KALAMAZOO, MI – Andrew McLean wants to provide small-scale breweries with more business options to ensure the state continues to become a "mecca for microbrewers."

McLean, a Kalamazoo resident and Western Michigan University graduate, and his partner Scott Richards, of Traverse City, are launching Michigan Mobile Canning, the state's first mobile canning line.

A 16-foot box truck, loaded with custom-made, sleeve-wrap labeled cans and a Wild Goose Canning Technologies MC-250 modified system designed to can beers, will arrive when a brewery is ready to distribute beer, fill the cans under the brewer's direct supervision and then leave.

The founders have invested more than $160,000 to replicate a concept seeing success in Colorado's Mobile Canning System, whose founders developed the new packaging solution in 2011 and decided to share their business model through an affiliate program in 2012.

The canning line will be able fill 2 to 2.5 million cans a year, or somewhere between 7,500 to 8,500 barrels. The box truck will also be used to transport pallets of sleeved cans, ends and holders.

"Unless a brewer wants to go big, we can help guys minimize upfront costs. We made the upfront investment so they don't have to," said McLean, a 29-year-old craft beer aficionado who writes about beer for the Michigan Beer Guide and Mittenbrew.com. "There are two things we can help small breweries who have never packaged before do: We can help package for the first time, and we can help them get into the retail setting. We will be quick enough that they can go state-wide pretty quickly with us."

MMC's first client will be Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, and there are 5 to 10 more clients lined up for the summer. The pricing will be pay-as-you go for interested brewers.

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McLean and Richards, 41, had both been separately inquiring about bringing a mobile canning line to Michigan and decided to join forces in December 2012. Richards has a background in beer distribution and sales.

Their first truck will be on the road in Michigan by June and they hope to expand to two trucks by 2014. McLean said they do not plan on making additional hires just yet.

“Michigan craft beer is what’s important to me,” McLean said. “I love the local movement and seeing the beer being made and with this we can go back, try it and see the people who made it. We believe in craft beer so much that we are going to build our lives around it. If we didn’t think they had a product more people wanted to try, there’d be no reason to do this.”

His favorite part about the new business venture is simply the prospect of more craft beer, he said.

Many breweries do not have the resources needed for peak production, but he thinks a mobile canning line could help by giving small breweries the option to save money by not having to invest in their own system, employees and logistics, he said.

“We can stop by in the meantime and, say, empty that tank into the cans. You make more beer and you can make more money," he said. “You can have beers sitting on the shelves instead of in the tank, doing nothing.”

Canning vs. bottling



McLean said making a mobile canning line as opposed to a bottling line was a well-research decision. The mobile line comes during what the canning companies are calling "the canned beer revolution."

“So many big craft brewers have been canning, like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues, who were the first” he said. “People are becoming more sophisticated about the benefits of cans. There’s less packaging weight, it stacks better so you can fit more. The more I looked into, every step of the way it’s beneficial.”

Bell's Brewery Inc. is installing its first canning line at its expanded Comstock facility this year. Oberon and Two Hearted could be sold in cans as soon as next year.

Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids announced cans of All Day IPA 12-packs will be available this summer. The brewery, which is in the middle of a $26 million expansion, recently added a Krones canning line to its operation.

Expanding

McLean says the new mobile canning line is being designed to serve breweries across the state of Michigan, but they hope to eventually branch out to other territories and other industries.

“Any beverage works,” he said. “There’s wine, tea, coffees, ciders and smoothies. We are starting with beer because it’s our love and that’s what we know. I don’t think we’ve wrapped out head around all we can do for small Michigan businesses.”

For more information about the Michigan Mobile Canning, visit

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Contact Ursula Zerilli at uzerilli@mlive.com or 269-254-5295. Follow her on twitter.