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  • Figure 3. A skilled worker machines large structural applications for an automotive application. (Source: Pennex.)

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    Rising Demand for Completed Components and Assemblies in the Automotive Extrusion Market

    By Mark Butterfield, Metal Exchange Corporation. Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of six articles in which the author will explore opportunities for the aluminum extrusion industry in the automotive market. The series will specifically address the supply chain, raw material supply, extrusion, fabrication, and assembly. Demand for an Expanding Value Stream […]

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    Extruded Aluminum Geodesic Dome Gets a New Life

    Hydro partnered with the Catholic University of America (CUA) to reconstruct the iconic geodesic dome designed by famed architect, inventor, and futurist, Buckminster Fuller, inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The dome is constructed with extruded aluminum structural members made from Hydro CIRCAL, the company’s certified aluminum product, which contains at least 75% […]

  • Aluminum billet produced using green hydrogen as a fuel at Hydro’s casthouse in Navarra, Spain.

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    Hydro Trials the Use of Green Hydrogen in Its Recycling Operations

    By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. Hydro successfully produced a batch of aluminum billet using green hydrogen as an energy source. Performed at the company’s extrusion plant in Navarra, Spain, the trial was conducted in collaboration with Hydro Havrand, Hydro’s green hydrogen company, and Fives, an industrial engineering group with expertise in hydrogen burner technology. According […]

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    Machine Learning Brings Big Value to Light Metal Manufacturing

    By Andrew Halonen, Mayflower Consulting LLC. Material developers and producers are feeling global pressure to optimize their respective businesses, especially as communications get easier and as once-difficult tasks are optimized and commoditized by automation technologies. Gone are the days that a midwestern forging producer would automatically have a competitive advantage with an automotive OEM over […]

  • Figure 2. First cast of billet on the DC casting line at KM&M.

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    KM&M Launches New Facility for the Development of Specialty Alloys and Processes

    Kingston Metals & Materials Inc. (KM&M-Aluminum) started up a new aluminum facility in Kingston, ON, Canada (Figure 1). The company focuses on supporting the development of specialty aluminum alloys, products, and processes by providing equipment, analysis, and decades of expertise in one central operation. With the launch of this new facility, KM&M is now the […]

  • Figure 1. The billet pre-heating line for a 6,500-ton, 12 inch automotive aluminum press at Pennex.

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    Understanding the Extrusion Press Line for Meeting Automotive Market Demand

    By Mark Butterfield, Metal Exchange Corporation. Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of six articles (available in the print magazine) in which the author will explore opportunities for the aluminum extrusion industry in the automotive market. The series will specifically address the supply chain, raw material supply, extrusion, fabrication, and assembly. With […]

  • Figure 1. A Tesla Model Y giga-casting. (Source: S. Munro.)

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    The Impact of Giga-Castings on Car Manufacturing and Aluminum Content

    By Alicia Hartlieb and Martin Hartlieb, Viami International Inc. Numerous studies, especially from Ducker-Carlisle, have shown that aluminum usage in light vehicles has been growing for decades, having surpassed 500 lbs (227 kg) per light vehicle in North America and 396 lbs (180 kg) per vehicle in Europe. Until now, castings have been the predominant […]

  • Novelis roll forming development line

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    Maximizing the Potential for Roll Forming

    Novelis Inc. started up a new roll forming development line at its automotive Customer Solution Center in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, MI. Novelis is the first flat-rolled aluminum company to invest in its own roll forming development line, which will enable the company to conduct research and development with the aim of meeting industry demand […]

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    A Critical Review of AI Capabilities to Assist Future Die Technician Expertise

    By Praveen Hewage, Alumex PLC, and Craig Werner, Werner Extrusion Solutions LLC. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to reshape the modern world in profound ways, using computer-based systems to augment human intelligence with capabilities, such as perception, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. AI learns from data and makes decisions based on those learnings. It […]