new possibilities for major brands wishing to increase product offerings, as well as smaller producers taking advantage of the benefits of fully recyclable beverage cans. The technology and solution deliver market firsts and create greater brand design options with running speeds over five times faster than existing digital solutions and proprietary features, including the ability to print up to 14 simultaneous colors and embellishments such as gloss, matte and embossing on nearly the entire surface area of the can.

Crown and Velox recognize a growing global demand from beverage brands for more innovative digital decoration solutions. Brands can now take advantage of the technology and solutions' myriad benefits, particularly execution of lower production volumes that do not meet the constraints of traditional printing, such as small-batch varieties, short-run seasonal and promotional products or multipacks containing a variety of SKUs. The Velox technology and solutions also provide a photorealistic quality and wider color gamut for graphics, the ability to quickly produce an accurate print proof of a package and, in the case of smaller brands, improved sustainability over traditional plastic shrink wrap and labels that significantly hinder the aluminum can recycling process.

"Beverage producers continue to select aluminum cans for consumer convenience, long shelf-lives, infinite recyclability and 360-degree shelf appeal," said Dan Abramowicz, Executive Vice President, Technology and Regulatory Affairs at Crown. "The high-speed, dynamic solution we are debuting with Velox makes these benefits more accessible to brands of all sizes and across multiple product categories. From speed to quality to design features, the technology truly pushes the limits of digital printing for beverage cans, and we look forward to introducing this exciting innovation to our partners around the world."

As a speaker at the 2021 IMDPA Conference in Oak Brook, IL, Mr. Abramowicz presented earlier today about the commercialization of digital decoration solutions for both straight wall and necked two-piece beverage cans and introduced the collaboration.

Unique to the technology and solution is a running speed of up to 500 cans per minute, a rate significantly higher than previous limits of 90 cans per minute for comparable-quality digitally printed beverage cans. The innovative technology also prints effectively onto the can surface with or without a white basecoat, streamlining production and allowing the use of translucent inks and/or the metal substrate to shine through graphics when desired. Additionally, it enables printing of images – for the first time – on both the can neck and chime, increasing branding real estate and consumer appeal.

"Never before has the beverage market realized the speeds or design capabilities our direct-to-shape digital decoration solution now delivers for metal beverage cans," said Marian Cofler, CEO and Co-founder at Velox. "The great collaboration with Crown over recent years allows us to bring our vision to reality and support can manufacturers, fillers and brands seeking greater differentiation for their customers. The revolutionary technology will move the needle for the industry and redefine what is possible in beverage packaging design and production."

Leveraging deep multidisciplinary technical capabilities and strong digital printing expertise of the R&D hub of Velox's Israel headquarters, with Crown's global command of graphic design, metal forming technology, can manufacturing processes and longstanding history in metal packaging innovation, the development for the digital printing machine is already complete. Commercial can production utilizing the technology is anticipated within 2022, following ongoing pilot testing in Crown's global R&D Centre in Wantage, UK.

To learn more about Crown and its innovations in beverage packaging, please visit crowncork.com.

About Crown Holdings, Inc.

Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Yardley, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com.

For more information, contact:

In the United States: Jon Beam, Director of Marketing, Crown Beverage Packaging North America; Tel: (215) 698-5248; Email: jonathan.beam@crowncork.com

In Europe: Veronique Curulla, Marketing & Business Development Director, Crown Bevcan Europe & Middle East; Tel: +33 1 49 18 40 28; Email: Veronique.Curulla@eur.crowncork.com

For editorial inquiries: Mallory Schindler, Associate Vice President, FINN Partners; Tel: (212) 529-2634; Email: mallory.schindler@finnpartners.com

About Velox Ltd.
Velox develops and manufactures industrial-grade direct-to shape digital decoration solutions for the rigid container industry. Its proprietary technology, based on uniquely formulated inks and dedicated deposition architecture, introduces an entirely new approach to digital printing that is poised to disrupt the packaging decoration market. Velox's commercial solutions include industrial-grade digital decorators for mass production of tubes, aerosol cans and beverage cans. They deliver superior decoration quality and capabilities that outstrip the benefits of analog printing solutions, while allowing a more efficient and flexible production process, a low total cost of ownership (TCO), and outstanding sustainability. Velox is powered by an expert team with uniquely wide-ranging experience in digital printing, led by veteran executives with proven success in driving company growth.

Media Contacts:
Michelle Allard McMahon
Rainier Communications
781-718-3248
velox@rainierco.com

Merav Sheffer
Velox Ltd.
+972-3-5138051
merav.sheffer@velox-digital.com

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SOURCE Crown Holdings, Inc.