Novelis, a producer of rolled aluminum products and a leading aluminum recycler, announces plans to build a $300 million automotive aluminum sheet manufacturing facility in Guthrie, KY.
The greenfield facility, with an annual maximum capacity of 200,000 metric tons, will include heat treatment and pretreatment lines, which prepare aluminum for use in vehicle parts such as body-in-white, hoods, doors, liftgates and fenders.
The company expects to break ground in early spring and create about 125 jobs at the new facility, which is expected to open in 2020.
The new facility will be in close proximity to Logan Aluminum, a Novelis joint venture in Russellville, KY, and several nearby automotive manufacturing plants.
The facility is the latest addition to Novelis’s extensive network of automotive finishing lines. Demand for automotive aluminum is expected to rise according to the 2017 Ducker Worldwide survey projection that aluminum content in North American passenger vehicles, particularly light trucks and SUVs, will increase 42% from its 2015 level by 2028.
“Aluminum is a growing material of choice for the automotive industry worldwide as auto manufacturers continue to demand more and more aluminum to produce lighter, safer and stronger cars, trucks and SUVs,” Steve Fisher, Novelis president and CEO, says in a news release. “Novelis will continue to innovate alongside our automotive customers to lightweight the vehicles of today while looking ahead to meet the mobility needs of the fleet-based economies of tomorrow.”
Novelis aluminum is featured on more than 200 different vehicle models from brands including FCA, Ford, GM, Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota. The company operates in 10 countries, employs about 11,000 people and had $10 billion in revenue in its 2017 fiscal year.
