When you step into Canworks printing company, there’s not much to see up front. An office to your right, a boardroom to your left, and a break room straight ahead. It’s out on the warehouse floor where the view gets more panoramic.
There are walls lined with bare aluminum cans that glisten when the sun hits them from the loading dock doors. The whirring of machinery and focused energy from the team is palpable, but Garrett Holmes, head of operations at Canworks, helps the space feel more approachable with his laid-back yet professional demeanor. (Full disclosure: Holmes is also engaged to Chronicle Associate Art Director Lauren Johnson.)
Despite having been up until 6am the day before trying to fix tech issues at Canworks’ Atlanta branch, Holmes has no lack of enthusiasm as he explains their top-of-the-line German printers and Canworks’ “wall of history,” where all the cans the company has ever made are on display.
“My favorite thing is heading home from work, stopping at H-E-B and going to the beer aisle or the beverage aisle and just seeing the amount of cans that have come out of our facility,” Holmes says.
Founded in 2021 by Ryan and Marshall Thompson, Canworks set out to revolutionize the way beverage makers packaged their products. With a focus on sustainability, the brothers opened the doors of their printing company to the Austin community with just five people on the team. Holmes joined in October of that year.
Since then, Canworks has expanded their operation to San Diego and Atlanta. If you’re thinking that this kind of expansion seems fast, you’re not alone. Holmes says it was necessary to sustain all the business they’re getting.
“We’re fully booked out,” Holmes explains. “We’ve got so much business coming in that we’ve had to push lead times.”
Canworks is unique in that they print client logos straight onto the can instead of using a plastic sleeve like many other printing companies. This method of digital printing makes their products fully recyclable.
Canworks is part of 1% for the Planet, an organization that collects 1% of annual sales from members to pour into different environmental initiatives. “We still operate a machine company with waste so it’s our one way to give back a little bit,” Holmes says.
As for their printers? Holmes says they’re just like the ones we use at home, except they’re the size of two Volkswagen Beetles and shipped directly from Germany. As you can imagine, that’s made learning and maintaining the machines pretty interesting.
Holmes says the company now has a whole manual (he calls it their “Bible”) where printer operators can look up error codes to fix the machines in the moment. “It’s a fun business, but it’s a lot of work.”
To make a can, Canworks first needs a logo, which clients design and pass along to the team. From there, it’s time to print. Once the cans are on the machine, all it takes is a push of a button and the printer is off. Holmes said these machines can print about 100 cans per minute. Hot off the presses (literally, they’re warm to the touch), the cans get loaded onto a pallet, wrapped up in cardboard, and sent to the client.
Though it can be stressful, Holmes says this kind of work is exactly what he was missing in his previous jobs as an online publisher and marketing professional. “The best part – and the main reason why I got into this world – is having a physical product at the end of the day,” he said. “Being able to come in here and [hold] that first can [and] see it – it’s such a gratifying feeling.”
This article appears in October 18 • 2024.