Company: Exal Corporation, Youngstown, OH
Company Description: Exal Corporation is recognized as worlds largest and most innovative producer of extruded aluminum packaging solutions. Founded in 1993 by President & CEO Delfin Gibert the company employees 1300 people on 3 continents with headquarters in Youngstown,Ohio.
Nomination Category: Company Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Business Innovation of the Year

Nomination Title: Exal Corporation's - Lightweight Aluminum Bottle

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Exal Corporation’s innovation in proprietary manufacturing lightweight aluminum
bottles for the beverage industry is a combination of technical development,
market insight and a persistent investment in a robust vision. Exal has been
the recognized leader in the manufacture of aluminum beverage bottles since the
trend emerged with beverage marketers in 2001.
 .
First generation (Gen1) aluminum bottles are manufactured via the impact
extrusion (IE) process. Because the IE  process is relatively slow and limited
in it’s capability to minimize container weight, before C2C technology the use
of aluminum bottles was limited to promotional packages for global beverage
brands and “everyday” packages for  niche beverages. C2C bottles weigh about
40% less than Gen1 bottles and create value in terms of cost and
sustainability. C2C bottles allow marketers to consider aluminum bottles as
an “everyday” package for large scale beverage products.

Gen1 bottles require the use of  99.7% pure virgin aluminum (1070 Assay).
This “soft” alloy is used due to IE processing limitations; hence post consumer
recycled material can’t be utilized. In addition, it is not possible to
manufacture resealable Gen1 bottles without placing plastic sleeves
or “outserts” on the bottles to insure a proper interface with bottle closure
systems. This comingling of the plastic and aluminum creates recycling
challenges with resealable, Gen1 bottles.

In 2008 C2C technology addressed the cost and sustainability limitations of 
Gen1 aluminum bottles with commercial success. Exal made it’s first investment
in C2C technology in 2001 and since that time has invested over $30 million USD
in this innovative hybridized technology that marries the manufacturing speed
and light weighting of standard beverage can technology with the dynamic
shaping technology of  IE container manufacturing. C2C  technology is capable
of creating lightweight aluminum bottles, made from 55%-60% post consumer
recycled aluminum content that are resealable without plastics sleeves. The
internal can liners of  C2C are environmentally friendly and are 100% BPA free.

In addressing the cost and sustainability issues of the Gen1 bottles C2C 
allows the intrinsic benefits and sustainability of aluminum packaging to be
realized. As a packaging material aluminum has superior barrier properties
(plastic), superior breakage resistance (glass, plastic) and superior UV
protection (glass, plastic). In terms of sustainability aluminum cans are the
most desirable product in the recycling stream as the use of  recycled aluminum
requires only 5% of the energy required to manufacture virgin aluminum.
According to Earth911.com each year, the aluminum industry pays $800 million
dollars for empty aluminum cans to the benefit of communities, industry and the
environment. C2C  allows aluminum bottles to join standard beverage cans in the
recycling stream in a sustainable energy efficient manner.
 
Two North American marketers stepped forward in the commercialization of
beverage products using C2C aluminum bottles in 2008. Blue Spike Beverages
(Montreal) introduced Octane 7.0 a vodka/guarana based drink and Eaux Vives
Water Inc. (Toronto & St. Mathieu) introduced ESKA still and sparking water. 
Both marketers are enjoying commercial success with the package. Other 
marketers expect to  realize the benefits of C2C technology in 2009.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Exal Article on C2C Technology:
http://www.canmaker.com/main/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=253

Eska Water on Dieline
http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/04/eska-water.html

Massy Forget Discuss the Eska Water Aluminum Bottle
http://www.mfrp.com/en/comm.php?id=107

Green Living Discusses the Benefits of the Eska Water Aluminum Bottle
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/blog/lindsay/eska-water-please

Octane 7.0 Website
http://octanebev.com/

Octane 7.0 Environmental Statement
http://octanebev.com/index.php?main_page=page_3

Blue Spike Beverage: Owner of the Octane 7.0 brand
http://www.bluespike.ca/en/produits.php?produit=octane

Exal Corporation Website:
http://www.exal.com/

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee or the leader of the nominated company:

The American dream sometimes begins thousands of miles from our borders. For
Delfin Gibert, Exal President and CEO, the dream of creating a global market
for one-piece aluminum containers began in Spanish homeland. Sixteen years
after presenting investors with an ambitious business plan, and a willingness
make a substantial personal investment, the realization of this dream grows.
Today his creation, Exal Corporation, is the largest extruded aluminum
container manufacturing business in the world with revenues approaching $500
million-USD. The vision of the Exal business has always included a large
component of environmental stewardship and sustainability. In 2001 the company
made a commitment to creating lightweight, economically and environmentally
improved aluminum beverage bottles. In 2008 the $30 million USD investment
became a commercial reality with two North American marketers.