Novelis restarts Oswego plant, easing auto aluminum shortages. Aluminum | 2026-06-11 04:59:42 The restart brings relief to automakers and dealers who weathered months of aluminum shortages. SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Novelis hot mill in Oswego, N.Y., is back online, the company announced Wednesday, marking the end of a nine-month shutdown that ranks among the most disruptive supply chain events the auto industry has seen in recent years. The restart brings relief to automakers and dealers who weathered months of aluminum shortages. Those shortages cut F-150 inventory nearly 24% and cost Ford an estimated $2 billion to source alternative aluminum from overseas suppliers. "Restarting the Oswego hot mill is an important step forward for our operations and, most importantly, for our customers," said Steve Fisher, President and CEO of Novelis Inc., in a statement. "We are deeply grateful for the flexibility and partnership our customers have shown, as well as the extraordinary efforts of our employees, suppliers and industry peers who came together to support continuity of supply." Novelis says the Oswego plant is the largest domestic supplier of aluminum sheet for the U.S. auto industry, serving about a dozen companies, including Ford, GM, and Stellantis brands Jeep and Ram, as well as foreign automakers with U.S. production facilities. Previously, two fires triggered the plant's initial shutdown. The first broke out on Sept. 16, 2025, and the second struck on Nov. 20, during repair work from the first. However, both were contained to the hot mill area with no injuries reported. The outage hit Novelis' North American results hard, as shipments in the segment fell 19% compared to a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA for North America came in at $74 million, down 51% year over year. The fires resulted in an estimated $925 million in pre-tax losses net of insurance recoveries for the full fiscal year. Notably, Novelis mobilized its plants in Europe and South Korea to supply U.S. customers during the outage, but the contingencies incurred by automakers cost them billions of dollars. Additionally, the restart comes as aluminum prices face additional pressure. The U.S. raised tariffs on imported aluminum from 25% to 50% effective June 4, 2025. With the hot mill now operational, Novelis says it is working closely with customers to ramp up supply. The company is also accelerating the implementation of a standardized operating system to strengthen supply dependability going forward. Novelis is also launching a new $5 billion recycling and rolling plant in Bay Minette, Alabama. The cold mill began commissioning in March, with full operation expected in the second half of this year. The plant will produce as much as 600 kilotons of finished aluminum products annually and generate up to 1,000 jobs. Recycling industry news Discover more Steel market analysis Junk car removal Metal futures data

ABB reinstates operations at Novelis after flooding. 26 May 2026 WHEN CATASTROPHIC flooding struck Novelis' aluminum manufacturing facilities in Sierre, Switzerland, the company faced a potential crisis that could have disrupted global automotive supply chains serving major automotive manufacturers. Working with ABB's emergency response teams, Novelis restored critical operations within 60 days. Two years on, the restoration continues to serve as a model for industrial resilience and rapid infrastructure recovery. National disaster hits critical suppliers Torrential storms and melting snow hit the Sierre district of western Switzerland in the early hours of a June morning and Novelis's plant was flooded overnight. The plant plays a crucial role in supplying aluminum components to the automotive industry, processing over 200,000 tons of aluminum annually. With critical infrastructure compromised and supply to automotive customers disrupted, immediate action was essential. Angeles Fernandez, local division manager for electrification service in ABB Switzerland, immediately coordinated with AluInfra Services, which manages electrical infrastructure at the Sierre industrial site. After flood waters receded, ABB teams assessed the extensive damage to critical electrical infrastructure and production equipment across the facility. The scale of the challenge was immediately clear. With key systems compromised, restoring operations would require coordinated expertise across multiple specialties. "Our entire plant had been submerged for weeks, and mud and water had compromised the critical systems which power our operations. Minimising downtime and restoring production as rapidly as possible was vital to maintain our standing as a trusted partner to our customers," recalled Serge Gaudin, plant manager at Novelis. To coordinate the recovery effort, ABB brought together expertise across engineering, sales, procurement and export control, deploying specialist engineers with deep knowledge of the compromised systems to manage the installation and commissioning of replacement equipment. ABB worked side-by-side with Novelis teams to optimise their existing electrical infrastructure and get operations running at peak performance. Across borders and around the clock ABB mobilised specialist engineers from across Europe who worked under challenging conditions and demanding timelines. After successfully fast-tracking replacement parts ahead of schedule, ABB restored basic power operations by in just about a month's time. "When a critical facility such as this faces disaster, standard timelines simply don't apply. Our teams across Europe came together across divisions, borders and time zones, recalibrating our existing processes to act as an extension of Novelis's operations," Fernandez stated. Two parallel teams then cleaned and tested equipment at the sites' substations while replacement parts were transported across the continent. The substations were re-energised in September, a critical step to resume production on the hot rolling, followed by the cold mill, weeks ahead of initial projections. Stefan Kumm, senior project manager from ABB's Process Automation business was already in Switzerland for a separate Novelis modernisation initiative, and swiftly pivoted to support the emergency response. "Our first task was triage, determining what could be salvaged and what needed replacing," Kumm explained. "The sheer scale of the challenge became clear when we saw the mud-covered switchgear in the substations as well as the 160-ton main motor and hundreds of submerged control systems. Time was critical and every second counted." The successful restoration has since strengthened ongoing relationships between Novelis, AluInfra and ABB. "The speed of the response was critical for us," said Gaudin. "ABB's teams minimised the impact on our customers and ensured we could maintain our position in the supply chain during a very challenging period." The rapid restoration was a crucial contribution to resuming production at Novelis' Sierre plant and maintaining supply chain continuity. It ensured the site could continue running consistently for its automotive customers and demonstrated how cross-border collaboration and quick response to infrastructure challenges can prevent wider industry disruption. Tel: +44 2476 368 631 1/9 (1 to 10 of 84) Send Enquiry | / | Level sensing drain upgraded 13 November 2013 | | In 1982 Berthold Koch introduced his first compressed air condensate system - the Bekomat electronic, level-sensing, zero-loss drain. 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