Ford has produced more than 5,000 large aluminium unicastings at its Shelbyville Technical Center as it advances manufacturing preparations for the Fathom midsize electric truck, scheduled to launch in 2027. The castings are being used for process testing and prototype assembly at the company's Louisville Assembly Plant. The Fathom will feature two large aluminium unicastings that replace 146 individual structural parts, significantly simplifying the vehicle's architecture. Ford says the approach reduces vehicle mass and improves overall energy efficiency, while introducing a different method of assembling vehicles through its new Universal Production System. The two large structures form the front and rear sections of the vehicle. By consolidating numerous components into fewer castings,...
AMAG Group reported around a 59 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to EUR 181 million (USD 202 million) in the first nine months of 2026, compared with EUR 114 million (USD 127 million) in the same period last year. Revenue rose 16.4 per cent to EUR 1.3 billion (USD 1.4 billion) from EUR 1.1 billion (USD 1.2 billion) in the first three quarters of 2025. Net income after taxes increased about 142 per cent to EUR 82 million (USD 91 million), up from EUR 34 million (USD 38 million). The Austrian aluminium producer attributed its performance to strong operations at its Ranshofen site, higher shipment volumes in the Rolling Division, and attractive market conditions for its Canadian aluminium smelter interest, Alouette. Cost-efficiency...
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In the week earlier, operating rates across major aluminium processors in China climbed 0.2 percentage point on a weekly basis to stand at 77.4 per cent. Orders from automobile, construction, electronics, and packaging sectors improved, while orders at extrusion, wire, and cable producers did not post much significant change. Producers of aluminium plate/sheet, strip, foil, primary, and secondary aluminium alloy are optimistic about demand in September, and therefore, expect to boost operating rates. In the week ago, export orders of aluminium plate/sheet and strips improved slightly, while domestic demand remained as the main driver. Orders for construction plates and PS printing plates improved but can stock increased at a much slower rate in comparison with mid-August. Aluminium foil...
According to a recent report, Shanghai Huafon Aluminium (601712) will start trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange – Main Board from Monday, September 7, at a public offering price of RMB 3.69 per share, to raise RMB 921.13 million. Its initial listing shares will account for 25 per cent of the total outstanding shares. The company’s initial price-to-earnings ratio stands at 22.93. As per the report, Industrial Securities acted as the lead underwriter and sponsor for the IPO. Earlier, Shanghai Huafon Aluminium said its IPO was 1,145 times oversubscribed. From 2019 to date, A-shares IPOs achieved median oversubscription of 2,373 times and the highest at 8,375 times. On the very first day of listing, Huafon’s IPO is expected to hit the limit of 44 per cent increment. For subsequent 30-day...
Hulamin, the Pietermaritzburg-South Africa based Aluminium semi- fabricator has awarded just over R3.2 million worth performance share incentives to its CEO, Company Secretary and a Director of one of its subsidiaries. The drive came in a situation when the small-cap posted a wider annual loss of R1.4 billion in June’20 and staff lay-offs in 2019. Richard Jacob, Hulamin’s long-time CEO has been awarded 932,150 “performance shares” worth just over R2.1 million. Willem Fitchat, Company Secretary has been awarded 195,727 shares worth R446,805, while Marlene Janneker – a Director of Hulamin Operations Proprietary Limited has been awarded shares worth R766,630. All three award recipient has been engaged with the company since the 1990s when it was part of the Tongaat Hulett Group. Hulamin was...
Vitex Extrusion has expanded its aluminium extrusion manufacturing business with the long-term lease of a 50,000-square-foot facility. The new plant, adjacent to its existing 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, will focus on machining, fabrication and assembly of aluminium extrusions. “Over the last few years we’ve made a number of strategic investments in new equipment and technologies to meet the downstream manufacturing needs of our customers. As a result, our existing building could no longer accommodate the “value-added” business growth,” said Andrew Curland, Vitex Extrusion President and CEO. “We’re fortunate this nearby facility became available, allowing us to move our machining and fabrication business into a manufacturing space that will accommodate continued growth.”...
Aluminum Rheinfelden Group Managing Director Erika Zender has appointed Johann-Christian Leye as Managing Director of the Rheinfelden Alloys production division. There was a change in management at the Aluminum Rheinfelden Group and as part of the restructuring and reorganization of the group this new decision has come into force. This was made public by the company on 3 rd September’20. Holding a doctorate in chemistry, 40 years old Johann-Christian Leye ten years ago with family moved from Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Lower Saxony to Rheinfelden. He initially worked at Aluminum Rheinfelden as head of development in the carbon production area, where he then took over management in May’20. In the Alloys production area, around 30,000 tonnes of tailor-made aluminium alloys are produced...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, stocks of 6063 aluminium billet across five major consumption areas in China increased 4,000 tonnes from last week. Higher arrivals at warehouses accounted for the increase in aluminium billet stocks. Aluminium billet inventories now stood at 60,200 tonne as of Thursday, 03 September 2020. Compared to last week, in Wuxi, Changzhou and Huzhou, the billet stocks rose by 390 tonnes, 2,550 tonnes and 2,000 tonnes to stand at 13,010 tonnes, 10,220 tonnes and 9,000 tonne on Thursday, 03 September 2020. But the stocks in Foshan registered a decline of 4,200 tonnes from last Thursday. The stocks now came in at 15,900 tonnes. The inventories of aluminium billets in Nanchang increased from 8,820 tonnes to 12,050 today, marking a growth of 3,230 tonnes. AlCircle...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative announced on Wednesday, September 2, that it successfully certified Chalco Ruimin Co., Ltd. against the Performance Standard certification for responsible production, sourcing, and stewardship of aluminium. As per the report, ASI has certified Chalco Ruimin’s remelting and casting, hot rolling, cold rolling, and finishing operations in Mawei and Fuqing Districts, Fuzhou, China. The facilities, with an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes, produce computer-to-plate (CTP) plates, foil stock, and other aluminium materials for use in the construction, packaging, electronics, and transportation sectors. Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI said, “We congratulate Chalco Ruimin Co., Ltd. on its ASI Performance Standard certification for its re-melting,...
Belgium has a free-enterprise economy, with the majority of the gross domestic product (GDP) generated by the service sector. Despite its small size, Belgium's economy has consistently placed among the top 20 economies of the world and remains strong. The kingdom's exports have given it an account surplus that is the sixth-largest among the highly developed economies of the world. The Western European nation’s import of aluminium pipes/tubes fittings remained volatile during 2017-19, as the import volume recorded was 2270.53 tonnes with the expenditure occurred stood at $22.17 million. The import for 2020 has been analysed at 734.25 tonnes and the expenditure to outreach at $8.82 million. When the import volume and expenditure gets assorted with the preceding three years it stands at...
The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo on 31st August’20 laid the foundation stone for the construction of Foundry and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine Tooling Centre at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in Accra. The factory will manufacture tools, spare parts, bolts and nuts and the likes to support agriculture, the oil and gas industry, road construction and the automotive industry. The centre will also help to develop moulds to improve on the manufacturing of machine parts for automotive and agro-processing implements and facilitate cutting-edge research into foundry technology to provide new materials and processes for Ghanaian foundry industries to remain competitive. It will further manufacture metal cast products, largely aluminium, for both the local and foreign...
BAGR Berliner Aluminiumwerk GmbH, Europe's leading independent secondary aluminium slab producer, has announced on Tuesday, September 1, that it has started a fully-automated continuous casting line to manufacture high-quality rolling ingots in large widths. On commissioning of the new casting line, Mustafa Güngör, Managing Director of BAGR, said: "Our customers have indicated to us that they would like to purchase high-quality rolling ingots in larger dimensions than we have previously been able to produce. Due to the spatial limitations in our foundry, the planning and construction of the new continuous casting line was extremely complex in terms of technology and organisation. We are therefore proud to have successfully implemented this investment together with our partners. This...
Constellium’s facility in Muscle Shoals has received Alabama’s 2020 Large Manufacturer of the Year. The plant, which has an aluminium rolling facility and a beverage can and automotive recycling center, produces aluminium can sheet and Auto Body Sheet substrate. Known as Element 13, recycling facility is one of the largest recyclers of used aluminium cans in the world and has the capacity to recycle the equivalent of 20 billion cans per year. The award, created by the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Network, recognizes the state’s manufacturing enterprises that demonstrate superior performance in customer focus, employee commitment, operating excellence, continuous improvement, profitable growth, and investment in training and retraining employees. “We are proud and...
During the end of 2019, a large production investment of about 600 million kuna has been nominated for the status of a strategic investment project, the door now is wide open for it and the included Croatian experts through its recent inclusion on that very list. Subsequently, in Croatia, among other things, comparatively prompt kick-off of serial production of the first aluminium components for the German BMW is expected. It’s time for Croatian experts on hand to once again show the level of skill that this small country continually produces across all fields. The BMW aluminium components that would be produced in Croatia will majorly function to protect the brakes of the cars. However, at the same time preparations for the new production programme of the Sibenik-based company Impol -...
Impol Group has achieved Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Performance Standard certification for its smelting and casthouse operations in Bistrica, Slovenia. The plant manufactures rolled, extruded and drawn semi-product of aluminium alloys for pharmaceutical, food, transport, construction, aeronautical, aerospace and other sectors. The facility produced nearly 250,000 tonnes of rolling slabs and extrusion billets, sheets, strips, circles, trade plates, plain foils, extruded and drawn rods, tubes and wires, extruded profiles mechanical components and forged parts in 2019. The ASI Certification program is the only comprehensive voluntary sustainability standard initiative for the aluminium value chain. The program was developed through an extensive multi-stakeholder consultation...
Chinese aluminium products company China Zhongwang Holdings Limited has curtailed its European sales operation as a result of the European Union’s anti-dumping investigations and coronavirus-induced economic downturn, said two sources familiar with the matter. Zhongwang, a world leading manufacturer of aluminium extrusions widely used in the transport, construction, and electronics industries, has its European office in Frankfurt. An unnamed source at the company told Reuters on Monday, August 31, "We do not know if we are closing in Frankfurt yet, but we are going through a restructuring with some people leaving." The company in March had unveiled its plans to outgrow its aluminium extrusions business via a listing in Shanghai. But a few months later, it told Reuters that its Europe...
Italy’s exports of aluminium semi-finished products (plates, sheets, bars, etc.) to the US stood at 1,230 tonnes in May 2020, with a year-on-year decrease of 58% from 2,950 tonnes in May 2019, according to the latest Mineral Industry Survey report from the US Geological Survey. Aluminium semi-finished exports dropped by 31% from April’s export volume of 1,780 tonnes. In the first five months of 2020, exports of semi-finished to the US dropped 61% from the same period a year earlier. Exports stood at 6,590 tonnes in January-May as compared to 16,700 tonnes in May 2019. Italy exported 7,250 tonnes of total aluminium including scrap to the US in the first five months of 2020, from 17,500 tonnes in the first five months of 2019. This marks a decrease of 58.57% year-on-year. In May, exports...
China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, a world-leading fabricated aluminium products developer and manufacturer, has announced its unaudited interim results for the first half of 2020 ended on June 30. The company’s total sales volume during the period stood approximately at 351,637 tonnes, with revenue amounting to RMB 8.66 billion (approx.). Profit was around RMB 530 million, while earnings per share RMB 0.07. Mr. Lu Changqing, Chairman and President of China Zhongwang, said, "Major breakthroughs will be seen in the application of aluminium alloy products in areas that are significantly beneficial to the society as new infrastructure construction (the "new infrastructure") is being carried out gradually in the relevant fields, coupled with the acceleration of the industrialisation of...
As part of improving efficiency and adapting Gränges Europe’s operations to current market situations, a decision has been made on organizational changes in the Swedish operations. The new organization aims to strengthen Gränges Europe’s customer offer and long-term competitiveness. As a part of the reorganization, lay-offs will be done. Gränges Europe on 26 th August’20 declared notices of redundancy in the operations, which will affect 75 staffs in total. Jörgen Abrahamsson, President Gränges Europe, said: “We are constantly working to improve efficiency and develop Gränges Europe’s operations. We are now implementing an organizational change to further adapt the operations to current market conditions, broaden our sustainable product offer, improve efficiency and implement competence...
PT Indal Aluminum Industry Tbk. (INAI), an aluminium extrusion producer has stated that this year it will expand the supporting product segment and continue to count on a more potential export market. Alim Prakasa, Executive Managing Director, INAI, said: “In running the aluminium industry, the company is managing its business strategy quite carefully because unexpected situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in several countries falling into recession.” On 27 th August’20, he said: "This condition also makes INAI revise its capacity expansion strategy plan, but we will still rejuvenate and add capacity with a period according to market needs.” Previously the Managing Director commented that the company had a premium product with the Homelux brand. According to the plan,...
