Finn-Korkki Oy History

HISTORY OF PULL OFF BOTTLE CAPS

The history of Finn-Korkki Oy´s business activities start in 1871. At this time our business was, like it is today, the manufacturing of bottle closures. Our first products were cork stoppers.

August Wicander founder of Wicanders that in time manufactured RingCrown and Maxi crown ring pull caps

August Wicander, 1836-1891, pictured, became a well known industrialist in the last half of the 19th century. His business interests ranged from cork to being the owner of a shipping line and spread over many countries in Europe and beyond.

August Wicander´s son, Hjalmar Wicander, 1860-1939, and his grandson Carl August Wicander, born 1885, continued the family industrial traditions over three generations.

Wicander Manufactured Cork Bottle Closures

In 1871 August Wicander founded Åbu Korkfabrik, to manufacture bottle closures from cork, in Turku, Finland. The picture shows the Ab Wicander & Larsson factory, built 1893, in Turku.

Over the next 60 years factories, offices and warehouses were opened across Europe and Russia. Cork plantations and a competitor were brought in Portugal. The Russian and polish companies were nationalised in 1917 and in 1945 respectively

ALKA ripcap bottle closures

During the 1930´s Wicander´s developed and began production of the aluminium bottle cap "ALKA". This was a tear off bottle cap, often called a ripcap, with a cork seal. The bottles in the picture are sealed with "ALKA" ripcap bottle closures.

At this time August Wicanders Korkfabriker (AWK) operated four factories in Finland these were Wicander & Larsson, Plyyshi & Matto Ab, Turun Korkkitehdas and Drumsö Korkfabrik.

These factories were closed down during the 1960´s when business was transferred to Oy Wicanders Ab. Whose main business became the marketing of cork flooring and cork bottle closures.

MaxiCap Bottle Closure Manufacturer

What followed was a period of innovation with the development of the first pre-manufactured "easy to open by hand" bottle caps in the 1970´s.

This ripcap bottle closure, known as the "MaxiCap", was made out of aluminium, in one piece, with a plastic compound inner layer. Score lines pressed into the bottle cap during manufacture made these ripcap bottle closures "easy-open". In the picture you can see the ribbed opening tag that also helped make the "MaxiCap" an easy-open bottle cap.

Wicanders opened the Finn-Korkki factory in Hämeenlinna in 1979 to manufacture the "MaxiCap" ripcap bottle closure and traditional crown cork bottle closures.

RingCrown -The Ring Pull Cap

Finn-Korkki Wicanders developed RingCrown - The Ring Pull Cap - bottle closure, then called MaxiCrown, in the early 1980´s. The two part design of this all steel ring pull bottle closure gives the most efficient use of raw materials so minimising waste and reducing costs during production.

Manufacturing of RingCrown - The Ring Pull Cap - started at Finn-Korkki in 1984. In January of 1989 Finn-Korkki Oy became an independent company after a management buy out from Wicanders. In that same year Wicanders went into liquidation then bankruptcy.

The new owner managers began production of candle cups in 1989 and candle covers in 1992. Customer service became more flexible with the purchase, in 1998, of Hämeenlinnan Grafipalvelu Oy giving the advantages of an in-house pre-press service.

Finn-Korkki Oy´s desire and ability to innovate lead to the creation and production, in 2000, of the Absolut Vodka bottle closure.

RingCrown became, in 2001, the registered brand name for Finn-Korkki´s ring pull cap.