Kaiser Aluminum announces $14M facility investment

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation announced on February 13 that its Board of Directors has approved $14 million in additional investments to enhance and expand extrusion capabilities at its Tulsa, Okla., and Sherman, Texas, facilities, and deploy "future state" upgrades to the casting complex at its Trentwood (Spokane, Wash.) facility. The additional investments increase the capital expenditures of Kaiser Aluminum's organic growth program to $244 million.

The investments expand Kaiser Select(R) capabilities at Tulsa to produce automotive extrusions. Teaming with the company's world-class London, Ontario, extrusion facility, Tulsa will provide additional capacity to meet growing customer commitments for automotive applications. Demand for automotive applications has been driven by fuel price pressure and new regulations, such as stricter CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards now mandating a 40 percent improvement in fleet-wide fuel efficiency by 2020.

Equipment upgrades at Sherman will expand capabilities to produce Kaiser Select(R) products, which meet the most stringent standards for quality and consistency. The upgrades will also increase efficiency and capacity at the facility, which produces extruded products for ground transportation and industrial applications.

"We're continuing to aggressively pursue attractive growth and efficiency opportunities in our businesses," said Jack A. Hockema, chairman, president and CEO of Kaiser Aluminum. "These additions to our organic growth program will allow us to further serve the growing needs of our customers and continue to improve our quality, efficiencies and costs."

The investment at the Trentwood facility will significantly improve energy efficiency in its casting process, reducing natural gas consumption per pound cast. The improvements will incorporate a state-of-the-art furnace and combustion system design, utilizing environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient regenerative burners and allowing for reduced material waste.

"This is the second casting unit at Trentwood to be upgraded in a strategic move toward a highly-efficient, future-state casting operation," said Hockema. "The investment complements our ongoing $139 million heat treat plate expansion at Trentwood."

Kaiser Aluminum, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, Calif., is a leading producer of fabricated aluminum products, serving customers worldwide with highly-engineered solutions for aerospace and high-strength, general engineering, and automotive and custom industrial applications. The company's 11 plants in North America annually produce more than 500 million pounds of value-added sheet, plate, extrusions, forgings, rod, bar and tube products, adhering to traditions of quality, innovation and service that have been key components of our culture since the company was founded in 1946. The company's stock is included in the Russell 2000(R) index. For more information, please visit www.kaiseraluminum.com.