5 ms·

> a purpose-built rigid container. Why not Al cans?

nickff 6y ago
It's probably a cost & manufacturing issue; I would guess that a draw that long is physically difficult to perform. It may be practical for something 1/2 or 1/3 the length of the pringles can.
- korethr 6y ago
  I agree that it's probably a manufacturing cost issue, but I disagree that a draw that long is necessarily difficult to perform. One can buy extruded aluminum in various shapes, in very thin wall thicknesses, in lengths measured in meters or more. At a previous job, I semi-regularly worked with aluminum angle with about about 1mm wall thickness, several feet long. And note that the length of a typical energy drink is something like 2/3 of the length of a Pringles can. Now, I doubt an aluminum Pringles can would need 1mm wall thickness for sufficient strength to deal with the usual rigors of being handled by a minimum wage shipping or shelf-stocking employee. However, I will concede that something with say, the typical .01-.02 wall thickness of a soda/beer can may be harder to produce with a workflow of cutting can-lengths from a large piece of extruded stock. Depending on how the stock was cut, you risk crushing it. At that thickness, you'd do better to stamp the final can size & shape from crude blanks. Now, at high enough volume, it could be worth it to in-house the can-stamping operation; beer companies are an example. I could see Pringles having enough volume to justify in-house production of their cans. But I don't think a .01-.02 wall thickness would be enough for a Pringles can. Yes, soda cans are strong enough to endure shipping and handling, but most of that strength comes from the fact that their contents are under pressure; significantly moreso than a pringles can, I'd bet. Witness how easy it becomes to crush a soda can once it is opened, even when it is still partially full. So .01-02mm wouldn't do. I'd guess .1-2mm would, however. But at a 10x wall thickness you're using 10x the material if my math is right, so an all-aluminum Pringles can with a .1mm wall thickness would cost at least 10x to produce as a soda can of equal length. So yeah, manufacturing cost issue is probably at least one factor. But I'm willing to be wrong about that.
  - nickff 6y ago
    Pringles could simply pressurize their cans if strength was the issue, by sealing the cans in a pressurized environment; it would be a little more expensive than for soda, but not a deal-breaker.
    - korethr 6y ago
      I think Pringles cans are already lightly pressurized. "Once you pop, you can't stop", and this picture[1]. Now, that title is misleading; the plane may be at 30,000ft, but the cabin is not at the atmospheric pressure of that altitude, but rather something closer to 7000 ft or so. Either way, that brings up an interesting (to me, anyway) question: Would it be cheaper for Pringles to simply stamp their cans with thicker walls, or engineer their production line to allow the cans to be sealed at an even higher pressure? 1. https://imgur.com/gallery/oHIK8iF https://imgur.com/gallery/oHIK8iF
ethbr0 6y ago
> Why not Al cans? I am sick and tired of this being the solution to every problem! Anytime there's a legacy business model in need of polishing, they plate it in Al and call it something new. Al doesn't work that way. There's many uses it excels at, but it's not a panacea. Nowadays, we have Al toasters, Al refrigerators, even Al watches. Yet no one stopped to ask if these were devices that needed Al. Hell, I even heard about a company that's building Al homes. Interface with your car and everything. Personally, I can't wait for the next Al winter. /1950s sarcasm
- zxcmx 6y ago
  Al = Aluminium
  - ethbr0 6y ago
    Woosh.
- cogburnd02 6y ago
  Hahaha, yeah I meant Al as in Aluminum. Good fonts let you know the difference between a lowercase l (ell) and an uppercase I (eye).

It's probably a cost & manufacturing issue; I would guess that a draw that long is physically difficult to perform. It may be practical for something 1/2 or 1/3 the length of the pringles can.

korethr 6y ago
I agree that it's probably a manufacturing cost issue, but I disagree that a draw that long is necessarily difficult to perform. One can buy extruded aluminum in various shapes, in very thin wall thicknesses, in lengths measured in meters or more. At a previous job, I semi-regularly worked with aluminum angle with about about 1mm wall thickness, several feet long. And note that the length of a typical energy drink is something like 2/3 of the length of a Pringles can. Now, I doubt an aluminum Pringles can would need 1mm wall thickness for sufficient strength to deal with the usual rigors of being handled by a minimum wage shipping or shelf-stocking employee. However, I will concede that something with say, the typical .01-.02 wall thickness of a soda/beer can may be harder to produce with a workflow of cutting can-lengths from a large piece of extruded stock. Depending on how the stock was cut, you risk crushing it. At that thickness, you'd do better to stamp the final can size & shape from crude blanks. Now, at high enough volume, it could be worth it to in-house the can-stamping operation; beer companies are an example. I could see Pringles having enough volume to justify in-house production of their cans. But I don't think a .01-.02 wall thickness would be enough for a Pringles can. Yes, soda cans are strong enough to endure shipping and handling, but most of that strength comes from the fact that their contents are under pressure; significantly moreso than a pringles can, I'd bet. Witness how easy it becomes to crush a soda can once it is opened, even when it is still partially full. So .01-02mm wouldn't do. I'd guess .1-2mm would, however. But at a 10x wall thickness you're using 10x the material if my math is right, so an all-aluminum Pringles can with a .1mm wall thickness would cost at least 10x to produce as a soda can of equal length. So yeah, manufacturing cost issue is probably at least one factor. But I'm willing to be wrong about that.
- nickff 6y ago
  Pringles could simply pressurize their cans if strength was the issue, by sealing the cans in a pressurized environment; it would be a little more expensive than for soda, but not a deal-breaker.
  - korethr 6y ago
    I think Pringles cans are already lightly pressurized. "Once you pop, you can't stop", and this picture[1]. Now, that title is misleading; the plane may be at 30,000ft, but the cabin is not at the atmospheric pressure of that altitude, but rather something closer to 7000 ft or so. Either way, that brings up an interesting (to me, anyway) question: Would it be cheaper for Pringles to simply stamp their cans with thicker walls, or engineer their production line to allow the cans to be sealed at an even higher pressure? 1. https://imgur.com/gallery/oHIK8iF https://imgur.com/gallery/oHIK8iF

ethbr0 6y ago

> Why not Al cans? I am sick and tired of this being the solution to every problem! Anytime there's a legacy business model in need of polishing, they plate it in Al and call it something new. Al doesn't work that way. There's many uses it excels at, but it's not a panacea. Nowadays, we have Al toasters, Al refrigerators, even Al watches. Yet no one stopped to ask if these were devices that needed Al. Hell, I even heard about a company that's building Al homes. Interface with your car and everything. Personally, I can't wait for the next Al winter. /1950s sarcasm

zxcmx 6y ago
Al = Aluminium
- ethbr0 6y ago
  Woosh.
cogburnd02 6y ago
Hahaha, yeah I meant Al as in Aluminum. Good fonts let you know the difference between a lowercase l (ell) and an uppercase I (eye).