Caption: This large friction stir welding machine, located at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, can weld extrusions that are as much as 55 ft long and is the only machine in North America capable of two-sided panel welds.

Caption: The sheared face of a “hub” extrusion die used to connect several drawn tubes together to form a tent system. This is the first die that was run at the Alfiniti drawn tube operation in Winton, NC. Alfiniti expanded through investment in equipment to supply their internal tube bloom feedstock. See story beginning on page 6. (Photo by J.D. Schloz)

Caption: View down potline 6 of UC Rusal’s Volgograd smelter in Russia. There are 84 pots in this potroom, each pot producing 1.2 tonnes of aluminum per day. Volgograd has been undergoing a modernization, set to be complete in the first quarter of 2013, that will enable the smelter to increase slab output. Learn about this and other developments in the primary aluminum industry, beginning on page 9.

Caption: The hot roughing mill at Xiamen Xiashun Aluminum Foil Co. Ltd. is located in Fujian province in southeastern China. Xiashun has a 1+1 hot mill with a roughing and finishing stand, as well as a single-stand cold mill for the production of 2,150 mm wide strip. Xiashun mills provide an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons. For more information go to page 50.

Caption: Assembly of the all-new Range Rover at the Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing facility in Solihull, U.K., showing the aluminum stamped side structure. The 2013 Range Rover is now the first SUV with an all-aluminum body structure. Novelis supplied AC-300 alloy aluminum sheet for body structural components in crash relevant areas, including the longitudinal beams in the front end assembly, the reinforcements of the underbody, and structural components in the rear end of the vehicle. For more information about the use of aluminum in the new Range Rover, and other light vehicles, see page 32. (Photo: ©Jaguar Land Rover)

Caption: "Aluminum Man" emerges from an aluminum ingot. Sculpture made of 100% recycled aluminum unveiled at the inauguration of Novelis Global R&T Center in Atlanta, GA.

Caption: Inside the paint booth at Frontera Aluminios looking up at extrusions newly painted by the just installed vertical disk painting system in the Tecate, Mexico facility.

Caption: COVER: Before billets are removed from the new casting pit at Sapa's Cressona facility, the chief caster stencils the cast order number onto the cast log. At a time when demand for billet is increasing, Sapa is making significant investments to increase their casting capacity.

Caption: View of the entrance of a hollow extrusion die. Photo courtesy of Compes Group.

Caption: Aluminum provides a stunning design. Shown from underneath a portion of the roof of the Middelfart Savings Bank in Denmark, a prism-like structure is revealed. Skylights compose the spectacular roofscape made of Falzonal, prepainted rolled aluminum for façade cladding, supplied by Novelis. The skylights are designed to maximize sunlight absorption during winter and reduce energy consumption. (Photo courtesy of Novelis. Photographer: Adam Mørk.) For more on aluminum in building and sustainable design see Greenbuild article beginning on page 18.

Caption: A recent tour of the vertical anodizing line at Sapa Profiles in Vetlanda, Sweden showcases the advantages of vertical versus horizontal anodizing, which include: less floor space required, 25% less drag out of chemicals, faster clamping system, and based on a vertical line with tanks 5-6 m or more, production capacity is 5-10 times that of a horizontal line. Photo is taken from the end of the line. Load has been anodized and sealed and is ready to be packed. (Photographer: Rose Fellom-Morris.)

Caption: State-of-the-art two color vertical powder line at Extruders Inc. in Wylie, TX. View from below extrusions just out of the bake oven cooling off before unloading. (Photo by J.D. Schloz.)

Caption: Holmer Kleist, a project manager at SMS Meer, is dwarfed by this cylinder crosshead for the 150 MN extrusion press built by the German press builder to be supplied to Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co. Ltd., located in the Nanshan Industry Region of Longkou City, in Shandong province, PRC. The completed twin of this press, which is to be supplied to Shandong Yankuang Light Alloy Company in Jining, also in Shandong province, was recently on display at the assembly shop of SMS Meer in Mönchengladbach and is the subject of this issues' feature article.

Caption: Multiport die with CVD coated mandrel and plate insert for heat exchanger tube. It is a so-called CED sandwich die with the following features: very small mandrels possible, multi-caivity extrusion in limited space, and holder and backer to be used several times. This die is sold under the WEFA patent and trademark CED (Coated Extrusion Die).

Caption: Isal, Rio Tinto Alcan's smelter in Iceland, has commenced a $48 million production upgrade to boost annual outpuut by 20% to 230,000 tonnes. Concurrent with a potroom amperage increase, the casthouse will switch from slab to value-added billet (photo courtesy of Isal).