May 24, 2016 Updated 5/24/2016
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Milacron LLC Milacron LLC’s Klear Cans offer barrier injection molding that allows consumers to see what’s inside the can.
The Klear Can, Milacron Holdings Corp.’s see-through plastic container aimed at the massive “tin can” market, is poised for a commercialization on grocery store shelves — as Del Monte Pacific Ltd. is in final talks for the technology.
The development marks a major move to plastic alternatives to the ubiquitous metal food can.
Milacron’s CEO, Tom Goeke, said in a conference call in early March that Milacron and its first Klear Can customer would make an announcement shortly, and that other Klear Can projects are “in the pipeline” of development.
The news about Del Monte as the pending first customer of Klear Can came out in a presentation May 11 at the Thin Wall Packaging 2016 conference in Chicago by Steve Morris, vice and general manager of coinjection systems at Milacron.
Del Monte Pacific, a major pineapple, tomato and fruit juice company, is listed on the Singapore and Philippines stock exchanges.
TruVue also moving ahead with can
Milacron and Del Monte are not the only companies working on technology for clear plastic cans. Sonoco Products Co. CEO Jack Sanders said in an April 21 first-quarter conference call that the packaging giant is working with McCall Farms Inc., a South Carolina-based food canner, to introduce some of McCall’s Glory brand vegetables in Sonoco’s TruVue cans.
Sanders told financial analysts in the call that McCall expects to launch products in TruVue containers this summer in grocery stores in the Southeast.
TruVue packaging include a multi-layer plastic wall, an easy-open metal top and a metal bottom.
Milacron and Sonoco are both traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Milacron is based in Blue Ash, Ohio. Sonoco’s headquarters is in Hartsville, S.C.
