Novelis announced Wednesday that the hot mill section of its plant near Oswego has been reopened after a pair of devastating fires last fall. The hot mill is the area that takes aluminum and rolls it into long sheets.
“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 said 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.”
Automakers use the rolled aluminum from the Oswego plant to make their vehicles lighter, none more so than Ford, Novelis' biggest customer. Ford's top-selling F-150 truck body depends on aluminum from Novelis in Oswego. The shutdown of the Oswego hot mill cost Ford about $2 billion as truck sales were forced to slow down.
Novelis bought aluminum from suppliers around the world to keep on supplying its customers. The company reported in May that the fire and recovery put a dent in its cash flow of $1.2 billion. It expects to recover a large portion of the cost of rebuilding from its insurers eventually, but its insurance policies have also gotten $20 million more expensive.
Oswego County taxpayers had a portion of the recovery as well, as officials waived sales taxes on the equipment Novelis needed to buy to rebuild. Novelis CEO Steve Fisher thanked the community for its support in a written statement.
More than 1,200 people work at the plant and the company said it kept its entire staff on the payroll during the shutdown. Several top managers, including the plant manager, left the company.
Novelis and Oswego County fire officials have never said whether a cause for either fire was ever determined.
