AS THE AVERAGE GAGE AND NET WEIGHTS OF ALUMINUM BEVERAGE CANS HAVE BEEN REDUCED OVER THE YEARS, THE CHALLENGES IN DESIGNING BEVERAGE CANS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT. ONE SUCH CHALLENGE INCLUDES DEMONSTRATING A DROP PERFORMANCE UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED BY THE INDUSTRY. THIS CHALLENGE HAS LED TO INCREASED TESTING FOR DROP PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS BY CAN MAKERS AND FILLERS IN THE U.S.A. AND INTERNATIONALLY. HISTORICALLY, IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE BY SUCH TECHNIQUES AS TIGHTENING SPHERICAL RADII AND INCREASING DOME DEPTHS. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS APPROACH HAS TYPICALLY DECREASED DOME REVERSAL PERFORMANCE. THROUGH THE PROCESS OF FINITE ELEMENT MODELING AND PERFORMANCE TESTING, A BALANCED DESIGN TECHNIQUE WAS GENERATED THAT HELPS MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE IN BOTH AREAS. THIS PAPER ALSO DESCRIBES A CORRELATION OF COMPUTER SIMULATED DROP RESISTANCE VALUES TO EXPERIMENTAL DATA WHICH WAS GENERATE