Novelis Inc. broke ground and began construction on its $2.5 billion recycling and rolling plant in Bay Minette, Alabama. The new facility will be the first integrated rolling facility to be built in the U.S. in 40 years.
“Through this investment, we want to demonstrate the strength of our growing customer partnerships, the commitment we have to sustainably grow our business, and the innovative, forward-thinking approach we are taking to modern manufacturing,” said Steve Fisher, president and CEO of Novelis. “We are especially proud to celebrate our groundbreaking of this state-of-the-art facility on National Manufacturing Day, which highlights the exciting career opportunities available in our industry.”
The highly advanced rolling plant will have an initial capacity to produce 600,000 tonnes of finished aluminum goods per year, which will be focused on the beverage container market, with flexibility for automotive production. The plant will also add a new recycling center for beverage cans, increasing the company’s recycling capacity by 15 billion cans per year when fully operational. The integrated facility is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs.
Site work for the facility is currently underway, including earthwork, excavation, and piling. Over the next 3 months, Novelis will construct two new roadways on the site and expand the utility infrastructure necessary to begin building construction.
The company selected a leading engineering company as its site layout, engineering and construction contractor, an Alabama-based firm to serve as earthworks contractor, and several manufacturing equipment providers that have longstanding relationships with Novelis across the world.
“We seek to become an integral part of this community, contributing to the local economy and advancing residents’ quality of life every step of the way,” said Tom Boney, executive vice president and president of Novelis North America. “We are grateful for the support we have received from the state, Baldwin County, Bay Minette and other partners as we build our home here in Alabama.”
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Boney announced the company’s plans to invest $150,000 in south Alabama non-profit organizations over the next six months. To encourage recycling throughout the community, Novelis has launched a partnership with Baldwin County to provide recycling bins and education at all county-owned buildings. The company also plans to invest in additional opportunities to encourage and incentivize Alabamans to recycle more often.
Commissioning of the facility is scheduled for mid-2025.
Additional U.S. Investments
In addition to the new facility in Alabama, Novelis has been making several other recent investments and partnerships in the U.S. These projects are aimed at further expanding the company’s recycling capabilities, as well as supporting the automotive market.
In May 2022, Novelis broke ground on a $365 million investment to build a highly advanced recycling center in Guthrie, Kentucky. The center will be constructed adjacent to Novelis’ existing automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, and will support closed-loop recycling for the automotive market in North America.
In August 2022, the company formed a strategic partnership with Sortera Alloys, an innovative industrial scrap metal sorting and recycling company based in Fort Wayne, IN. Under the agreement, Novelis will take advantage of Sortera’s advanced sorting technologies, including machine learning data analytics and advanced sensors, to recycle and re-use higher amounts of both production and post-consumer scrap from the automotive industry.
In September 2022, Novelis Inc. celebrated the opening of its Customer Solution Center (CSC) for automotive aluminum in Novi, Michigan, near Detroit. The new $35 million facility supports the development of new aluminum sheet components for automotive customers.