Danomano --
No Internet links for you here. I live in suburban Seattle and one of
my neighbors is the general manager for Pacific Northwest Seafoods,
the subsidiary of a Japanese company that provides a wide variety of
Alaskan seafood, in either fresh or preserved fashion.
One of their labels is Alaskan Harvest Seafoods, which ships its 6
ounce cans in the "trapezoidal" form that you've been seeing.
Explains Robert Torres:
"The oldest cans were three-piece cans, which had flat steel sides and
steel ends. Then the industry moved to trapezoidal cans, which save
space in shipping because they can be nested. That's how the the
small cans of salmon are shipped.
"Most tuna now is moving to pop-off cans, with removable tops, though
increasingly both salmon and tuna are moving to sealable pouches.
Institutions, in particular are attracted to four-pound pouches of
tuna or salmon. However, they have to be handled carefully because
they can be punctured so easily," continues Torres.
There are three suppliers who dominate the canning business for fish,
according to Torres:
Crown Cork & Seal
Continental Can
American Can
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
Mukilteo, WA |
Request for Answer Clarification by
danomano-ga
on
21 Oct 2002 08:32 PDT
That's pretty much what I figured. But why isn't tuna or other stuff
(veggies, soups, chef-boy-are-dee, mandarin oranges, etc.) shipped in
similarly trapezoidal cans? Why salmon only? (Given that it'll all be
replaced at some point by ziploc bags.)
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Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
21 Oct 2002 11:56 PDT
Dan --
Other than "historical accident," we've come up without an
explanation. The two-piece trapezoidal cans were an improvement over
3-piece cans (providing less surface to damage) and were economical to
implement in the lower-volume, highly-dispersed salmon canning
industry.
However, I have sent a note off to a couple of the canning companies
to see if there's a more concise explanation.
Using Google to search for the following isn't particularly
productive, though I did learn that the British corned beef canners
produce a type of 3-piece trapezoidal can that's also a trapezoid:
http://www.midex.com/english/products/viande/cornedbeef.jpg
Google search terms:
"canning industry" + trends
cans + trapezoid
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
danomano-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 11:49 PDT
I hope it's OK if I wait to rate this until more details arrive? My
question isn't answered yet, after all. :)
|
Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 12:03 PDT
Dan --
It's fine. About half of the customers rate questions.
Sometimes we're lucky in getting answers from manufacturers (I found
out today via e-mail that Wolmanized lumber is sold under the
Tanalised brand name in the U.K.) and sometimes not.
Don't think that we forget about you after a rating! You'd be
surprised how often a conversation continues.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
danomano-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 12:21 PDT
Cool, thanks, Omnivorous. Keep me posted!
(If it's necessary to call a manufacturer I'd be happy to if you can
provide numbers and the right questions to ask ;))
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Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 12:30 PDT
So I called Crown Cork & Seal's plant here in Seattle and they said
the salmon cans are done that way because they nest -- and save
shippiing space. Salmon canning is a relatively low-volume business,
so everything's shipped in. All of the cans in Alaska come out of
Crown Cork's Seattle factory.
The difference with other higher volume canning businesses, such as
tuna, is that cans are made in-place, so shipping isn't an issue.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
danomano-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 13:17 PDT
Wonderful! That's a perfectly acceptable answer. Thanks! :)
(Low volume! Never thought of that!)
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Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 13:36 PDT
Thanks Dan! The volumes are pretty low for 6 oz salmon cans.
It's pretty funny to watch trends in canning: the REALLY high volume
places (breweries, tuna canning) build the can manufacturing right
next door.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
danomano-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 14:26 PDT
Do they recycle too or just acquire the aluminum?
|
Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
22 Oct 2002 15:14 PDT
Dan --
Is that question related to Crown Cork & Seal? I doubt that they
recycle; that's become a specialized business.
As you may know, some steel companies like Nucor have been set up to
operate only on recycled metals, not the traditional ore-refining
process like U.S. Steel.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
|
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