Recent reports suggest that Novelis expects its Oswego plant to return to operation by December 2025, several months earlier than its original 2026 target. This news offers a sense of relief to the major OEMs, most notably Ford, which has already warned of a financial impact that could reach USD 1 billion.
The hot mill outage took place on September 16, and by early October, restoration activities began. Structural repair crews started rebuilding the damaged roof on October 8, while new trusses started being installed by 22 October. In the same period, engineers constructed extensive scaffolding to dismantle and evaluate electrical systems critical to the hot mill’s function.
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However, a brief secondary fire on 10 October confined to the roof-repair zone disrupted the workflow, though it was quickly extinguished, causing no injuries.
As repairs progressed, Novelis’ procurement teams began sourcing thousands of parts needed to rebuild the mill. Of the 2,455 components affected, the company already had 1,900 in inventory when work began. Meanwhile, power was steadily restored to other sections of the plant, enabling the recycling, ingot casting, cold mill, and finishing operations to resume production by late October.
Novelis revised its recovery timeline on October 23, bringing the expected restart forward from 2026 to 2025. A further update on 11 November confirmed that the accelerated schedule remained intact, marking “substantial progress” in the project and signalling a full restart in December.
While the improved timeline offers some reassurance for automakers, the consequences are already substantial. Ford, one of Novelis’ largest aluminium customers, has been forced to rethink production planning for 2025–2026. CEO Jim Farley, who visited the Oswego plant alongside his leadership team, said the company is “working intensively” with Novelis to divert metal through the unaffected parts of the facility while sourcing additional volumes externally. Even with these steps, Ford estimates a significant loss of USD 1 billion linked to the disruption.
However, Ford has accelerated its 2026 production plans of F-150 and F-Series Super Duty trucks, in an effort to offset part of the anticipated financial impact. The company has decided to add more than 50,000 units to its production schedule with an additional investment of USD 60 million in its Kentucky truck plant to support higher line speeds. This shift includes the creation of 1,000 jobs at Dearborn Rouge Complex and Louisville.
Ford is not the only automaker adjusting operations. In the weeks after the fire, Stellantis halted production for at least three weeks at its Warren, Michigan, truck plant due to aluminium constraints. While Novelis also lists Toyota, GM, and Hyundai among its automotive clients, industry reports suggest these manufacturers have faced limited disruption owing to more diversified supply options.
The Novelis fire has triggered serious discussions about wider resilience strategies across the industry. Veterans like Evelin Nava Castaldi, purchasing and supplier quality director for Stellantis, have pointed out that a severe shortage of aluminium supply has been a significant factor affecting global OEMs struggling with this situation. In the Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Mexico 2025 conference, she suggested that reconsidering the material choices might help OEMs to deal with such a supply chain disaster in the future.
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