LYNCHBURG, Va., March 8, 2021 – Belvac, part of Dover, and a worldwide leader in can forming and decorating technologies for the two-piece can industry, has expanded its container and engineering services with a significant investment in a fully functional, two-piece can pilot line. The addition of this pilot line strengthens Belvac’s capabilities and offerings to support increased global demand for beverage can-making equipment and support services. In addition, Belvac is expanding its footprint by adding 40,000 sq ft of manufacturing and assembly capacity in Bedford County, VA to meet continued demand for Belvac equipment such as trimmers, neckers and decorators.
The specific addition of the pilot line gives brand owners and converters the opportunity to develop innovative specialty-shaped two-piece aluminum beverage and aerosol containers. Container makers can also use it for testing coatings and inks along with material light-weighting. In the near future, Belvac expects to offer low-volume manufacturing of finished containers for market tests. This pilot line supports Belvac’s existing turnkey can and metal bottle integration business by producing cups and preforms to test container concepts in advance of final equipment installation and high volume end customer container production.
“Increased consumer demand for more environmentally friendly aluminum beverage cans and bottles, which better meet environmental standards and regulatory conditions, are driving growth throughout the can-making industry. Belvac anticipated this increased demand for our products and services and has been investing to expand our manufacturing capabilities, product offering, and support services. These most recent investments ensure that Belvac now has full-line equipment capabilities to provide full plant integration services, mitigating risk at installation and startup,” said David Mammolenti, Executive Vice President, Belvac.
Belvac is headquartered in Lynchburg, VA with manufacturing operations in Virginia, New York, Dongen, Netherlands, Plzen, Czech Republic, and sales offices in Europe, China, South America, and the Middle East.
The company will increase its global workforce by 15% in 2021 to meet the growing demand for Belvac equipment worldwide and to support the newly announced expansion in services and footprint. These expansion initiatives build on Belvac’s continued growth in talent, capacity, breadth of products and services offered.