Constellium announced that its Muscle Shoals, Alabama facility has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to receive a $23 million investment under Title III of the Defense Production Act. The funding, awarded through the Defense Production Act Investments Program and overseen by the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Program within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, will be used to rebuild Constellium's Direct Chill aluminium casting center.
Constellium will install state-of-the-art casting equipment on the site of a dismantled casting center, which is expected to add up to 300 million pounds of annual casting capacity. This expansion will enable the plant to increase its recycled input, reduce the use of primary metal, and provide the U.S. industrial base with an additional, self-reliant domestic source of aluminium rolling ingot.
In recent years, the domestic U.S. capacity to cast rolling ingot has lagged behind the growing demand for flat rolled aluminium products across various manufacturing industries. As a result, U.S. rolling mills have had to rely on imported slab to meet customer demand. Flat rolled aluminium products, including sheet and plate, are essential material inputs for the defense, aerospace, automotive, packaging, and transportation industries.
The increased domestic casting capacity enabled by this collaboration with the DoD will help secure the supply of rolling ingot to U.S. rolling mills and provide a vital surge capacity to the DoD, supporting U.S. security commitments globally.
