Federal Metal Co. opens new Arkansas facility

Federal Metal Co., a Bedford, Ohio-based producer of copper-based cast alloys, has opened a new facility in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where it will recycle postconsumer aluminum-copper radiators.

The company announced the $17.6 million project in March and said at the time it expects to create more than 40 new jobs within the next four years. The facility, which the company is calling “FedMet,” is the company’s first in the state of Arkansas and spans 165,000 square feet. It has the capacity to recycle more than 3,000 metric tons of aluminum-copper radiators per month.

RELATED: Federal Metal to process radiators in Arkansas

“Major investments in new mill, foundry and refining capacity are underway in the United States for the first time in generations, and it’s important the scrap industry here keeps pace to assure the domestic supply chain is well fed," company President and CEO Peter Nagusky says in a statement posted to the Federal Metal Co. website. "It is wasteful when valuable scrap like these radiators are exported [to support non-U.S. manufacturing].”

In 2020, the company developed its proprietary premelt specification aluminum (PSA) products, which offer cost savings to rolling mills that would otherwise use more expensive prime aluminum or aluminum remelt secondary ingot (RSI). In addition, the company will use the North Little Rock operation to generate high-grade copper to feed its furnaces in Bedford and Columbia, Pennsylvania, and supply other domestic copper product producers.

“Importantly, this strategic location is convenient for our supplier partners and close to several key customers,” Nagusky adds. “We are looking forward to a long partnership with the city of North Little Rock and the state of Arkansas. With their help, and the talent available to us within a mile of downtown Little Rock, this specialized operation will quickly emerge as the most advanced of its kind in the world.”

RELATED: Federal Metal adds trading veteran

In its grand opening announcement, Federal Metal says the North Little Rock team is in place to begin the initial startup of primary operations, led by General Manager Kyle Landrum. “Manufacturers of aluminum fin stock, foil and can sheet and the manufacturers of copper tube, wire rod, bus bar and other shapes all have exacting specifications,” Landrum says in the announcement. “This facility will help us supply one-of-a-kind solutions to our customers, and in greater volumes, without the chemistry variation often associated with scrap.”