Global aluminum company Hydro celebrated the roof installation of the main buildings at its $150 million aluminum recycling plant in Cassopolis. When completed in Q4 2023, the plant will provide 70 new, local jobs and strengthen Hydro’s recycling capabilities in the United States.
The construction milestone was marked with a Norwegian tradition called “Kranselag.”
Ingrid Guddal, Head of Recycling in Hydro Aluminum Metal, thanked the workers and gave an update on the project.
“I would like to use this opportunity to say thank you to the construction team, and to all local stakeholders for helping us achieve this production milestone,” Guddal said. “We are grateful for the warm welcome we’ve received in Cassopolis and look forward continuing working with the local community to bring stable jobs, career opportunities as well as investing in local education to bring forth the next generation of Hydro employees.”
Applications for the aluminum produced in Cassopolis will include critical automotive applications as well as other transportation uses, consumer and building system applications. Aluminum plays a significant role in the light-weighting of electric and hybrid vehicles, as cars need less electricity and fewer or smaller batteries to travel the same distances.
With the automotive industry embarking on its biggest transformation since the assembly line, the state of Michigan is fundamental as consumers go electric, the company said in a release.
“We are seeing increasing interest in terms of low-carbon products and sustainability, where automotive companies look for more low-carbon materials to put into their vehicles and make their cars more sustainable,” Guddal said. “We are here to serve this growing demand by providing our industry-leading proprietary alloys for more critical automotive applications from Cassopolis.”
The Hydro Cassopolis recycling plant will produce 120,000 tons of recycled aluminum extrusion ingot per year and will be the first large scale producer of Hydro CIRCAL in North America. Unique to Hydro, Hydro CIRCAL® aluminum extrusion ingot contains at least 75 percent post-consumer scrap.
Guddal said the facility is on track to start production this year and when completed, the plant will add 70 jobs to the local economy. In March, Hydro started to recruit for positions in production, process, administration, and materials management. Now, applications are open for production operators as well.
For more information, visit the Hydro website.
