Novelis exec: Cause of fires at Oswego County aluminum plant still unknown
Both fires occurred in the plant’s hot mill, where the process of turning aluminum ingots into sheet metal for the automotive, beverage can and other markets begins.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A Novelis executive said Wednesday the cause of the two fires that heavily damaged a key section of the company’s aluminum plant near Oswego this fall remains unknown.
“We really don’t have a root cause at this point,” Kevin Shutt, vice president of manufacturing and production support for Novelis, told syracuse.com
He said the company was still investigating the fires that struck the plant’s hot mill Sept. 16 and Nov. 20 and does not have a timeline of when the cause of the fires will be determined.
Shutt said the company also cannot yet provide a timeline for when the hot mill will be repaired, allowing the plant to return to full operations again.
“We’ll be sharing as we know more,” he said.
Shutt made the comments following a meeting with the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency.
At the meeting, the agency voted 6-0 to grant the company’s request for up to $15 million in exemptions from sales taxes on materials needed to repair the mill. Novelis has estimated it will spend $255 million on the repairs, including $187.5 million in materials subject to state and county sales taxes.
The agency usually grants tax exemptions to companies in exchange for commitments to create new jobs.
But Mary Ellen Chesbro, a member of the development agency as well as the Oswego County Legislature, said the sales tax exemption was justified because it will help Novelis get the plant back into full production, preserving its existing jobs.
“The Oswego County Legislature is fully behind this,” she said. “This is a huge impact for our county, for the state, for the nation actually.”
Novelis employs 1,122 full-time and four part-time workers at the plant, making it the county’s largest manufacturing employer. The plant has an annual payroll of $182 million.
The fires disrupted supply chains for domestic automakers, who rely on the 1.7-million-square-foot plant in Scriba for about 40% of the aluminum they use in their vehicles. The plant’s biggest customer, Ford Motor Co., has estimated its earnings will take a $1 billion hit because of the interruption caused to its aluminum supply.
The facility produces more than 1 billion pounds of sheet aluminum annually, making it the largest wholly-owned aluminum rolling and recycling plant in North America.
Both fires occurred in the plant’s hot mill, where the process of turning aluminum ingots into sheet metal for the automotive, beverage can and other markets begins.
The September fire heavily damaged the mill’s roof, while the November fire damaged highly specialized equipment in the mill, according to Novelis.
Despite the damage, the company says the plant is processing aluminum that has undergone initial processing at other facilities in the Novelis network and at industry peers.
Courtesy: www.syracuse.com