For enterprises such as beverages, food, and daily chemical products that rely on can packaging for a long time, having their own can making machines (rather than outsourcing finished cans) is an important strategic choice to optimize the supply chain, reduce costs, and enhance competitiveness. Its advantages run through the five core links of "production, cost, supply chain, product innovation, and quality control", which can be elaborated to the following dimensions:

1. Significantly reduce packaging costs and enhance corporate profit margins

Packaging cost is one of the core cost items for fast-moving consumer goods enterprises (usually accounting for 15% -25% of the total product cost). Self owned can making machines can avoid multiple premiums for imported finished cans through "source production", achieving deep cost optimization.

• Eliminate the "intermediate link premium" of finished cans

  When purchasing finished cans to outside, the enterprise needs to bear the "production profit, logistics cost, and channel markup" of the canning factory - the canning factory will add 15% -20% profit on top of the basic cost to cover its own equipment depreciation, labor, and raw material procurement costs; At the same time, during the transportation of finished cans to the canning factory to the enterprise, storage, loading and unloading, and long-distance transportation costs need to be paid (especially for packaging such as aluminum cans and tin cans that require moisture and pressure resistance, logistics costs are 8% -12% higher than ordinary goods). After setting up their own canning machine, enterprises can directly produce cans using the "raw material procurement (aluminum coil, tinplate coil)+independent production" , without paying a premium for intermediate links. The cost of a single can can can be reduced by 10% -25% (taking 330ml aluminum cans as an example, the unit price of external procurement is about 0.3-0.4 yuan, and the cost of self owned canning can be reduced to 0.2-0.3 yuan. When the annual output is 100 million cans, the annual cost savings can reach 10-20 million yuan).

• More bargaining power in raw material procurement, reducing volatility risk

  When purchasing finished cans to outside, enterprises need to passively accept the "raw material price increase transmission" to can manufacturers (such as when aluminum prices rise, can manufacturers will immediately increase the unit price of finished cans, and the bargaining space is small); After providing their own canning machine, enterprises can directly purchase bulk commodity raw materials such as aluminum coils and tinplate coils, and negotiate with suppliers based on the "large-scale procurement volume" to obtain lower procurement unit prices (5% -8% lower than the small-scale procurement cost of canning factories). At the same time, enterprises can avoid short-term fluctuations in raw material prices, stabilize canning costs, and avoid product profit compression caused by rising prices of finished cans through "long-term agreement price locking" and "seasonal stockpiling" (such as increasing inventory during low aluminum prices).

2. Control the initiative of the supply chain and avoid the risk of external procurement dependence

Under the finished product can external procurement mode, the production plan of enterprises is easily constrained by external factors such as the production capacity, logistics, and policies of the can making factory. Self owned can making machines can transform packaging supply to "passive dependence" to "active control", ensuring production continuity.

• Resolve the issues of "limited production capacity" and "order queuing"

  During peak seasons (such as summer beverage demand peaks and holiday food promotions), canning factories often operate at full capacity, which can lead to "insufficient production capacity and order queues" - some companies may have to wait 1-2 weeks to receive finished cans, resulting in their production lines being forced to reduce production or shut down due to "lack of packaging". After providing their own canning machine, enterprises can flexibly adjust their canning production capacity according to their own production plan (such as increasing canning shifts during peak seasons and reducing production capacity during off-season), without relying on the scheduling of canning factories, completely avoiding the passive situation of "having orders and raw materials, but unable to produce due to a shortage of cans".

• Avoiding logistics interruptions and geographical restrictions risks

  The outsourced finished product tanks rely on cross regional logistics. In case of extreme weather (such as rainstorm and blizzard), epidemic control, road blockade, etc., the logistics is easy to be interrupted, leading to the supply interruption of packaging; In addition, if the canning factory is located in a remote area with a long transportation cycle (such as 3-5 days to a northern canning factory to a southern enterprise), a large amount of safety stock needs to be reserved (usually 15-30 days of usage), occupying funds and storage space. Self provided canning machine can achieve zero distance connection between canning and filling (canning workshop is adjacent to filling workshop), without long-distance transportation, with almost zero logistics risk. At the same time, safety stock can be compressed to 3-5 days, reducing capital occupation and warehousing costs.

• Reduce the communication cost and cycle of "specification changes"

  If the enterprise needs to adjust the specifications of the can (such as changing to 330ml to 500ml, or changing the thickness of the can body), in the external procurement mode, it needs to communicate with the can manufacturer again for design, mold opening, and trial production. The entire cycle takes 2-4 weeks, and the can manufacturer may charge additional mold opening fees for "small batch customization" (the single mold opening fee is about 50000-200000 yuan); After providing their own canning machine, enterprises can independently adjust molds and parameters, shorten the specification change cycle to 1-3 days, and do not need to pay additional mold opening fees (only need to replace mold accessories, cost about 10000-30000 yuan), flexibly responding to changes in market demand.

3. Flexible adaptation to product innovation, enhancing market competitiveness

In the context of consumer upgrading, "differentiated packaging" is the key for enterprises to attract consumers and create product features. Self owned canning machines can give enterprises stronger packaging innovation autonomy and quickly respond to market trends.

• Support "small batch, personalized" canning, suitable for segmented markets

  When purchasing finished cans to outside, can manufacturers usually require a "minimum order quantity" (such as a single order of no less than 100000 cans) to reduce costs, which makes it difficult for companies to launch small batch, trial sales products (such as new product trial packaging and regional limited edition) - if trial sales fail, a large number of remaining finished cans will become inventory backlog. After providing their own canning machine, enterprises can achieve "small batch flexible production" (such as single canning of 10-10000 cans), support personalized design (such as customized can body patterns, special can shapes, mini capacities), quickly test the segmented market (such as 200ml portable cans for camping scenes and cartoon pattern cans for children), and reduce innovation trial and error costs.

• Quickly respond to "hot marketing" and seize market opportunities

  When there are sudden hotspots in the market (such as sports events, festivals, social hotspots), companies need to quickly launch themed packaging products (such as World Cup themed cans, Spring Festival limited edition cans) to seize traffic. In the external procurement mode, it takes 2-3 weeks to design communication to delivery of finished tanks, which can easily miss the hot window period; The self provided canning machine can achieve rapid connection of the entire process of "design canning filling" (such as determining the design on the same day and completing canning and production the next day), which is 5-10 times faster than the external procurement mode, helping enterprises seize the opportunity in hot marketing and improve product sales and brand exposure.

4. Strengthen quality control to ensure packaging and product safety

As a packaging material that comes into direct contact with food and beverages, the quality of cans (such as sealing, material safety, and dimensional accuracy) directly affects product quality and consumer health. Self owned can making machines can achieve "full process quality control" and avoid quality hazards of imported finished cans.

• Full chain quality inspection to raw materials to finished products

  When purchasing finished cans to outside, enterprises can only conduct sampling quality inspection at the time of receipt (such as checking whether the can body is deformed and whether the seal is intact), and cannot trace the quality of raw materials (such as whether the aluminum coil contains impurities, whether the tin plating layer of the tinplate meets the standards) and the can making process (such as whether the welding is leaking, whether the edge is uniform). If the can making factory uses inferior raw materials to reduce costs, it may lead to product contamination (such as the corrosion of the can wall releasing harmful substances) or seal failure (such as leakage and air leakage). After providing their own canning machine, enterprises can conduct quality inspections on the entire process of "raw material entry, canning process, and finished product delivery": the material composition (such as aluminum purity and tin layer thickness) is tested when the raw materials enter the site; Real time monitoring of mold accuracy (to avoid dimensional deviations of the can body), welding quality (using an air tightness tester to check welding points), and edge sealing (checking for leaks through water injection testing) during the can making process; The finished cans enter the filling process directly without the need for secondary transportation, reducing collision damage during handling and ensuring packaging quality to the source.

• Customized quality requirements for adapting to special products

  For products with special requirements (such as acidic beverages, high-temperature sterilized foods, carbonated beverages), cans need to have higher corrosion resistance, pressure resistance, and high temperature resistance. In the external procurement mode, canning factories may not be able to fully meet the customized requirements of enterprises (such as using ordinary aluminum coils instead of acid resistant aluminum coils to reduce costs); The self provided canning machine can select specialized raw materials based on product characteristics (such as acid resistant aluminum coils for acidic beverages and thick tin cans for high-temperature sterilized food), adjust canning processes (such as increasing the number of edge layers and optimizing welding parameters), ensure perfect matching between packaging and product characteristics, and avoid product deterioration and scrap caused by unsuitable packaging.

5. Long term asset appreciation enhances the overall strength of enterprises

As a high-value production equipment, canning machines can not only meet the needs of enterprises themselves, but also achieve asset appreciation through reasonable operation, enhance the risk resistance and industry competitiveness of enterprises.

• Long term reuse and depreciation advantages of equipment assets

  The service life of high-quality can making machines (such as fully automatic aluminum can production lines and tin can making machines) can reach 10-15 years, and the depreciation cost can be spread over long-term production - taking an aluminum can production line with an annual output of 100 million cans (equipment investment of about 50-80 million yuan) as an example, the average annual depreciation cost is about 3-8 million yuan. If finished cans are purchased externally, the average annual packaging cost may be as high as 30-40 million yuan. In the long run, the total cost of self owned can making machines is much lower than that of external procurement mode, and the equipment can be upgraded at any time according to the expansion of enterprise production capacity (such as adding modules to improve production capacity), adapting to the long-term development needs of enterprises.

• Excess production capacity can be used for external services to expand revenue channels

  If a company's canning production capacity exceeds its own demand (such as idle capacity during the off-season), it can provide canning services to the outside world (such as outsourcing the production of finished cans for surrounding small and medium-sized enterprises) to obtain additional income - the outsourcing unit price is usually 5% -10% lower than that of professional canning factories (because the company does not need to bear large-scale marketing and channel costs), with price advantages, while improving equipment utilization, reducing unit manufacturing costs, and achieving the dual value of "self utilize?+revenue generation".

• Enhance the integration capability of enterprise industrial chain and strengthen the industry discourse power

  Self owned canning machine means that the enterprise has completed the integration of the "packaging production product manufacturing" industry chain, reduced dependence on external suppliers, and has more initiative in industry competition (such as in the event of fluctuations in raw material prices, packaging shortages, etc., the enterprise can rely on its independent canning ability to stabilize production and even seize market share to competitors). At the same time, the ability to integrate the industrial chain will also enhance the discourse power of enterprises in upstream and downstream cooperation (for example, when negotiating with raw material suppliers, they can obtain more favorable prices through "long-term large-scale procurement", and when cooperating with distributors, they can strive for better cooperation conditions through "stable supply").