Automotive market stimulates Novelis growth

United Kingdom – Aluminium specialist Novelis has commissioned a £6 million (US$ 9.6 million) expansion of its Latchford plant in the UK. The capital investment will increase the facility’€™s capacity by over a third, making it ‘the largest closed-loop recycling operation for automotive aluminium rolled products in Europe’.

Currently, the plant processes 160 000 tonnes of aluminium per year; the expansion will increase this figure to 200 000 tonnes, creating 30 extra jobs.

Much of the additional capacity is intended to support growing demand for automotive aluminium sheet – particularly from the company’s long-standing customer Jaguar Land Rover.

Meanwhile, new equipment for recycling automotive aluminium scrap will include a dedicated furnace, an upgraded casting system, magnetic separation and handling equipment, as well as ‘world-class environmental controls’.

Erwin Mayr, senior vice president and president of Novelis Europe, comments: ‘With the commissioning in Latchford, we are expanding our recycling capabilities and developing efficient manufacturing systems along our automotive supply chain.’ The project is designed to help the company achieve a 2.1 million tonnes capacity by 2015 while increasing its recycled content to 80% by 2020, he adds.

For more information, visit: www.novelis.com