Ball Packaging (CU Design Project)

Ball Aluminum Containers¹

Ball Packaging & Container Production²

Ball is one of the largest manufactures of aluminum and plastic containers. Their products are used to package food, drinks, or aerosols.

Aluminum can manufacturing starts with a sheet of aluminum about 0.011 inches thick.  Blanks are punched out and then formed in a series of dies into a cup shape.  The cans are then washed, coated, and decorated.  An oven dries and cures the varnish.  A very thin layer of internal coating (IC) is applied to the inside of the cans to ensure the metal does not alter the taste of the product (this is the part our team worked on… see below).  The top of the can goes through a di necker and flanger to create a strengthened lip for the top to attach to at a later time.  Each can is inspected by a camera system and then packed onto pallets for shipping.

Senior Design Project

During my senior year at the University of Colorado, I worked with a group of four students and a professor in conjunction with a team of engineers at the Ball Packaging Lab in Broomfiled, CO.  As project manager I hosted weekly meetings with our student team as well as our team at Ball.  Our task was to design a test and cleaning procedure for their internal coating (IC) machine.  The procedure took place in an enclosed testing station that we designed and fabricated.

Summary

• Managed team of 4 other students on 9 month project
• Designed testing/maintenance station for the Ball Packaging Lab
• Conducted biweekly status/update meetings with Ball Packaging engineering team and students
• Provided detailed technical documentation of designs

Resources:

1. “Metal-Bev-fam-06-w-Alumitek%20web.jpg“. “Metal Beverage Product Catelog“. Ball Packaging Americas. 7 May 2011.
2. “Metal Beverage Manufacturing Process“.  Ball Packaging Americas. 7 May 2011.