Kaiser Aluminum announces capital investment project at its Trentwood facility

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation announced that it has commenced a five-year, $150 million capital investment project at its Spokane, Washington facility to further advance the Company’s cost and quality leadership position and to meet continued demand growth. The investments will focus on equipment upgrades throughout the process flow to reduce conversion costs and increase efficiency, further improving the competitive cost position on all products produced at Trentwood. A significant portion of the investment will also be focused on modernizing the legacy equipment and process flow for thin gauge plate to achieve KaiserSelect® quality enhancements for these aerospace and general engineering products. In addition, the investments will result in further expansion of Trentwood’s manufacturing capacity. The project is scheduled to be completed over the next five years to minimize plant disruption and facilitate execution.

“Looking forward, we expect continued growth and an increasingly competitive environment in Trentwood’s served markets,” said Jack A. Hockema, President, CEO and Chairman. “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. 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, with additional benefits to be realized from a step-change in conversion costs and KaiserSelect® quality for our thin gauge plate in late 2019 and beyond,” said Mr. Hockema.

“Over the past decade, we’ve invested in capacity and capability to produce thick plate for growing aerospace and general engineering applications. This investment project will further strengthen our competitive position for all of our heat treat plate products, particularly for thin gauge plate, and will unlock potential for further top line and bottom line growth. We are excited about the opportunities ahead and are confident that our focus on productive organic investments will continue to provide very attractive returns and create additional value for our shareholders,” concluded Mr. Hockema.