Business
Constellium SE (NYSE: CSTM) celebrated today the restart of its upgraded 144-inch cold rolling mill at its facility in Ravenswood, West Virginia in the presence of Senator Shelley Moore Capito and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, Mr. Jesse Salazar. Ravenswood was awarded funding of nearly $9.5 million in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) under the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program to increase throughput, quality, and performance of cold rolled aluminum.
The restart marks completion of the first phase of the project involving a complete teardown of the 1950s era mill to upgrade its mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and process control systems. The team will now focus on the development of prototype manufacturing processes and cold rolled mill products that will be enabled by the advanced capabilities of the upgraded mill. Cold rolling, which compresses and elongates the plate, improves plate flatness and surface characteristics, and adds additional strength to the finished plate. Cold rolled aluminum plate was identified in the 2018 DoD-led Interagency Task Force report as “essential for armoring U.S. ground combat vehicles, constructing Navy ships, and building military aircraft.”
“This achievement was made possible by our partnership with the IBAS program and the Department of Defense. It will enable us to produce higher performance and higher quality plate in the volumes needed by the DoD over the next decade,” commented Buddy Stemple, CEO of Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood. Secretary Salazar agreed, “the restart of the Ravenswood mill adds a new dimension to the supply chain for America’s defense industry, and I am proud of the Ravenswood team for their commitment to our national and economic security.”
Constellium’s Ravenswood facility is a leader in defense aluminum production, supplying a broad portfolio of rolled products to the DoD and its partners. With unmatched R&D capabilities and one of the premier aluminum plate lines in North America, Constellium is uniquely positioned to develop and engineer advanced, high-performance armor solutions.