Alcoa Warrick operations marks 60-year milestone, a pioneer in the aluminium food and beverage container market

Alcoa Warrick operations has passed 60-year milestone, undergoing a series of constant growth and evolution. Facilities have been added and modified over the years, while thousands of employees have come and gone. Three generations, going on four, have benefitted from Warrick operations’ presence in the community.

In the last six decades, the US integrated aluminium facility has churned over 28 billion pounds of metal. It began on June 9, 1960, with the first molten metal siphoned from pot No. 7, trucked over to a new ingot plant and poured into moulds.

Warrick Operations, consisting of a smelter, rolling mill, and power plant, is North America’s largest producer of coated container sheet for the food and beverage industry.

“Our metal has helped and continues to help provide food and beverages to billions of people,” said Evan Quinley, Warrick Operations Manager. “It’s been used at family gatherings, community events, Little League games and camping trips. ​I doubt there are many people alive in North America today who have not sipped a drink or opened a food can that was produced by the men and women at our facility.”

Alcoa officially made the first announcement of setting up a vertically integrated production facility in Southwest Indiana on April 17, 1956. The aim was to emerge as a pioneer in the aluminium food and beverage container market. Southern Indiana was chosen for the facility because of its rich and vast natural resources, easy and abundant availability of coal, navigable river, and skilled people.

The facility initially employed 1,200 employees, and its first shipment was a load of 700-pound of so-called pig ingots for Alcoa’s mill in Lafayette, IN. The next delivery was for the plant’s first real customer, General Motors (GM) in Bedford, IN.

Today, Warrick Operations boasts for having a talented and diverse team of more than 1,800 employees, including two labour unions - the United Steelworkers Local 104 (Smelting and Rolling Mill) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 702 (Warrick Power Plant).

It is the top taxpayer and the second largest corporate employer in Warrick County, with an annual payroll of more than $150 million for the entire site.

“We are modernizing and modifying our operations for the future,” Quinley said. “We are working to preserve the knowledge we have gained from our experience, building a foundation for the next generation of Warrick Alcoans.”