Novelis Inc., a leading sustainable aluminum solutions provider and the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, today announced the opening of its Customer Solution Center (CSC) for the beverage packaging market in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

The center will focus on advancing aluminum beverage can innovation and sustainability solutions in response to growing market demand.

The new CSC will serve as an innovation hub in a facility designed for collaboration, most notably with beverage can makers, brand owners, other industry suppliers and scientific partners. Bringing these parties together will inspire ideas and accelerate innovation that will address real-world challenges and advance the adoption of aluminum as the material of choice for beverage packaging. Designed to encourage creativity, the state-of-the-art, 3,000-square-meter facility features modern laboratories, training rooms, and collaboration space.

“The beverage business is in growth mode, and aluminum is quickly becoming the material of choice for beverage can packaging, so we need to be prepared for increased demand as consumers recognize the many drawbacks of other, less sustainable packaging materials,” said Greg Schlicht, Senior Vice President, Global Can Sales at Novelis. “In addition, our customers are seeking to elevate package appearance, and aluminum cans provide an ideal, 360-degree canvas for eye-catching, upscale graphics and product branding. We are committed to investing in innovation to maximize these opportunities.”

The new CSC demonstrates Novelis’ commitment to accelerating innovation to meet evolving market needs.

Driving the need for constant innovation are the following market trends:

Consumers desire more sustainable packaging — Today’s consumers are driving a shift toward aluminum as the environmentally friendly choice for beverage can packaging. As the largest producer of aluminum sheet for the beverage packaging market and the largest recycler of used beverage cans, Novelis is leading the market through innovation and customer collaboration.

The beverage market is expanding — Today’s consumer is demanding and consuming more varieties of packaged beverages, including water, energy drinks, soda, beer, wine, hard seltzers, and other ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. As the market grows, the need for sustainable aluminum packaging increases, further driving the need for capacity and innovation.

Interest in specialty cans is growing — Consumers are looking for different packaging options in terms of function and appearance, resulting in new specialty shapes, sizes and surface finishes. In fact, Novelis responded to market demand with its recently launched black-laminated aluminum can end sheet.

“As the beverage market grows and consumers increasingly choose sustainable aluminum beverage packaging, the need to support our customers’ innovation goals also grows,” said Philippe Meyer, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Novelis. “We work diligently to align our innovation plans with those of our customers to ensure that together we meet the needs of the market – both today, as well as tomorrow – as we search for more sustainable solutions.”

The São José dos Campos facility is part of Novelis's growing global network of CSCs, which are designed to speed the application of aluminum solutions through collaboration between the company and its customers, as well as with others in the value chain.