Nonferrous

Putting the Brakes On

The aluminum industry has made tremendous inroads into the automotive supplier market in the past decade.

Aluminum companies and trade groups that represent the industry have made a concerted effort to compete to supply body parts, engine components and any other parts that go into the assembly of automobiles and light trucks—and pounds of aluminum per vehicle statistics show that the effort has paid off.

But along with the increased business comes a downside: the cyclical nature of being involved with the auto industry. With casting plants and other facilities that supply the auto industry melting more aluminum scrap during the recent auto boom years, the start of an auto industry slowdown has been noticeable to aluminum scrap suppliers.

“Aluminum is now being affected quite a bit more by auto slowdowns than in the past,” says one broker.

The western U.S.-based broker says the auto industry slowdown is one of several factors affecting the market. The energy shortage that is most acute in the West has caused several smelters to halt or severely curtail production. “They have become re-marketers of power,” notes the broker. “From a management perspective it makes sense, but it removes important demand sources from the marketplace.”

Finally, the export market is not especially strong as 2001 begins, either. “There’s not enough demand from offshore to pick up the slack,” he comments.

Typically, a winter full of ice and snow would bring several phone calls from buyers needing aluminum scrap to fill in for delayed shipments. But, “things are quiet,” notes the broker, who believes aluminum scrap consumers are not anxious to bring in more inventory, since they don’t see themselves ramping up production any time soon.

Metal Reclamation and Recycling Site Launched

Those looking to dispose of nonferrous metal by-products can go to www.AvidaAmericas.com to be provided with an Individually Customized Program (ICP) that includes: material form, description, quote, packaging, price, representation, location, classification, shipment date and mode of transportation and any special instructions.

AvidaAmericas LLC, New York, says it has a worldwide network of offices and can locate reclamation options for specific materials. Some of the materials the site handles include spent catalysts, ashes, grindings, complex residues, sludges, slurries, dusts and tubes.

Contest Winners Announced

The winners of the first International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition have been announced by the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC). Fifty-seven entries were submitted in six categories—building and construction/architectural, transportation/automotive, industrial/machinery, commercial/office and residential/leisure.

Student entries were grouped into a separate category.

Winners were those that exhibited the benefits of aluminum extrusions by either inventing a new product or improving an existing one. Entries were judged on ease of fabrication and assembly, cost-effectiveness, innovation, new application capability, customization, close tolerances, improvement of extrusion process and likelihood of market success.

The winners were: