SAB Miller hopes a new design for its bottle caps will lead to a 10% cut in the metal it uses.

The Peroni brewer said the low-gauge caps, trialled successfully by its Peruvian arm Backus, could cut materials costs by $12.6m (£7.8m) per annum. The company uses 42 billion steel caps a year on its bottled lagers and soft drinks.

“The low-gauge crowns programme is just one example of a cumulative effort across the group to innovate in every aspect of production,” said manufacturing chief Maurice Egan.

“Across the globe, we continue to encourage blue-sky thinking that will increase efficiency, improve costs and reduce the impact our business has on the environment.”

SAB Miller last week launched a multibillion-dollar bid for Foster’s Group. The approach was rejected but SAB Miller retains hopes of sealing a deal for the Australian brewer.

Read more
SAB Miller to push on with Foster’s bid (25 June 2011)
Research hub hunts for ‘quantum leap’ in brewing (19 May 2011)

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