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structural and chassis components and pressure-diecast housings.
Despite rather lower automobile passenger-car sales the rising demand
for structural components made of aluminium is a force for
growth. “Our own metal basis, our know-how about materials and
our orientation toward complex castings with a greater processing
depth has proved a lasting strategy, for our customers as well,” said
Mr Iffert. At its location in Harzgerode Trimet has considerably extended
Germany’s most up-to-date gravity-diecasting foundry for
chassis components. The production of a transmission and clutch
housing for a noted automobile manufacturer, alone, will keep four
large pressure diecasting machines busy until beyond 2020.
W E C O N V E Y Q U A L I T Y
Defined Cooling of
Hot Bath Material
takeover of french plants imminent
With the takeover of two production plants in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
and Castelsarrasin for high-grade wire rod and the electrolysis
material required for them, Trimet is enlarging its portfolio to include
a product with great market potential. In this connection Mr
Iffert points to the necessary extension of the power grid in Germany,
for which aluminium wire will be needed. Moreover, the automobile
industry too needs aluminium wire, for example for connection
elements. In that context aluminium is competing as a material
against copper. Taken together, the two plants in France employ
about 500 people.
For the Primary Aluminium
Smelting Process
… und Gießerei in Essen
… and casthouse in Essen
Until now the market for wire rod was served by Trimet’s trading
activities. However, customers increasingly call for tailor-made solutions.
“So the two facilities fit in admirably with Trimet’s strategic
orientation. That is true of both the products and the high technological
level of their aluminium electrolysis.” The plants were originally
built by the French group Pechiney, at that time a technology
leader in the production of aluminium. Today they belong to Rio
Tinto Alcan (RTA), which for strategic reasons wants to withdraw
from that area of business. In 2012 RTA produced around 93,000
tonnes of smelted aluminium in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and 8,000
tonnes of wire rod in Castelsarrasin. However, the total capacity is
larger: Trimet mentions a figure of 150,000 tonnes.
Mr Iffert did not say anything specific about the purchase price,
other than to say that: “The takeover conditions allow us to plan our
investments dependably and in the long term.” In July Trimet made
a binding offer for the takeover of the RTA plants, and the negotiations
seem far advanced: “We expect to be taking over both plants
ALUMINIUM · 11/2013
AUMUND Foerdertechnik GmbH