Kaiser Will Build New Heat Facility Plant Will Be In Northwest, But Exact Location Uncertain

Kaiser Aluminum Corp.’s board of directors Wednesday agreed to build a $47.6 million state-of-the-art heat-treat facility for aluminum sheet and plate produced by the Trentwood rolling mill.

The investment also includes improvements to Trentwood’s existing heat-treating center, where aluminum is heated, cooled and aged to produce specialty components for the aerospace and other industries.

“The heat-treat expansion will increase and solidify Kaiser’s position in domestic and international markets for these products,” said Raymond Milchovich, president of Kaiser’s flat-rolled products and micromills.

Kaiser will select a site for the plant in a few weeks, with construction to begin in the fall. Trentwood is one site under consideration.

Kaiser hopes to begin production at the new plant in late 1998.

“It’s a strategic decision to increase our capability to produce value-added products,” added company spokeswoman Susan Ashe in Spokane.

The facility will increase heat-treat capacity by 30 million pounds for aluminum sheet and stock that’s one-sixteenth to one-half inches thick.

The plant will create a yet unknown number of new jobs, Ashe said, but may eliminate some positions at Trentwood. Most of those losing jobs will be reassigned to other Trentwood positions, she said.

With 2,600 employees at Trentwood and the Mead smelter, Kaiser is the largest manufacturing employer in the county.

Kaiser said the new plant will encompass 170,000-200,000 square feet housing a one-of-a-kind horizontal heat-treat furnace that uses a roller hearth and air flotation system.

Equipment modifications for Trentwood’s existing heat-treat center will include a 112-inch hotline mill gauge and heavier gauge coiling equipment.

The board’s decision comes on the heels of an earlier announcement that the company would spend $54.5 million to reconstruct and renovate the Mead smelter’s carbon-bake facility. That brings total capital improvements announced thus far this year by Kaiser to $102.1 million.

, DataTimes