Alcan Appoints GM of Automotive Structures Business

Building on Alcan's successful automotive business in Europe, Ewing will lead in the establishment of a new group to engineer and market lightweight structural sub-assemblies and crash-management systems in North America. This will include the construction and start-up of new manufacturing facilities in Saguenay, Quebec, and Novi, Mich., to initially produce aluminum bumper beams.

In conjunction with Alcan's market leadership in aluminum body sheet, the establishment of the structural products group represents a strategic expansion of the company's North American automotive supply business.

Ewing has held a variety of key engineering, manufacturing and business management positions in the auto industry in Canada and the United States. Before joining Alcan, he was a director of sales for Tower Automotive, based in Novi, Mich. Previously, he held positions as business unit leader with Tower Automotive and A.O. Smith Corp. and a variety of senior operations and engineering positions with Eaton Corporation.

A native of Dresden, Ontario, Canada, Ewing holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, and a master's degree in business administration from Michigan State University in East Lansing. He is married and lives with his wife and two children in Dexter, Mich.

Alcan Automotive is a unit of Alcan Inc., a multinational, market-driven company and a global leader in aluminum and packaging, as well as aluminum recycling with 2002 revenues of $12.5 billion. With operations in primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum as well as flexible and specialty packaging, Alcan is well positioned to meet and exceed its customers' needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs 54,000 people and has operating facilities in 42 countries.