Ramu Ramanathan (RR): Interesting name. What is the etymology behind choosing such a name?
S Sreenatha (SS): Easy Openends has a history that goes back to the 1960s when there were no easy-open ends. In those days, everyone used a can opener or other can-opening tools. One evening, a toolmaker from Dayton in Ohio — a gentleman named Earmal Fraze (aka Ernie) — forgot his can-opener hand-tool. He struggled to open a beer can and had to deploy a car bumper. Although he was successful in opening the can, it sparked the idea to develop a self-opening can. From 1960 to 1962, his hard work and engineering skills led to the invention of an easy-open end in an aluminium lid for beverage cans.

RR: What happened, then?
SS: Easy Openends then evolved with various companies, becoming known as stay-on-tab, full aperture, peel-off ends, and more. While there were many other inventions like button lids, most of them failed to commercialise their prototypes.

RR: Today, we have metal cans and ends, as well as twist-off caps and so on. What is happening in India in 2024?
SS: India is lagging behind in technology, market, and innovation in metal packaging. 2024 may be challenging as many foreign companies could enter India and start their operations.

RR: What is the importance of the tool-and-die design in the pull-off tab, and push-in and fold-back tab on aluminium cans?
SS: The importance of tool-and-die design lies in the designer’s ability to think like the operator. The designer must ensure that tools are easy-to-use and that all bolts and components are accessible. For instance, removing spark plugs in new front-wheel-drive cars often requires special tools. Similarly, in metal packaging, the designer’s role is critical. Most tools are designed to fit in only one way, which helps prevent mistakes during assembly and reduces the risk of accidents.

RR: Describe the production process in your unit.
SS: It is a continuous flow from various operations until it is packed. The process has shell-making from flat sheets, then curling takes place in spin curler, from then it is fed to lining machine where water-based food grade rubber lining applied under the curl, this is to give a hermetic seal, the lined shells are fed in to a process called conversion press, where all the easy open-ends operations take place through progressive tooling operations.

RR: What does this entail?
SS: This means, the tab, the key that pushes the panel out is riveted into the ends which become easy open ends. After which, these ends are sent to the post-lacquering process where the score area will be re-coated using special food lacquer. This operation ensures that the product side of the end is always rust-free.  

RR: How do you inspect the incoming material?
SS: We follow a standard operating procedure (SOP) for all materials. The raw material is a tin plate with food grade coating and printing. The incoming inspection ensures the adhesiveness of the coating to base metal. Also it ensures the press operation will sustain the coating even after multiple forming operations are carried out on the product.  

RR: What is the method for coating and printing at Easy Openends?
SS: The Easy Openends start as flat sheets, which can be either coils or square sheets. They are coated and printed while still in sheet form. Once these sheets are in the manufacturing process, precise registration is essential, making this process known as precision manufacturing.

RR: What do you manufacture?
SS: In India, we focus on manufacturing easy-open ends.

RR: One of the bottlenecks in can-making is the seaming of ends/EOE. How have you resolved this?
SS: Seaming is one of the processes to complete the canning of food. It is the most important process, as the shelf life of the canned food depends on the quality of seaming. That's why it is also called hermetically sealed cans. This process prevents any bacterial migration between the inside and outside of the cans.

RR: How do you plan for the dies? Do you have an in-house tool room?
SS: We have developed many tool rooms in India, but sometimes we struggle to obtain the right metal with the correct metallurgical properties. However, there is scope for a specialised tool room for can-making and ends-making tools.

RR: What are the challenges of creating on a flat sheet? For instance, how do you handle shade variation?
SS: Well, this is not a big issue for easy-open ends, as they have a smaller diameter—up to 100-millimetres. Shade variation is a concern when printing covers a large area.

RR: What about decorations?
SS: Decoration on easy-open ends is not a challenging task.

RR: What is your view about polyester-based and acrylic-based coatings? For example, polyester-based coatings have good scratch resistance and tooling properties but are more expensive compared to acrylic coatings. What does Easy Openends prefer?
SS: Today's need is for Bisphenol A (BPA)-free coatings, and the Indian industry has very limited choices in this regard. Laminated metal is available, but the economics does not work out. There is a huge need for academic education about coating technology at the grassroots level in India.

RR: Some top brands request coatings that are epoxy-based and meet Bisphenol A Non-Intent (BPA-NI) standards. What compliant standards do you adhere to?
SS: India is slowly gearing up for international food safety standards. When we produce easy-open ends, our standards are on par with European and American requirement. Our coatings meet international standards and provide performance equivalent to European and American benchmarks. My team at Easy Openends provides specific and overall migration levels certification on par with European and American standards.

RR: What are the industry standards according to you? For instance, plate thickness of 0.14 to 0.30 mm; for lug caps, it is 0.14 to 0.17 mm.
SS: Unfortunately, India has no established standards right now. The current method is "might is right," with quality standards being very low. There is a lot of work ahead.

RR: There is a shortage of technicians and engineers who can handle the technical aspects of the products. How do you manage?
SS: There is a huge knowledge gap. We need skilled hands. Quality management is lacking, and tooling and development are outdated. We are using technology which dates back to 1944. There are no good tool rooms for can-making and precision engineering in metal packaging, so it is a struggle now.

RR: Which packaging factory is your inspiration in this industry?
SS: For me, I always get inspired when an industry develops from the ground up due to market needs. For example, MTR Foods became a huge brand due to the Kargil war. There are many examples like this.

RR: As you mentioned during your presentation at Respack in Mumbai, metal packaging has acquired a significant niche with major brands.
SS: Several issues have made metal packaging a solution: tampering, copycats, shelf life, minimum transitional damages, maintaining the texture of food until it reaches the end user, microbiological load, and food safety. A lot is transpiring in metal packaging with typical Indian products like pickles, rasgullas, gulab jamuns, edible oils, snacks.

RR: Is metal packaging recyclable?
SS: Yes, it is 100% recyclable and is being recycled.

RR: Follow-up :Which are the important recycling units for metal packaging?
SS: Most that I know of are unorganised ones. There is a huge scope for development in India.

RR: Metal packaging in India is about Rs 10,000 crore. What is the present industry scenario according to you? For example, growth trends in aluminium and tinplate?
SS: The aluminium beverage industry has seen significant growth with multinationals, but this hasn’t yet reached the cottage industry. However, I’m sure that some small can units will emerge with smaller can fillers. The tinplate industry is expected to grow significantly with small filling lines offering a variety of products. India has not yet explored non-vegetarian canned foods, which have huge demand.

RR: What is the demand for two-piece and three-piece cans, lug caps, and crown caps?
SS: These numbers are always debatable, but two-piece food cans in aluminium are expected to grow in India, especially in Gujarat, where there is an innovative mindset.

RR: Metal packaging in India is facing a severe challenge with raw materials due to a significant demand and supply gap. How have you coped?
SS: Yes, there is an acute shortage of raw materials for the food packaging industry. While big companies can survive, the cottage industry struggles. As I understand it, very soon, a cooperative-type can industry will enter the Indian market, who will manufacture cans. These will be available in the open market with paper labels for small MOQs.

RR: Three products in the Easy Openends portfolio that were tricky and made you proud?
SS: Scoring operations, tab tools maintenance, rivet formations.n