From its complex manufacturing process to its innovative two-stage opening mechanism, the humble aluminium can is a groundbreaking innovation.

Real innovators look at the world around them with an ongoing sense of curiosity as to how things work.

How they are created.

And how they can be improved.

In the excellent video above, Bill “Engineerguy” Hammack takes us through not only the manufacturing process of how one of the roughly 500 billion (!) aluminium cans is made, but also the design thinking and evolution which resulted in the cans we see today.

I was particularly fascinated by the insights about how pulling on the tab actually works in two stages, switching between two physical methods. Simple design decisions like this go unnoticed for much of our lives.

It’s so good, I’ll even forgive Bill for using the incorrect American spelling of Aluminium.

Did you learn something new from this video? Don’t forget to share, and let us know in the comments below.

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Nick Skillicorn

Chief Editor, Founder & CEO at Improvides Innovation Consulting
Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Author / TEDx Speaker / Voted as the world's #5 Innovation blogger in 2016, I help individuals and companies build their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you can develop the next breakthrough idea which customers love.