Beyond aluminium smelting capacity, we propose to incentivise emissions cuts to support wider decarbonisation: Ed Boyd, Mission Possible Partnership
As the European Council seeks political alignment on the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the debate over how to accelerate aluminium decarbonisation in bringing emissions accounting and demand for low-carbon metal into focus. Against the backdrop of Mission Possible Partnership’s (MPP) open letter, AL Circle speaks with Ed Boyd, MPP’s Global Policy Lead, about the policies needed to support the European aluminium industry’s transition. Boyd argues that effective decarbonisation must account for emissions from alumina refining and track Scope 2 emissions associated with purchased electricity. On mandatory green procurement and lead-market thresholds of at least 50 per cent for aluminium, he says producers are ready to supply low-carbon metal at scale and considers the proposed threshold...
EU-India FTA, CBAM and carbon costs: Can Indian aluminium crack the European market?
A former Deputy Secretary General of the European Parliament and Director of the EPP Group, Paolo Licandro, has extensive experience in European policymaking, international relations, industry, energy and EU affairs. He is currently the Founder and CEO of eEuropa Belgium and Editor of eEuropa.Blog. He has worked with European prime ministers, ministers and EU commissioners and has held senior roles covering EU enlargement, Mediterranean and Middle East relations, and industry, research and energy. A nuclear engineer, he holds a master’s degree from Politecnico di Milano and has worked with ENI, ARS-Pragma and the EU Joint Research Centre. In this interview, Paolo Licandro shares his perspective on EU–India aluminium trade, CBAM and the opportunities for Indian producers in Europe. AL...
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“The benefits of automation are multi-faceted in this industry. Our fully automatic systems allow for the entire process to be carried out with minimal human contact”, Christian Ferman, Senior Electrical Engineer and Project Manager, Granco Clark.
Christian Ferman is a Senior Electrical Engineer and Project Manager with 11 years’ experience in the design of control systems, embedded systems and safety systems for Granco Clark. A graduate from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Christian is also a certified Safety Engineer with a CMSE accreditation. AlCircle: How Industry 4.0 has changed the dynamics of the aluminium extrusion industry? Christian Ferman: Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing the industry for personnel at every level of the process. Maintenance staff can now take advantage of predictive analytics that uses sensor and process data. This allows Granco Clark equipment to notify them of potential process or equipment failures before they happen. Production engineers...
“For an extrusion company, on-time decisions facilitated by Industry 4.0 would run the manufacturing processes very smoothly increasing the efficiency”, Pramuk Dediwela, Managing Director of Alumex PLC.
Mr. Pramuk Dediwela started his career in January 1989 and has over 32 years of experience in the fields of Marketing and Sales, Material and Logistics, Finance, Manufacturing and Administration as well as Human Resources management under Alumex Group. He joined Alumex PLC and its subsidiaries in December 2010 as an Executive Director. Later on, in November 2017, he became the Chief Operating Officer and then became the Managing Director in July 2018. Mr. Dediwela is a Marketer cum Financial Economist and holds a Master in Financial Economics (University of Colombo), Master of Business Administration (University of Southern Queensland), Post-Graduate Diploma in Business and Financial Administration (CA Sri Lanka/Cranfield - UK), Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (Chartered Institute of...
For a sustainable world, a linear economy is no more desirable but needs to evolve into a circular green one, as per Circular Aluminium Action Plan and Green Deal 2050, Fabrizio Ciampoli, CEO, Ciampoli Consulting
AlCircle: Can you give us your view of the actual status of the Aluminium market in the EU? Mr Fabrizio Ciampoli: After 2020 with a lockdown due to Covid19 we are finally seeing a global recovery: this is definitely a positive trend but, as a downside, prices of raw materials are at their highest, including AL. Together with LME and high premium EU is living an increase of packaging and transport costs which are seriously worrying European and Italian producers, in particular, being our country specialized in transformation and constructions. This situation is also a consequence of China recovery (Pil up to 18.5% Q1-2021) and the USA economy in fast growth thanks to hedge funds. In Europe, there is a lack of primary AL and particularly automakers are struggling to find enough aluminium....
A brief interview with Enrico Zampedri, CEO of Metra, the Italian company world leader in aluminium extrusion
The Italian company Metra , the world leader in aluminium extrusion, today belongs to the American fund KPS Capital Partners specializing in investments in the industrial sector, including in aluminium, and is also known for its acquisition of the rolling mills of the Norwegian company Hydro. After sixty years Metra thus enters an international dynamic, as happened to its greatest partner: Permasteelisa. Metra is a prominent consumer of aluminium in Italy together with the Cromodora group (which produces wheels for automotive), Metra has written the history of downstream applications of light metal in Europe. The company has been a constellation for decades, a premier technology hub, with four factories in Europe and an industrial branch in Canada. Its expansion is the result of the...
“Environment and sustainability are an important part of our philosophy at Lofoten Arctic Water and we are constantly working to get better and help in the fight against pollution”, Mats Nevelius, Senior VP Sales and Marketing at Lofoten Arctic Water AS - Oslo, Norway
Mats Nevelius has a 20 (plus) years’ of working experience as Sales and Marketing professional in multiple companies across the Nordics and European region. Lofoten Arctic Water is the result of a love for the Lofoten Islands arctic outdoors, clean pure air, water and majestic mountains. Lofoten Arctic Water is a unique product of this landscape; it collects in a natural valley and is constantly renewed by nature, with no need for filtering or distillation. AlCircle: Could you please brief us about your journey towards offering your customers water in aluminium bottles? Mr Mats Nevelius: We started the search for the best solution for a smaller sized bottle that must be resealable, light weighted and possible to recycle over and over again. Situated at the ocean we know how important the...
“At Alcoa, we innovate. We are recognized leader in sustainable practices across all three of our segments, and we’re defining what it means to be a sustainable aluminium company”, Rosa M. García Piñeiro, Vice-President - Alcoa Sustainability, President - Alcoa Foundation
Rosa M. Piñeiro García is Global Sustainability Vice-president for Alcoa and President of the Alcoa Foundation. Previously, she served as President of Alcoa Spain. During her 21 years in the company, she also served as Director of Regional Affairs and Sustainability for Europe and as Director Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) for the European Region and the Primary Products business in Europe. Rosa joined Alcoa in 1999 to work as an Environmental Engineer for the San Ciprian Smelter and Refinery in Spain. In 2001, she moved to the Corporate EHS Audit Department, working with the North American and European Audit Teams first in Pittsburgh and then in Madrid. In 2003, she moved back to San Ciprian to take over the Environmental Department as Environmental Manager for the Smelter and the...
“Low carbon aluminium is produced with clean and renewable energy. Aluminium production being energy-intensive, a lot of electricity is needed and the energy source is the critical factor”, Denis Mazerolle, President, Nature Alu
Denis Mazerolle graduated from Laval University (Canada) in Metallurgy Engineering and had a 32 years career at Alcan and later at Rio Tinto. He had the opportunity to work in the technical, management, and commercial domains. In 2016 he founded NATURE ALU with other partners, a new company producing high-purity aluminium in Saguenay (Canada). AlCircle: Being the leading high-purity aluminium producer with a low carbon footprint, how do you think the uses of these products can contribute to reducing global emissions? Mr Denis Mazerolle : High-purity aluminium represents only a tiny portion of aluminium global production (less than 0,3%). Although it is not crucial in terms of volume, the type of products produced with high–purity aluminium is often required in energy storage and the...
“Economic disruptions caused by the pandemic have been felt by all. Continued production of low carbon aluminium can alleviate disruptions in downstream markets through security of supply, especially as the material can be applied to key industry sectors including transportation, construction, packaging, renewable energy technology and more”, James Herbert, Global Sales Director, ALTEK
James Herbert, the Global Sales Director of ALTEK, is a Chartered Professional Engineer who has been involved in the aluminium industry for over 20 years. He has worked for companies on the equipment supply side as well as in a production environment and has expertise in various fields of the aluminium industry including scrap decoating, metal circulation and dross handling and recycling. James has authored and co-authored numerous technical papers on the above subjects and holds several patents associated with technologies for handling and managing aluminium dross. AlCircle: Could you please explain ALTEK’s journey in regard to technology for the low carbon aluminium production? Mr James Herbert: Since we were acquired by Harsco Environmental (a global market-leading provider of...
“Our low carbon aluminium is called ALLOW; a cleaner and ‘greener’ aluminium brand crafted with renewable hydropower. ALLOW comes with an average carbon footprint of 2.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of aluminium produced (Scope 1&2, at smelter)”, Roman Andryushin, Director - Sales and Marketing, RUSAL
Roman Andryushin was appointed as Director for Sales and Marketing in May 2018. He is responsible for all sales at RUSAL globally. Prior to this, between 2014 and 2018, Roman Andryushin was the Head of Russia and CIS Sales Directorate at RUSAL. He was responsible for the marketing and sales of a wide range of the Company’s products in Russia and CIS. Roman Andryushin graduated with Honours from the Novocherkassk State Technical University, Economics and Management Department. Later he obtained an EMBA degree from Lorange Institute of Business Switzerland and an MBA from the University of Wales, Great Britain. He also holds a Ph.D. in economics. AlCircle: RUSAL is a global leader in low carbon aluminium production. Can you share your journey? Mr Roman Andryushin: Sustainability has always...
“START’s purpose is to provide our customers with transparent and traceable information regarding the sustainable nature of our aluminium products”, Tolga Egrilmezer, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Rio Tinto Aluminium
Tolga Egrilmezer, Vice President Sales & Marketing at Rio Tinto and a member of the Rio Tinto Aluminium Executive Committee, where he is leading the global mine to market organisation in bauxite, alumina and aluminium & value-added products sales, marketing, trading and technical & product development teams. AlCircle: Could you please share the glances of Rio Tinto’s journey towards the production of low carbon aluminium? Mr Tolga Egrilmezer: At Rio Tinto Aluminium, we are proud to be a global leader in the responsible production and stewardship of aluminium; we produce some of the highest quality, lowest carbon footprint aluminium in the world. In the past 5 years, we have: Launched the industry's first certified low carbon aluminium, RenewAL (2016) became the first company to receive...
“Low Carbon Aluminium has a pivotal role to play in the post Covid world,” Guillaume de Goÿs, Chief Operations Officer of ALVANCE, the Aluminium division of the GFG Alliance
Guillaume de Goÿs, ECAM Lyon (1995) and MBA, IAE Lyon (2015), started his career as a Project Manager for Michelin (1996-2002). During 2002-2006, he joined the aluminium industry in Pechiney/Alcan in Cameroon, followed by Saint-Jean de Maurienne, Rio Tinto, during 2006-2010. He served the Vénissieux factory for Carbone Savoie as a Director during 2010-2014, Aluminium Dunkerque as a Managing Director during 2015-2018, and then Alvance Aluminium Dunkerque during 2018-June 2020. In June 2020, he was appointed as a Chief Operations Officer of ALVANCE, the Aluminium division of the GFG Alliance. He is also the President of Aluminium France, the French association of aluminium producers. To know his view about Green Aluminium and how ALVANCE is working towards the development of an end-to-end...
“In 2021, we are pleased to report that the lost business has already returned and looking at forecasts, we expect good growth in sales of both Optifine and our new super Optifine product, particularly for plants with high-quality applications within the big groups”, John Courtenay, chairman, MQP
John Courtenay is the Chairman of MQP, the leading specialist for the global aluminium industry and producer of high-efficiency grain refiner Optifine. Studying metallurgy at the University of Aston, John Courtenay started at Foseco International, working his way through ONC, HNC and LIM, before being seconded to Foseco Canada for three years to work on an exciting new product for steel continuous casting plants, going onto hold several International marketing and technical positions before joining Foseco Japan as General Manager of their steel mills division, returning to Foseco International in 1983. In 1986, he switched from steel to aluminium, starting a long association with aluminium casthouse technology as Director of Technology and marketing of Foseco Aluminium. After the sale of...
“In 2021, the Standards Revision work will continue to make important progress with a goal of launching the new version of the program in March 2022”, Fiona Solomon, CEO, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative
The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) is a global, multi-stakeholder, non-profit standards setting and certification organisation, aiming to recognise and foster the responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium. ASI is the result of producers, users and stakeholders in the aluminium value chain coming together with a commitment to maximising the contribution of aluminium to a sustainable society. Fiona Solomon, CEO of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative gives an insight into the ASI's thoughts about COVID 19 impact on the global aluminium value chain and developments in 2021 in the below interview: AlCircle: ASI has already certified major aluminium producers in the global aluminium value chain. How is it influencing the other companies to go for ASI Certification?...
“After the reduction of capital equipment expenditure in 2020, we indeed see a significant increase in demand for aluminium cast house equipment”, Michael Rockstroh, Managing Director of RIA Cast House Engineering GmbH
Michael Rockstroh has extensive experience in project management, equipment design, engineering services, and business development related to aluminium casthouse machinery with a focus on charging and skimming machines. He began working fulltime for Rackwitz Industrieanlagen GmbH (now RIA Cast House Engineering GmbH) in 2012, although assisted part-time in the workshop as far back as the year 2000. Michael has a B.Sc. and M. Sc. in Industrial Engineering, both from the University of Applied Sciences Jena in Germany. AlCircle is pleased to interview Mr Rockstroh and know his aluminium market projection for 2021 and how his company is gearing up for the year. AlCircle: What new developments are you planning for your Cast House equipment in 2021? Mr Michael Rockstroh: After very interesting...
“The aerospace market is going to take some time still to recover from the pandemic and we expect demand to remain muted in 2021 due to lower consumer air travel”, Sachin Satpute - President of Novelis Asia and SVP of Novelis Inc.
Sachin Satpute is President of Novelis Asia and Senior Vice President of Novelis Inc. since 1st June, 2016. In this role, he is responsible for leading the overall business strategy and P&L of Novelis’ Asia Pacific business, which includes sales to the automotive, beverage can and specialty product markets. He also has oversight responsibilities with Ulsan Aluminium, a joint venture between Novelis Korea and Kobe Steel, Japan. Prior to being named to this position in June 2016, Sachin served as Chief Marketing Officer, Hindalco Industries Limited. Before joining in his role with Hindalco, he held roles of increasing responsibility within Novelis including Director, Business Development & Strategy for Novelis Asia; Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Technical Services for Novelis Asia; and...
“The development of innovations and the introduction of new technologies and products remain the Company's top priority. RUSAL develops, tests and implements advanced technologies, materials and equipment that often have no analogues in the world”, Evgenii Nikitin, Chief Executive Officer, RUSAL
Mr Nikitin was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL in November 2018. Before this, he was the acting CEO of the Company from May 2018 and RUSAL’s Head of Aluminium Division from January 2014. Prior to that, he was the director of the Aluminium Division East from October 2013, while before that appointment Mr Nikitin was the Managing Director of KrAZ, one of the world’s largest aluminium production facilities. From 2008 to 2010, he was Managing Director of SAZ after beginning his career with the Group as a reduction pot operator in 1993. Mr Nikitin graduated from the Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation in 1989 and from Lomonosov Moscow State University with a Master’s degree in business management (MBA) production systems in 2009. It was a great opportunity to...
“I´m sure 2021 will be a truly successful year for the aluminium industry”, André E. Barten, President & CEO of the Achenbach Group
André E. Barten is President & CEO of the Achenbach Group, leading the family company in the 8th generation. He studied mechanical engineering and business administration and is an award winner in 2021 of the famous ‘Social Market Economy Award’ of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Together with his team he was awarded the Handelsblatt Diamond Star Award 2019 in the category ‘Best Industrial Solution 4.0 – Smart Solution’ for the Achenbach OPTILINK System. As part of the Industry Advisory Board of the Cluster of Excellency ‘Internet of Production’ of the RWTH Aachen, André E. Barten is engaged in various activities around the digitalization of production technology. Read the interview to know his projection for the 2021 aluminium industry. AlCircle: How do you anticipate the year 2021 for...
“We can see some positive signals from the market. I believe that the LME returns to a level that is viable for our customers, which should free-up investments”, Benjamin Ulmann, Fives’ Aluminium Regional Sales Director, Middle East
Benjamin, graduated in 2005, worked for 8 year as Sales & Marketing for US based company named LUFKIN (now part of GE), a worldwide leading manufacturer of gearing solutions. Then in 2013, he worked for a UK based company named WELDING ALLOYS, a manufacturer of advanced welding consumables, automated equipment for wear protection, and engineered wear solutions. In 2016, he joined the Aluminium division of the French group Fives. After having worked with several subsidiaries of the division in the UK and in France, he is now Regional Sales Director for the Middle East. Benjamin has shared his insightful thoughts on how the use of smart automation solutions in aluminium plants will increase remarkably in 2021. Here is an excerpt from the interview: AlCircle: Do you plan to design any new...
