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COMPANY NEWS W O R L DWI D E
Vimetco invested in a casthouse for slabs with
an initial production capacity of 380,000 tpy,
and in a 1+4 hot rolling mill with a capacity
of 750,000 tpy. The hot rolling mill has stateof-the-art
technology, supplied by German
plant manufacturer SMS Siemag. Its electrical
components and control systems are from
Siemens. The hot line will be able to roll coils
close to 2,200 mm wide and weighing more
than 30 tonnes.
Following the commissioning of its mill to
make high-value products, Henan Zhongfu
Industry will serve the Chinese market with
sheet for aluminium beverage cans and other
products. The completion of the mill is another
step towards fulfilling the company’s long
term strategy of consolidating its position as
an integrated aluminium producer.
Vimetco has been the majority shareholder
in Henan Zhongfu Industry since 2006, with
a 51.68% stake. Henan Zhongfu Industry is
among the 500 biggest companies in China,
and is one of the biggest Chinese aluminium
producers with a capacity of 850,000 tpy.
The group also has smelting plants in Gong
Yiand Linzhou as well as processing and casting
facilities in Zhengzhou, with a capacity of
150,000 tpy of cold rolled products.
For the past six years, Vimetco’s investment
programme in China has focussed on
increasing product range and quality, particularly
in the high added value range. In 2011,
the company focussed on the construction of
a new hot and cold rolling mill. The installation
of the 450,000-tpy cold rolling mill and
finishing equipment is scheduled for completion
at the end of 2014.
Southwest Aluminium qualified
to produce automotive sheet
Southwest Aluminium Co. has become China’s
first globally-recognised supplier of automotive
materials. The company received
certification early in January, and aims to line
up 3-5 car manufacturers in 2013 as the company’s
first trial users of its products. China’s
domestic demand for automotive aluminium
is expected to reach over 100,000 tpy in the
next 2-3 years.
■
Suppliers
From waste to resource
Hydro has recently signed a contract to supply
spent pot linings (SPL) from the production
of primary aluminium to Rockwool International,
a producer of firesafe insulation.
The agreement ensures that pot linings will
be reused to benefit both the environment
and Hydro’s bottom line. Since SPL contains
fluorides, among other things, it is classified
as hazardous waste. For a number of years,
Hydro’s primary metal plants in Norway have
delivered this waste to disposal sites operated
by the company NOAH on Langøya, outside
Holmestrand in Vestfold county. In future
Hydro will separate the carbon-rich material
from the SPL and deliver it to Rockwool’s
preprocessing plant in Germany. There Rockwool
will crush the carbon and prepare it
for use in its production of rock wool, which
is an important component in fireproof insulation.
Hydro had previously set a target to reduce
the 2010 level of waste to landfill by 60% by
2020. In addition, the Primary Metal division
has a target that 70% of annual waste generated
will be recycled by 2020. This contract
is an important step to meeting these goals,
since it ensures that approximately 45% of
Hydro’s used pot linings will be recycled.
Hydro already signed
another contract in 2012
to supply anode waste to
Norcem’s cement plant
in Brevik in Telemark
county.
In addition to an environmentally
beneficial
impact, the agreement
with Rockwool should
result in annual savings
of about NOK5m
(USD890,000).The
agreement runs initially
to the end of 2013, with
an option for both parties
to extend and renegotiate.
It needs a formal
export approval from
Norway’s Climate and
Pollution Agency (Klif)
before the agreement
can be implemented.
Unique logistics system
makes for costeffective
shipping
A newly developed computer
system for managing
shipping could
help cut logistic costs
at Hydro’s Norwegian
aluminium smelters by several million kroner
per year. The system was developed by Hydro
in cooperation with the information technology
firm Seamless, with assistance from government
agency Innovation Norway.
At any particular moment, Hydro has a
number of ships in transport, moving raw materials
to the company’s plants and finished
products to the global market. Planning all this
traffic is of complex nature. Hydro accounts
for about 1,200 port calls a year in Norway
alone, with a number of ships in traffic to
and from Brazil, Continental Europe and the
United States.
In 2009, Hydro figured that these extra
costs for waiting ships at the wharf totalled
about NOK16m. It is these costs that the new
system can make a thing of the past. The developed
program is a planning tool that gives
an overview of all of the ports and all ships
that are in traffic, and has a number of builtin
functions for cost control at local ports. It
is unique that a company as large as Hydro
can now use just one system across borders
and business areas. In January 2013 Hydro
employees began training on the system. ➝
HA
IBROCOMACOR
Storvik AS
Industriveien 13
N- 6600 Sunndalsøra
E-mail: storvik@storvik.no
Tlf: +47 71 69 95 00
Fax: +47 71 69 95 55
Web: www.storvik.no
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ALUMINIUM · 3/2013 67