ZURICH, Sept. 30, 2009 – Novelis today marked the official start-up of a major investment at its Nachterstedt plant in Germany, with an opening ceremony attended by customers and other stakeholders. The new specialist finishing capacity enhances Novelis’ aluminum sheet offering to the automotive and beverage can markets and increases its flexibility in meeting customer needs.
The investment in the continuous annealing and lacquering line at Nachterstedt improves process speed, reduces set-up times and adds the capability to produce can-end sheet at the plant.
“Novelis is the global leader in supplying aluminum sheet to the beverage can and automotive markets. To keep that leadership position we need continuously to drive improvement in our operations. Furthermore, responsiveness to changing market requirements is more important now than it has ever been,” said Tadeu Nardocci, president of Novelis Europe. “The strategic investment unveiled today ticks all those boxes and is further evidence of our commitment to these very important markets.”
As part the Novelis global supply capability, the Nachterstedt upgrade further strengthens the company’s dual supply routing in Europe for automotive and can-end sheet. The combined unrivalled capability of the Nachterstedt and Sierre (Switzerland) plants to supply automotive sheet is significantly expanded with this investment. Furthermore, the changes that come on-stream today enable Novelis to supply can-end sheet in Europe from both the Nachterstedt and Göttingen (Germany) plants, allowing increased security, flexibility and specialist production capacity.
The Nachterstedt plant has unique manufacturing capabilities with specialized cold-rolling, continuous heat treatment and surface finishing, enabling supply of high quality products to automotive, beverage can and various industrial markets.
About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminum rolled products and aluminum can recycling. The company operates in 11 countries, has approximately 12,300 employees and reported revenue of $10.2 billion in its 2009 fiscal year. Novelis supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to automotive, transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and printing markets throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited, one of Asia's largest integrated producers of aluminum and a leading copper producer. Hindalco is a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. For more information, please visit www.novelis.com.