Crown has a long history of leading the industry with innovative packaging technology. From the time our founder William Painter invented the bottle cap to the ground-breaking SuperEnd? beverage ends to today's cutting edge shaping technology, Crown has led the way. Timeline We owe our success to a legacy of leadership and invention that began in 1892 when our founder, William Painter, invented a better way to package soft drinks and beer. Painter's vision revolutionized the bottling industry. His ingenuity, and the leadership of those who came after him, helped to build Crown Holdings, Inc. into the world-class company it is today. Today, Crown Holdings, Inc. manufactures packaging products from 139 plants located in 41 countries. In over 100 years of growth and diversification, we have never lost sight of our core business: continuously improving the quality of our packaging products, while keeping costs as low as possible.