Beverage Packaging

Every fill. Every format. Sealed with certainty.

Aggressive fills, carbonation, lighter PET, cleaner labels. A century of closure engineering means we have solved it before, and we build the equipment that seals it at speed.

Talk to a packaging specialist Find your fill

Spirits & aggressive fills Carbonated & pressurised Single-serve & lightweight Clean-label & shelf life Pods & deep draw

Mimosa Lanchinho Booom Bolacha yoghurt drink bottle with foil closure

Mimosa Lanchinho Booom Tutti-fruti yoghurt drink bottle with foil closure

Mimosa Lanchinho Booom Banana e Morango yoghurt drink bottle with foil closure

Mimosa Lanchinho Booom Morango yoghurt drink bottle with foil closure

Industry overview

A growing market that no longer forgives a weak seal.

Consumers want cleaner ingredients, less packaging and formats that travel. Manufacturers need less waste, longer shelf life and lines that adapt. Packaging teams have to deliver reliable sealing that satisfies regulation, sustainability and brand experience at once.

Global beverage packaging market

$203.3bn

5.8%

CAGR, 2024 to 2029

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

Source: The Business Research Company, Beverage Packaging Global Market Report 2025. Forecast from $152.6bn (2024) to $203.3bn (2029).

72%

of consumers say packaging design often influences what they buy.

Ipsos for the Paper and Packaging Board, US consumers, 2018

67%

say the packaging material itself influences their choice.

Ipsos for the Paper and Packaging Board, US consumers, 2018

Sustainability

The standard, not the extra.

Lightweighting, mono-materials and recyclable formats are now expected. Aluminium, pulp and recyclable systems are fast replacing multi-layer plastics.

Protection

Performance meets protection.

Corrosion-resistant liners for spirits, pressure-ready seals for carbonated drinks, and cleaner recipes with fewer additives to protect.

Lines

Versatile, intelligent lines.

Glass shakers, aluminium cans, pulp cartons, pouches and PET. Lines must be flexible, scalable and connected to keep up.

Experience

Experience-first packaging.

Look and feel shape perception, and smart features like QR codes turn every pack into a channel for engagement and discovery.

Packaging challenges

Solving the complex chemistry of beverage packaging.

Every fill has its own chemical profile, pressure behaviour and material interaction. Minor flaws lead to leakage, flavour drift, microbiological risk or rejection. Pick your drink to see how we design the problem out.

Aggressive fills

The challenge

Alcohol formulations, sugar-rich liquids, high-electrolyte drinks and many dairy products contain compounds that are naturally aggressive to sealing layers and closure liners.

FORDS' solution

We evaluate foil constructions from global suppliers to find the right one for your fill, container material, puncture resistance and consumer. That might be an existing material, or one we formulate with the supplier especially for you.

Liner chemistry Foil selection Supplier co-development

A line-up of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in cans and bottles

Carbonated and pressurised drinks

The challenge

Carbonation exerts continuous internal pressure, and transport and temperature swings make it worse. That creates a unique set of mechanical challenges for the seal.

FORDS' solution

Our cap geometry expertise lets us design in the recesses needed to cope with pressure, eliminating doming, which puts consumers off, and self-peeling, which makes the product unfit to drink. We also work with your container maker on neck profiles that give a better, larger sealing surface.

Cap geometry Anti-doming Neck profile design

Single-serve and lightweighting

The challenge

Lighter packs cut material, improve sustainability credentials and lower logistics costs. But as packs get lighter, they get more sensitive to force and heat.

FORDS' solution

Calibrated induction sealing controls energy delivery precisely instead of relying on mechanical pressure, so we apply lower top force and keep seal strength. With advanced container handling, you can remove neck threads and still achieve a hermetic seal.

Low top force Induction sealing Thread-free necks

Clear PET bottle beside its foil disc and a screwcap

Clean-label formulations

The challenge

Consumers are scrutinising ingredient lists like never before. Fewer preservatives and additives put more pressure on the packaging to protect what is inside.

FORDS' solution

Precision hermetic sealing and barrier performance mean product protection relies less on chemistry. When the seal performs exactly as intended, it enables cleaner formulations, longer shelf stability and a stronger premium story.

Hermetic sealing Barrier performance Shelf-life testing

Three amber glass bottles with FORDS foil closures

Pods and deep draw formats

The challenge

Coffee pods, cocktail pods and mix-at-home formats demand stronger shapes, cleaner lines and distinctive profiles, and they have to survive storage, heat and pressure.

FORDS' solution

Our Deep Draw capability, built on decades of aluminium expertise, creates geometries previously out of reach: deeper draws, sharper angles and brand-led forms. Paired with specialist sealing, we optimise structural integrity, barrier performance and shelf stability.

Deep Draw aluminium Brand-led forms Barrier integrity

Gatorade Gx Pods with foil-sealed tops beside their carton

Sleep Shot bottle with a purple foil closure, held between two hands

The opening experience

The first sip should never start with a struggle.

A seal doesn't just protect your product. It shapes the moment your consumer first touches it, at a desk, in the car, at the gym. No stubborn liners, no torn fragments, no sticky residue on the rim.

The tab lifts cleanly.

The foil peels away in one smooth motion.

The opening is left clear and tidy.

We calibrate the opening with you, balancing seal security against the ease and feel your consumers expect.

Design without limits

Your closure is the most-touched surface on the pack.

From shelf impact to the moment of opening, we help brands use closures as a design and brand tool that looks different, feels premium and performs at scale.

Embossed foil reading Sealed for your protection

Print. Emboss. Stand apart.

Synchroprint registers artwork precisely, while embossing and debossing add depth and tactility without compromising seal integrity. Matte, gloss and metallic finishes separate SKUs and premium tiers.

MaxiMix cup with a square printed foil lid

Seal any geometry.

Non-round and irregular profiles, slimline and contoured bottles, and lightweight designs with a reduced sealing surface, all with consistent, reliable seal performance.

Black foil cap printed with a Scan me QR code

From cap to click.

QR codes on foil caps for promotions, traceability and storytelling. Campaign-specific digital journeys without redesigning the pack, validated for print quality and scannability.

Yoplait Save Lids to Save Lives pink lid

Limited edition. Unlimited impact.

Short-run and seasonal cap designs for events and partnerships. Campaign-led branding without altering the core format, and rapid changeovers with minimal impact on line efficiency.

White fibre bottle with a brown foil closure and pull tab beneath a lifted cap

Tabs that do more than open.

Alternative tab styles for usability and ergonomics, and peel features tailored to your target consumers. Accessibility, aesthetics and performance developed together.

From lab to line

Proven in the lab before you invest in the line.

Every project starts with a tailored development programme from our Futurology team, not a stock spec and an order form. Then the equipment carries your validated seal into full production, with no surprises.

Develop

Produce

Develop · Futurology

Material and liner trials

We evaluate foil laminates, heatseal layers and barrier structures against your product chemistry and container profile to find the combination that delivers dependable performance.

Container and closure design assessment

Foil laminate and liner selection

Container strength versus performance

Develop · Futurology

Seal parameter mapping

Fine-tuning top force, heat, dwell time and alignment so every seal forms cleanly and performs consistently on your substrate and line.

Top force and tolerance assessment

Peel force analysis

Cap and tab options for performance

Develop · Futurology

Stress and lifecycle testing

We simulate pressure changes, thermal shifts, transport movement and extended shelf-life conditioning to see how a seal behaves well beyond the filling line.

Seal burst and integrity testing

Shelf-life testing

E-commerce and ISTA test preparation

Produce · Lab & Lower Volume Tech

Samples and pilot runs, in-house

Bench-scale sealing produces commercial-grade samples for consumer trials, shelf-life work and early low-volume production, swiftly and cost-effectively.

Technical proof of concept

Client samples and prototypes

Knowledge Case compatible tooling

Produce · Foil Closure Tech

Make the caps at speed

Presses make foil caps from reel foil and feed them into your line, with multi-tool operation, format flexibility, rapid changeovers and smart diagnostics.

Up to four cap sizes at once

Serviceable while running

Equipment scoped to your line

Produce · Sealing Systems

Seal at production speed

From linear systems for compact lines to high-speed rotary sealers and monobloc-integrated turrets, each system is built to hold seal integrity at speed.

Induction or conduction sealing

Servo-driven height adjustment

CIP and aseptic compatible options

FORDS engineers running trials on a LabEQ lab sealer

LabEQ-X Bench-scale sealer with safety guarding

Hermes H2 Up to 1,500 cpm · two independent tool units

Rotary Sealer Up to 750 containers/min

Built for what the next five years will ask of your pack.

Smarter automation and predictive control

Enhanced diagnostics, servo-driven adjustment and predictive maintenance that hold seal consistency, reduce downtime and lift overall equipment efficiency.

Regulation, compliance and futureproofing

With pressure building around PFAS, recyclability and lightweighting, our R&D focuses on safer chemistries, compliant materials and closures aligned with emerging global standards.

New materials and sustainable formats

Pulp bottles, recyclable fibres and lower-plastic structures. We work with material innovators to adapt sealing layers and thermal profiles so they match traditional formats.

Brochure page: Turning concept into commercial reality

Brochure page: The new era of beverage packaging, industry overview

Front cover of the FORDS Beverage Packaging Complete Guide

Hover to preview · click to download

The complete guide

The Beverage Packaging Complete Guide.

Everything on this page and more in one guide to share with your team: the market, the technical challenges, design options and the equipment that takes a closure into production.

01 The market, and what is driving itGrowth forecasts and the four forces reshaping the sector

02 Challenges solvedAggressive fills, carbonation, lightweighting and the opening

03 From concept to commercialOur development process and the equipment behind it

Download the guide

Why work with FORDS

Talk to us about your beverage packaging goals.

For over a century we have helped beverage brands turn complex packaging challenges into reliable, scalable solutions. Whether you are developing a new format, optimising an existing pack or exploring equipment, start with a conversation.

Development-led Every project begins with testing, insight and data.

End-to-end From packaging development to commercial equipment and aftercare.

Future-ready Deep Draw, smart systems, new materials and sustainable formats.

Precision-engineered Closures and systems built to protect product and experience.

Partner-first Guiding and advising you at every step of the journey.

Carms Grassi

Head of Customer Experience

Emailcarms.grassi@fordsps.com Phone+44 (0)1234 846 600

Talk to Carms