Interview

A conversation with Ed Martin, Business Development Manager, Exal Corporation, Norwalk, CT/USA

Vol. 17, No. 12-2009AEROSOL EUROPE 16

AEROSOL EUROPE: Mr Mar-tin, could you say a word aboutyour person?

Ed Martin: In a broad sense my role is tohelp the company work better togetherand create greater value. We have verysuccessful businesses on three continentsand want to build on that momentum. Wehave our North American business, wehave our European business, which isBoxal, and we also have our operations inArgentina. My role is to create future op-portunities with new technology, new mar-kets and new customers, across the entirebusiness platform. Residing in North Amer-ica I also provide specific sales and mar-keting resources to the business there.

AEROSOL EUROPE: In a few words,could you give our readers an idea of your product range?Ed Martin: First, I would like to say that ifa product can be made using impact ex-trusion technology, Exal can make theproduct. If you consider the entire Exalproduct range first and foremost you haveour initial product, the aluminium aerosolcontainer. Everything else that we manu-facture today evolved from learnings thatwe gained from making impact extrudedaluminium aerosol containers. Aluminiumaerosols evolved into threaded bottles forpersonal care products and other verticalmarkets, including automotive. Thethreaded bottles we developed for the au-tomotive industry taught us many thingsabout pushing the limitations of necking.That experience was a step that lead us to

create innovative shaped aerosols con-tainers. Shaped aerosols then quickly leadto shaped beverage containers and fullbody shaping. So, our current portfolioevolved with a focus on improving con-tainer form and function. I would like toadd that while beverage bottles have be-come a larger part of our business mix overthe last few years the aerosol marketclearly remains an extremely importantcore business for Exal.

AEROSOL EUROPE: Will you be at theAerosol Forum in Paris next year?Ed Martin: I am unsure of my schedule atthe moment. I do know that as a companythe Exal Group will definitely attend. Rep-resentatives from Boxal actively participatein the event.

AEROSOL EUROPE: What are your tar-get markets?Ed Martin: We see some very interestingopportunities in the aerosol market. Alu-minium has been the material of choice forpersonal care, cosmetic and fragranceaerosols and we do not see that changing.We now see much more interest in alu-minium aerosols from household productsmarketers. Their interest in aluminium is de-veloping for many of the same reasonsthat drove our growth over the pastdecade. The ability to create great formand function with aluminium remains key.The marketing opportunity to create true er-gonomic devices with a shaped containersand custom actuators cannot be over-looked. Many of the more recent globalaerosol success stories such as Unilever’sAxe, P&G’s Febreze and many packagesfrom L’Oreal have benefited from the syn-ergy of custom shaped containers and cus-tom actuators.I would also like to mention that the devel-opment of high definition dry offset print-ing is benefiting many marketers. It is asignificant improvement that is allowing alu-minium container manufacturers to reach ahigh level of graphic reproduction, previ-ously available only with other substrates.

AEROSOL EUROPE: Which countries doyou supply with your products? Ed Martin: In the truest sense we do sup-ply the world. We have operations inNorth America, Europe and Latin Americato support our primary markets. At times, toassist customers, we export from those lo-

Ed Martin

Interview

Vol. 17, No. 12-2009 AEROSOL EUROPE 17

cations to other geographies around theglobe. If you consider the Exal operationalfootprint we are the only aluminium con-tainer manufacturer that operates onthree continents. Many of the majorglobal marketers look at our geo-graphic scope as a huge advantagefor them. Consequently, they want topartner with us. They know we under-stand their needs and trust us as asteward of their global brands. We dointend to aggressively expand our ge-ographic foot print over the next fewyears.

AEROSOL EUROPE: What about the East-ern European countries, especially Russia?Ed Martin: Like many companies we seea great future for Eastern Europe and wehave plans to be there. We recognize thatwe need to have meaningful operations inEastern Europe to build on our geographicpresence.Russia is interesting and the amount of busi-ness investment being made there contin-ues to be impressive.

AEROSOL EUROPE: Where do you seepotential for technical innovations, particu-larly in the aerosol industry?Ed Martin: I think, there is a balancewhen you look at the aerosol package.There is the science based rational analy-sis. Can we do something to make thepackage more intriguing for marketersand consumers? Can we help marketers tocreate new products based on the customdesigns, shaping or new dispensingideas? There is also the emotional “Wow”factor of aluminium packaging. Aluminiumhas created many great success stories re-cently and consumers connect well withthe package. We believe that there is stillplenty “Wow” left in the aerosol packageform. As mentioned much is going on withhigh definition printing. We are also see-ing interest in digital printing, which is start-ing to emerge in rigid packaging. Ofcourse, over the past ten years containershaping has become very prevalent. Overthe next ten years full body shapedaerosol containers should become muchmore mainstream.

On top of that there is technical innovationin the area of environmental complianceand stewardship. While all the design anddecorating innovations get the much de-served attention, our industry expends alot of resources dealing successfully withregulatory challenges as well. You arestarting to see the development of powdercoatings as an alternative to internal lin-ings. I believe, Europe is largely ahead ofNorth America in the area of sustainability.North America is catching up and stake-holders are committing significant re-sources to innovation focused onsustainability. In the past the marketerswere interested in sustainability, but not asa top priority. That has changed over thepast few years in North America as retail-ers are challenging marketers to delivercontinuous improvement in the area of sus-tainability. Marketers in turn are requiringpackaging suppliers to assist them. Welook at the whole dynamic as an opportu-nity to innovate in a way that clearly ben-efits society.

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Vol. 17, No. 12-2009AEROSOL EUROPE 18

InterviewAEROSOL EUROPE: The global economycrisis hit the bottom. How do you see theeconomical development of 2010/2011?Ed Martin: We are an optimistic company.I am cautiously optimistic about 2010being a good year for the aerosol industryand our business. In the United States wehave seen a jobless economic recovery sofar. To achieve full economic recovery I be-lieve that US consumer spending has tocome back strong. I do not think consumerspending will come back strong until con-sumers see significant recovery in the jobmarket. From my perspective US economicprogress in 2011 will be a function of theemployment market.

AEROSOL EUROPE: What would youconsider the most relevant issue whichneeds to be discussed in the aerosol indus-try?Ed Martin: From my perspective thebiggest concern is whether the significantnumber of regulatory and legislative issues,that are getting a lot of attention, are goinghamper industry growth. We are fortunatein the USA to have a premier trade associ-ation, the Consumer Specialty Products As-sociation (CSPA), that takes a leadershiprole in addressing legislative and regula-tory challenges at the federal, state, localand international level. I am most familiarwith the regulatory challenges in the USA,which like Europe and other geographies,are ongoing. Consistent with the pastmuch of the activity involves the State ofCalifornia. Unfortunately, California is alsostruggling financially so that creates addi-tional complexity. I believe the momentumof regulatory environment requires a lot ofindustry time, talent and treasure to be fo-cused on being defensive. So while having a good defense is impor-tant, as an industry, I believe we also needto remain dedicated to being proactiveand growing the industry. At the end of theday the marketing community needs to seevalue in the aerosol package form or theywill not create new aerosol products. Theworld of fast moving consumer goods is ameritocracy. Ultimately, the consumer picksa package form because it delivers morevalue than other package forms. It is a narrow path. We need to defend the

package, so our ability to create effectiveproducts is not diminished. That is one setof skills. On the other hand we need tohave the marketer community intrigued bythe aerosol package form. That requires adifferent, but very valuable, set of skills.

AEROSOL EUROPE: What is Exal doingto meet the consumers’ demand for“greener” aerosol products?Ed Martin: Aluminium has a really goodstory to tell in the area of sustainability. It isthe most abundant metal on earth. It is thethird most abundant element in the earth’scrust after silicon and oxygen. So, we arestarting with a very sustainable raw mate-rial. Aluminium is also 100%, infinitely re-cyclable without a loss of physicalproperties. 2/3 of all aluminium evermade is still in use today. In addition, Alu-minium has a high economic value andfunds many municipal recycling programsin North America. Today there are effortsunderway to make sure that aluminiumaerosols are recycled in North America.Exal is taking a leadership role in that ef-fort. The key to aluminium’s sustainability isrecycling. It takes 5 % of the energy to cre-ate recycled aluminium as it does to makethe same amount of virgin aluminium.Therefore, it is very important that con-sumers understand the value of recyclingaluminium aerosol containers. Outside ofour recycling efforts we are always seek-ing more sustainable energy options, inter-nal linings, coatings, inks and lubricants.

AEROSOL EUROPE: Do you see anygrowth markets for aerosols today and inthe future?Ed Martin: We do. The market place inNorth America had a strong rise in demandfrom 2003 to 2006 fueled by growth in alu-minium aerosol containers. The market wasthen flat for a few years. We are starting tosee some marketers that have traditionallyused other types of packaging now consid-ering the aerosol form. Their interest hasbeen driven by the overall value of theaerosol package. Bag on Valve (BoV) Suncare was a fabulous market that emergedin North America. It went from a businessthat did not exist at the beginning of thedecade to about 120 Million units annually

now. I believe BoV dispensing systems havea great future and improve the sustainabil-ity of some products.In some cases marketer interest has been for-mula driven. We have also seen interestdriven by the design aspects of aluminium.More recently our graphic and printing ca-pabilities have created new interest.

AEROSOL EUROPE: To your opinion,what challenges does our industry face inthe future?Ed Martin: The biggest challenge will beto make sure that our businesses are strongfinancially. I think the aerosol package andaluminium packaging are well valued bythe important marketers. A big challengefor aluminium container manufacturers isthe level capital investment that is requiredto support growth. The equipment is ex-pensive and complex. That said, the busi-nesses that are going to be successful arethe businesses that have the ability to con-tinue to invest in the future. From my per-spective it is vitally important to make surethat marketers are enamoured with ourproducts. Marketers that value our newproduct offerings are the marketers that willpurchase them and support our invest-ments. As mentioned above we can’t letregulatory challenges derail our growthopportunities. While we need to work withgovernment and non-government agenciesto make sure that sound science prevails,our mantra needs to be profitable growth.

AEROSOL EUROPE: When you are notworking for Exal, what are you doing forleisure time activities?Ed Martin: Being in Ft. Lauderdale re-minds me of my collegiate years when Ispent time doing twice a day training at theInternational Swimming Hall Fame(ISHOF). The ISHOF is just a short walkfrom the site of the CSPA Annual Meeting.I have not changed too much since thattime. Today, I enjoy almost any activity as-sociated with the water like scuba diving,sailing, fishing, attempting to surf, etc. I amfortunate that wife Sandra enjoys doing thesame.

AEROSOL EUROPE: Mr Martin, thankyou very much for this interview. ■