Coke, Exal keep a lid on project

A local company is producing Coca-Cola’s latest product innovation.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

YOUNGSTOWN — Coca-Cola is teasing America with a new bottle that’s made right here in the city.

Exal Corp. is producing aluminum bottles that carry Coke’s world-renowned contour shape — a design previously used only in glass bottles.

Neither the local company nor the soft drink giant wants to talk much about the new container because it is only in a test phase. Coke products are being sold in the new 8.5-ounce bottle in a few markets.

Coke tipped its hand last week in a three-page ad that ran in USA Today. It showed several of the company’s newest products, such as Coke Zero and Diet Coke Plus, in a line that ended with the aluminum bottle.

Brenda Oman, vice president of finance and administration at Exal, said the company has been working with Coca-Cola on the new bottle for about a year.

One of the big decisions was whether to go with a pry top or a screw top that could be resealed. Coca-Cola went with the screw top.

Oman said she couldn’t talk about production volumes.

Scott Williamson, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, said bottles are being made in a limited number so far. He declined to identify the markets that are part of the test.

He did not want to talk about the likelihood of the aluminum bottle’s being approved for nationwide distribution. In the test markets, the new containers are being used for Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

Aluminum Now, a trade publication, reported in 2005 that Coca-Cola was introducing limited-edition aluminum bottles that were made by Exal. Five design groups were commissioned to develop eye-catching, glitzy designs, and each was introduced at upscale clubs and lounges several months apart.

The magazine said Exal’s bottles won a Gold Award at the 2005 Can of the Year Awards in Spain.

The aluminum bottle that’s being tested now is red with white lettering. It is tall and slender, resembling the shape of the glass bottle that Coca-Cola has used in advertising for many years.

While the contour bottle remains a company symbol, Coke products today mostly are found in aluminum cans and plastic, 2-liter bottles.

Oman said Exal has been working with Coca-Cola for five years on various projects. Exal now is producing aluminum bottles for Coke Blak, a carbonated caffeine drink sold in Europe. Exal has factories in France and the Netherlands that produce those containers.

Exal, which operates two plants in the Performance Place Industrial Park near Poland Avenue, is used to making products for some of the world’s biggest companies.

It produces containers for Axe, a body spray for men produced by Unilever, and Fabreze, an air freshener made by Procter & Gamble. Anheuser-Busch uses the local company to make aluminum beer bottles.

Exal has been continually expanding as it adds big-name accounts. It completed its second plant in 2006 and is considering building a third plant in the Salt Springs Industrial Park. The company employs 375, up 100 in the past two years.

shilling@vindy.com