Home » Novelis opens Guthrie automotive aluminum finishing plant

Novelis opens Guthrie automotive aluminum finishing plant

GUTHRIE, Ky. — Novelis opens the company’s $300 million-plus automotive aluminum finishing operation, which employs over 150 people including 100 Kentuckians.

Novelis unveiled its new 400,000-square-foot facility on a 150-acre greenfield site on Old Railroad Lane in Guthrie. The location heat treats and pre-heats rolled aluminum coils used to manufacture automotive body panel-grade aluminum sheets. The celebration signifies the completion of the project, which was originally announced in May 2018 and represents Novelis’ second wholly-owned Kentucky facility.

The operation joins a 130-employee beverage can recycling facility in Berea established in 1989, which melts and casts ingots from 20% of the nation’s recycled beverage cans. In early 2017, Novelis announced a $2.35 million investment and 10 new jobs for that plant to expand its capacity by 25,000 tons annually.

Headquartered in Atlanta, the company is a global recycler and producer of aluminum, operating 33 advanced rolling and recycling facilities in nine countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

The company employs approximately 14,650 people globally. In addition to the automotive industry – where more than 225 vehicle models use Novelis’ aluminum alloy – customers use the company’s products to manufacture a variety of products including beverage cans, airplanes, computers, mobile phones, flexible tubing, insulating sleeves, license plates and architectural products, such as roller shutters, awnings, roofing, gutters, facades, and sandwich panels.

Novelis’ newly opened facility adds to the state’s 230-plus metals-related operations, which employ approximately 25,000 Kentuckians. In 2021 alone, Kentucky’s metals industry has spurred approximately $960 million in planned investment and more than 1,600 expected new jobs for Kentucky residents.

To encourage investment and job growth in the community, the state and Novelis previously reached performance-based tax incentive agreements based on the company’s investment, job, and wage targets.

Novelis also can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers. These include no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training, and job-training incentives.

For more information on Novelis, visit Novelis.com.

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