Tom,
During college I worked at the Coca-Cola canning plant in College Park, GA for a short time. The same scene took place in the canning operation as in the bottling operation. The open cans were sanitized, filled, and capped; then strapped into 6-packs and sealed in cardboard boxes (4 packs to a box). I ran the drop-loader, which was the machine that basically built the box around four six-packs. The cans had to cool sufficiently after the canning process, before being boxed or they would explode. Those exploding cans were my dreaded enemy. Usually if a can popped or exploded, I had to shut down the entire line until the mess was cleared. It wasn't hard work, but it could be nerve-wracking.
I worked the second shift for about 6 weeks, at which time management decided to eliminate the second shift. After that I worked in the warehouse the rest of the summer, salvaging boxes with damaged 6-packs.
lawrence