Crown Bevcan Europe & Middle East, part of Crown Holdings Inc., is celebrating 10 successful years of canmaking at its Izmit plant in Turkey.

With two beverage can lines, the Turkish plant produces over 1bn 33 and 50cl cans every year. The facility also operates a plastic closures line, which became operational in 2000 and now produces around 500M units annually.

The 101 000m² plant, which has recently undergone considerable refurbishment following the 1999 earthquake, is located 110km from Istanbul and supplies both standard and shaped cans for Crown’s key soft drink, fruit juice and beer customers across Turkey.

The plant also has a growing export business supplying cans to the Middle Eastern and Balkan markets and has played a major role in the increased popularity of cans in Turkey, where the market saw 11% growth in 2003 alone.