<strong>Analysis of instability problems in the DWI process</strong>

Two-piece cans for e.g. soft drinks and beer are made using the so-called DWI process. In the DWI process the can is made is a number of steps; among others a) deep drawing of a cylindrical can, b)re-drawing of the can and ironing of the can wall c) trimming of can top, e) forming of can top. The re-drawing and ironing of the can wall is carried out in a special forming machine called a body maker at a rate of 350 to 500 cans per minute. When making two-piece steel cans the scrap rate on the body maker is very small (less than 6 ppm). However this scarp rate does give rise to a significant downtime on each body maker due to huge amount of cans produced (around 500.000 cans per body maker per day).

The purpose of the project is to investigate the redrawing and ironing process in the body maker and from this investigation hopefully come up with suggestions which will reduce the scrap rate.

The project was initiated in 2007 and is planned to run until at least the end of 2008.

Partners in the project: Ball Packaging Europe, Rasselsstein (Thyssen Krupp) and Department of Production, AAU.

Joachim Danckert