Constellium N.V., a manufacturer of aluminum products headquartered in Amsterdam, has finalized a $20.3 million (15 million euro) investment at its site in Decin, Czech Republic. The company says the expansion will further its strategy of boosting production capacity of high-volume specialty alloy products to supply the European automotive market. The investment includes a new casthouse and extrusion line that will increase production of hard alloys extrusions by almost 10,000 tons per year, the company says.

The company says the investment will strengthen its position as a global leader in the production of hard-alloy bars and tubes. The extrusion line is running at full capacity in order to meet the growing demand for ESP and ABS aluminium blocks, parts for automatic gear boxes and car suspensions among others.

"Constellium's investment in the plant in Decin is a critical part of our strategy to fully capitalize on the growing demand for aluminium automotive structures and components that is mainly driven by light-weighting," says Paul Warton, president of Constellium's Automotive Structures and Industry business unit.

"This investment also paves the way for a new recycling facility at the Decin site, which will enable Constellium to deploy its innovative recycling technology,” adds Warton. “The facility will process and recycle aluminium scrap from Constellium's key automotive customers in Europe. A key advantage of aluminium is that it is infinitely recyclable and retains all of its original properties throughout the recycling process. These properties make aluminium an environmentally responsible and economical choice.”