Constellium-UACJ joint venture to start mid-2016

The $150 million Constellium/UACJ Corp. joint venture under construction at the 4,000-acre Kentucky Transpark is 80 percent complete and on schedule, said Markus Wild, chief executive officer.

The first 300-meter-long production line at the 225,000-square foot aluminum facility should be operational by mid-2016, Wild told the Daily News on Friday. Employment at the site is currently about 40 workers, and that number is expected to increase to 80 at full production. There could be 70 employees within several months. The number of employees could expand even more if a second line locates here.

Constellium, a Netherlands company that is partnering with Japanese aluminum company UACJ, is looking to establish a second production line in the United States. That expansion has a good chance of coming to Warren County.

“From the beginning, the project has been designed for expansion,” said Wild, who is based in Warren County. “In the coming months, the company must make a decision.” The Warren County plant will produce 100,000 tons of aluminum products a year.

The market is there for a bright future, Wild said. The domestic market for aluminum body sheet for light-weight vehicles is now 500 kilotons per year and is expected to grow to 1,200 kilotons by 2020. Constellium/UACJ wants to have the second production line operational by then in the United States. The other option for that second production line could be the Constellium plant in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

The Warren County plant will produce finished aluminum body sheets for cars and trucks, benefiting from tightened U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations for lighter-weight, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Aluminum is 30 percent lighter than steel, and that, along with all the secondary production savings of using the lighter material, plays into a projected growth market.

The material used in Warren County at the Kentucky Transpark comes from Tri-Arrows Aluminum Logan County rolling mill, located at Logan Aluminum Inc. in Russellville. Tri-Arrows is headquartered in Louisville. The arrangement has been beneficial to all parties, Wild said.

Wild said when the joint venture began looking at Kentucky, the quality of the workforce and the proximity to the supplier were key in the decision.