ATLANTA and MILAN, May 16,
2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Novelis, the world leader in aluminum
rolling and recycling, today announced the opening of a new
aluminum recycling and continuous casting line at its Pieve
Emanuele facility in Milan, Italy.
The 12 million euro expansion
represents the largest single investment by Novelis in Italy in the past decade and is a key part of
the company's drive to enhance the competitiveness of its Italian
operations.
The advanced technology incorporated into the new line leverages
the plant's expertise in continuous casting and will enable the
company to recycle aluminum scrap into high quality aluminum sheet
for further processing at its operations in Italy and Germany. Aluminum is
infinitely recyclable, and the recycling process uses only five
percent of the energy required to make the metal from raw materials
while also avoiding 95 percent of the greenhouse gases associated
with primary aluminum production.
"This investment reflects Novelis' ongoing commitment to our
high recycled content strategy, to the environment and,
importantly, to our longstanding operations here in Italy," said Erwin
Mayr, Senior Vice President of Novelis and President of
Novelis Europe. "The opening of the new line not only
increases the recycling and casting capacity at the Pieve plant,
but it also contributes to the company's global goal of increasing
the recycled content of its products from 43 percent today to 80
percent by 2020."
"The Pieve plant has over 50 years of experience in rolling and
recycling aluminum," said Gianmatteo Martinelli, Plant
Manager. "This investment and the wider program in
Italy will strengthen our
operations here while also bringing new sustainable manufacturing
processes to the region through Novelis innovation."
"Furthermore," added Martinelli, "the new line will also enable
our Pieve plant to supply more recycled sheet to our operations in
other parts of Europe, generating
significant logistical and environmental advantages."
The Novelis plant at Pieve Emanuele is an integrated recycling,
continuous casting, rolling and finishing operation. The aluminum
sheet and coil produced at the facility is sold to end users in a
number of industrial and construction markets. The Pieve plant also
supplies aluminum sheet to other Novelis plants in Bresso,
Italy and Germany, where it is processed into
pre-painted, textured and bright finish material for use in
transportation, construction and industrial applications such as
roofing, architectural cladding and domestic appliances. The
expanded capacity in Italy also
frees up capacity elsewhere in the Novelis Europe system that is
needed for use in growth markets. Novelis Italy currently
employs approximately 400 people at its plants in Pieve and
Bresso.
The state-of-the-art continuous casting equipment used on the
new line was developed by Novelis PAE, a Novelis group company
which provides premium casting and molten metal treatment solutions
for aluminum producers around the world.
About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in
aluminum rolled products and the world's largest recycler of
aluminum. The company operates in 9 countries, has
approximately 11,000 employees and reported revenue of $9.8 billion for its 2013 fiscal year. Novelis
supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to
transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer
electronics markets throughout North
America, Europe,
Asia and South
America. Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries
Limited (BSE: HINDALCO), one of Asia's largest integrated producers of
aluminum and a leading copper producer. Hindalco is a
flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational
conglomerate based in Mumbai,
India. For more information, visit www.novelis.com and
follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Novelis.
SOURCE Novelis