Rexam Beverage Can Europe

Argayash, Russia

Being only the second can-making facility to be built by Rexam in Russia, the new aluminum Greenfield plant in Argayash marked a huge opportunity for growth and expansion. So naturally, they looked to Roeslein to create the first production line and then to lay plans to expand in order to meet continued market growth from customers such as Baltika, Heineken, Efes, and Suninbev.

Tomas Sjoelin, Sector Director of Beverage Can Europe & Asia for Rexam, commented: “Rexam’s new plant in Argayash represents a significant investment, demonstrating our commitment to serve this growing market. Cans currently account for 16% of all beer and FAB drinks packaging sold in Russia. Last year the market grew just over 12% and this is expected to rise in 2008.”

The most challenging aspect of this project was the uncontrollable weather conditions. Mother Nature was not a friend during this project. Freezing cold temperatures dropped as low as -36 degrees Fahrenheit and hovered around -5 degrees Fahrenheit, on average. Also, the building the Roeslein team worked in was unheated. This slowed down the on-site installation process, yet despite these horrific weather conditions, the start-up was still on time due to the persistence and joint effort of the Rexam and Roeslein teams.

Faced with constant snow and frozen ground for over 6 months, the on-site installation team should be given a lot of credit for their hard work. They lived in a city called Chelybinsk, which is located about 55 km from the installation site in the small village of Argayash. Almost every day was a new adventure driving to the site because the Roeslein team would get stopped by everything from herds of cows crossing the road to blinding snowstorms. Rather than looking at these challenges with frustration, the team strengthened their bonds through finding the positive in every situation.