By Duncan Crowdis, Alexandria Industries and the Aluminum Extruders Council’s Workforce Development Apprenticeship Initiative. The shortage of talent and skills in the North American manufacturing sector is not new. The challenge has been growing and is well documented. According to research by both The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte, out of a forecasted need for 3.8 […]
Sortera Technologies, Inc. started up and achieved full operation of its second state-of-the-art scrap processing facility in Lebanon, TN, which is located in the heart of the Southern U.S. automotive manufacturing corridor. Utilizing Sortera’s proprietary AI-driven sorting technology, the facility will transform mixed-alloy scrap into high-value aluminum scrap for the automotive, construction, and aerospace industries. […]
The U.S. has seen heavy investment in secondary aluminum recycling capacity in recent years in order to address increased demand for low-carbon aluminum products. With secondary production accounting for 84% of total U.S. aluminum production in 2024 (representing 3.6 million tons of the 4.27 million total), this trend is likely to continue. However, this growth […]
Posted in:
By J.P. Weiler, Meridian Lightweight Technologies, Inc. Magnesium alloys have historically been associated with lightweighting applications in automotive and aerospace systems due to their low density, high specific strength, dimensional stability, and castability. The use of magnesium alloys in transportation systems expanded significantly during periods of increased emphasis on fuel economy and vehicle mass reduction, […]
By Alton Tabereaux, Contributing Editor. The global energy transition, electrification of vehicles, and increased demand for computing power in the wake of artificial intelligence (AI) have led to increased demand for batteries, advanced semiconductors, secure communications, next-generation aerospace platforms, and other components. In turn, this has resulted in increased demand for rare earth elements (REEs), […]
By Andrew Halonen, Mayflower Consulting LLC. Heavy duty trucking is essential for shipping and delivering goods and materials to manufacturing plants, retail stores, and consumers, representing 70% of all freight in the U.S.1 Unfortunately, it is also inherently carbon intensive. According to MIT Climate Portal, 65% of global freight emissions are generated by road vehicles, […]
By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. In April, the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA) hosted its 2026 annual meeting, bringing coil coaters and suppliers to the coil coating process together to discuss the latest economic and industrial trends. In addition to hosting the NCCA’s annual business meeting, with updates from the Statistics, Technical, and Environmental, Health, […]
For several decades, automotive aluminum use experienced a surge of growth, with the introduction of all-aluminum architectures for certain models — most notably the aluminum-bodied Ford F-150. As trends have shifted, however, automakers have moved away from the single material approach, focusing instead on multi-material construction with the right material for the right part. Electric […]
By Lynn Brown, Long Point Associates. While climate change — and the associated focus on the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of various materials — has recently taken a back seat in Washington, numerous aluminum extrusion users remain focused on reducing their environmental footprint. To support their efforts, the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) has recently introduced […]
