3. Business Segment Information  Balls operations are organized and reviewed by management along its product lines and geographical areas and presented in the four reportable segments outlined below. Effective January 1, 2020, the company implemented changes to its management and internal reporting structure for cost reduction and operational efficiency purposes. As a result of these changes, the companys plants in Cairo, Egypt, and Manisa, Turkey, are now included in the beverage packaging, Europe, Middle East and Africa (beverage packaging, EMEA), segment. The companys operations in India and Saudi Arabia are now combined with the former non-reportable beverage packaging, Asia Pacific, operating segment as a new non-reportable beverage packaging, other, operating segment. The companys segment results and disclosures for the three months ended March 31, 2019, have been retrospectively adjusted to conform to the current year presentation.  Beverage packaging, North and Central America : Consists of operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout those countries.  Beverage packaging, EMEA : Consists of operations in numerous countries throughout Europe, including Russia, as well as Egypt and Turkey, that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout those regions.  Beverage packaging, South America : Consists of operations in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile that manufacture and sell metal beverage containers throughout most of South America.  Aerospace : Consists of operations that manufacture and sell aerospace and other related products and provide services used in the defense, civil space and commercial space industries.  As presented in the table below, Other consists of a non-reportable operating segment (beverage packaging, other), that manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers in India, Saudi Arabia and throughout the Asia Pacific region; a non-reportable operating segment that manufactures and sells extruded aluminum aerosol containers and aluminum slugs (aerosol packaging); a non-reportable operating segment that manufactures and sells aluminum cups (aluminum cups); undistributed corporate expenses; intercompany eliminations and other business activities.  The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those in the companys consolidated financial statements as discussed in Note 1. The company also has investments in operations in Guatemala, Panama, South Korea, the U.S. and Vietnam that are accounted for under the equity method of accounting and, accordingly, those results are not included in segment sales or earnings.  Summary of Business by Segment           Three Months Ended March 31, ($ in millions) 2020 2019        Net sales       Beverage packaging, North and Central America  $ 1,181  $ 1,131 Beverage packaging, EMEA   669   684 Beverage packaging, South America   405   441 Aerospace   432   328 Reportable segment sales   2,687   2,584 Other   98   201 Net sales  $ 2,785  $ 2,785        Comparable operating earnings       Beverage packaging, North and Central America  $ 146  $ 118 Beverage packaging, EMEA   68   74 Beverage packaging, South America   63   68 Aerospace   40   30 Reportable segment comparable operating earnings   317   290 Reconciling items       Other (a)   (10)   (15) Business consolidation and other activities   (115)   (14) Amortization of acquired Rexam intangibles   (37)   (40) Earnings before interest and taxes   155   221 Interest expense   (71)   (77) Debt refinancing and other costs   (40)   (4) Total interest expense   (111)   (81) Earnings before taxes  $ 44  $ 140 (a) Includes undistributed corporate expenses, net, of $14 million and $23 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.  The company does not disclose total assets by segment as it is not provided to the chief operating decision maker.