From Our CEO: Fall 2024 Challenges

At Independent Can Company, it has long been a tradition to share updates with our customers through a letter. It has been some time since my last communication, and with the events of the past few years, the challenges we face today, and the state of both our economy and global affairs, now is an important moment to share our thoughts with you.

Over the past two years, we’ve faced unprecedented spikes in steel costs, escalating geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions, and the retirement of many skilled and semi-skilled workers, all of which have affected our business. Yet, through it all, we remain steadfast in our commitment to manufacturing specialty cans in the United States with American workers, a promise we made in 1979. While this commitment may seem straightforward, the landscape has changed dramatically since then. Where there were once 30-40 competitors in the U.S. making similar products, today only 2 or 3 remain. Many of our competitors have either sold out or shifted their production to lower-cost countries.

At Independent Can Company, we are fortunate to have a loyal customer base and dedicated workforce, both of which drive our optimism for the future. As an optimist myself, I believe our focus on providing solutions for our customers has been key to our success.

Four years ago, during our strategic planning process, we committed to a $30 million investment plan. This investment was aimed at modernizing our operations through new can lines, increased automation to control costs and reduce the physical demands on our employees, and the implementation of Manufacturing 4.0—an electronic data collection system. While we originally anticipated completing these projects in two years, ongoing supply chain issues have delayed our progress, pushing the completion date to mid-2025— three years later than planned.

Throughout this process, our focus has remained steadfast: ensuring safety, maintaining the highest quality of products, reducing manufacturing costs, and speeding up time to market. One of the challenges we face is the significant number of skilled employees who have retired over the past 4-5 years, taking with them decades of experience. We are working diligently to train the next generation, and we now have more apprentices than at any time in recent memory.

Currently, we are not meeting on-time delivery expectations and are oversold in several areas. This is a situation we must address head-on. We understand the frustration this causes; especially given the longstanding relationships we share with many of you. Several factors have contributed to this: a six-month delay in our Print Line Rebuild, unexpected retirements, larger-than-anticipated order volumes, and ongoing supply chain disruptions, particularly with motors and drives. These issues have resulted in downtime that would not have occurred before the pandemic.

This is a painful position for us to be in, as we deeply value the decades-long relationships we have with many of our customers. Please know that we are sparing no effort to resolve these challenges. Our team is working long hours and weekends to improve the situation, and we are fully committed to making the necessary adjustments to meet your needs.

As we look ahead to 2025, we are confident that the steps we are taking now will position us to better serve you in the future. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate these challenges together.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to your salesperson or any member of our leadership team if you have any concerns. We are here for you, and we are investing in a brighter future for all of us.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,