For a complete description of this business group, please refer to the Corporate Sustainability Report 2002 or the Alcan Facts 2003 brochure.

Number of facilities: 47
Countries represented: 17

Pursuit of the Company's governing objective of Maximizing Value remains the top priority in all business groups.

Maximizing Value: At Engineered Products in 2002 we moved ahead in implementing the concept of Maximizing Value and in achieving manufacturing excellence at all our facilities. We continued our cooperative efforts with customers to develop innovative applications based on the unique properties of our extrusions, composites, and cable. One of our most important markets is transportation, where we have adopted a multi-materials approach to mass transportation systems and where our efforts with automobile manufacturers has accelerated the development of lighter, more energy efficient, aluminum-intensive vehicles.

Environment, Health and Safety: As in all business groups, Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) is a constant business priority at Engineered Products, with improvement in all three areas being a continuous goal. One of the key components of our efforts is to build upon the group's significant achievements over the past 20 years in reducing emissions. This will involve developing reduction plans for waste as well as water and energy consumption in 2003.

As well, steps towards the integration and standardization of an EHS management system gained prominence in 2002 with a continued emphasis on strengthening safe behaviour practices in all our facilities. With respect to the group's goal for all facilities to seek certification to OHSAS 18001, some 15% of our sites have already achieved compliance in 2002 and 60% more are expected to receive certification in 2003. With regard to the environmental management system ISO 14001, 50% of our sites were certified by the end of 2002 and over 90% site certification is planned by the end of 2003.

And, to better monitor our performance, we have worked with the Rolled Products Europe group in creating and implementing a standardized data management system where powerful reporting tools can help us better manage our EHS performance.

Stakeholder engagement: Several examples of our cooperative efforts with stakeholders, especially with customers, came to fruition in 2002 as we demonstrate how to take full advantage of our materials throughout the product life cycle. In the mass transportation area, our innovative, energy-saving solutions were found in a new generation of European commuter trains as well as in buses incorporating the patented Alcan Hybrid System. This technology combines aluminum extrusions, composite panels and plates, all joined by welding, bolting and bonding. We need to increase awareness and understanding of the full life cycle benefits that are possible, and reinforce the economic, environmental and social value of these efforts with other stakeholders.

Product Stewardship: At Engineered Products we encourage recycling and design our products and internal processes accordingly. We also look for new ways to minimize resource use and we continually address how to best minimize our environmental impact. In 2002 we defined energy water and waste minimization plans in order to build on our successes.

A significant achievement in 2002 was the fast growth of automotive components, in particular noting the positive impacts in terms of consumer safety, corrosion resistance, recyclability and fuel savings through light weighting.

See Practical Examples for details on select Engineered Products achievements in 2002.