Kaiser Aluminum allocates $150M for equipment upgrades

Kaiser Aluminum Corp announced that it will spend US $150 million on capital improvements at its Spokane, Washington facility over next five years. The investment, according to Kaiser Aluminum, will help to reduce cost, increase opreational efficiency and expand production capacity.

Kaiser Aluminum manufactures aluminium coil, sheets and plates for the aerospace, automotive and general engineering industries at its Trentwood rolling mill.

President and Chief Executive Jack Hockema said he expects continued growth and an increasingly competitive environment in markets served by Trentwood.

“This capital project represents a very attractive organic investment opportunity to advance Trentwood’s position as a world class facility for quality and cost efficiency,” Hockema said in a news release. “Initial spending has commenced in 2015, and equipment is on order to move forward on the project in 2016. We expect to begin to realize a reduction in conversion costs and a 5%-10% increase in capacity by early 2018.”

Kaiser Aluminum has a market value of about $1.5 billion.