Novelis has opened its new aluminium rolling operations in Pindamonhangaba, Sao Paulo (Brazil), expanding the plant’s production capacity by more than 50% to over 600,000 metric tons of aluminium sheet annually, says a company press release. “The investment strengthens the company’s leadership position in key markets including beverage cans and aluminum packaging…Looking ahead, it will also allow Novelis to explore new opportunities in South America in markets such as automotive. The new Brazilian automotive regulation, Inovar-Auto, set reduction targets for CO2 emissions that will require automakers to produce lighter, more fuel efficient vehicles in the future,” said Tadeu Nardocci, President of Novelis South America.
The company has invested USD340m in the expansion of the Pindamonhangaba plant. The expansion included the installation of a third cold rolling mill, a new ingot casting centre and a new pusher furnace for the hot rolling mill.
Significance: This expansion is so far the largest capital expansion by Novelis in South America in the past decade. Novelis is a manufacturer of flat rolled aluminium products in South America, currently employing about 1,800 people in the country. The Novelis plant in Pindamonhangaba also houses the largest aluminium recycling center in South America.
The company is expanding production globally owing to growing demand for light, recyclable aluminium sheet for automobile manufacturing. In May, the company announced plans to expand its production capacity for automotive sheet at its Göttingen facility in Germany, effective immediately. In the first phase, Novelis will manufacture 20,000 tons annually at the Göttingen plant. The production capacity will be doubled to 40,000 tons annually in the second phase. Additionally, Novelis recently added a new aluminium recycling and continuous casting line at its Pieve Emanuele facility in Milan (Italy). The company invested around EUR12m (USD15.4m, 20 May 2013) to establish the new production line which incorporates a new technology to recycle aluminium scrap into high quality aluminium sheet.
Novelis is also investing in its Oswego plant in New York (US). Also, a new plant is under construction in Changzhou (China) which will have a capacity of 120,000 tons.
