Engineered Products is a leading provider of innovative customer-focused fabricated aluminum and composite products and technologies, ensuring customized and cost-effective solutions for the global marketplace, including the aerospace, automotive, mass and marine transportation, building and construction, electrical, beverage can packaging and other specialty sectors. Its leading market positions are a result of strong customer relationships, an extensive product range, deep process knowledge and unique capabilities, technology and equipment.
Key sustainability-focused business initiatives
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Product Stewardship
Integrate product stewardship concepts within the business units to advance from a project-based approach to a broader product stewardship management approach. This leads to cost-effective and sustainable solutions by integrating the complete value chain: from R&D, manufacturing and product use by Alcan’s customers and their customers, to optimizing recycling activities at the end of a product’s life cycle. Engineered Products continues to enhance its efforts to integrate product stewardship into its business processes. This requires knowledge about product life cycle assessment and other relevant sustainability aspects, both for the management team and the non-specialists within various functions. In 2007, the group continued to provide general training sessions for non-specialists. Generic training modules have been developed to help strengthen the internal understanding of product stewardship concepts, issues and applications.
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Advanced Solution Provider Unlike other materials, aluminum and composite materials lend themselves to lightweight designs and innovative solutions in transportation, thereby contributing to substantial savings in energy consumption and reduction of CO2 emissions. Recent examples include the development of aluminum-lithium alloys for the aerospace sector and lightweight extrusion alloys for automotive applications. Similarly, other specific material properties such as conductivity and corrosion-resistance are exploited for application in energy transformation, the building industry and industrial engineering.
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Recycling Recycle products and materials. Whenever possible and beneficial, closed-loop material flow systems that allow for alloy-specific recycling systems with our customers are promoted to better capture the high value offered by the recycling of new generation alloys. The increased use of such recycled material generated internally and by customers is a major step in this direction. As well, remelting recovered aluminum needs only 5%-10% of the energy required to produce primary aluminum in a smelter. For example, the Specialty Sheet unit is adding used beverage can recycling capacity and significant finishing capacity at its Neuf-Brisach facility in France to meet growing customer demand and offer a differentiated value proposition in quality and service.
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Energy
Continue reducing energy consumption in all production processes through the implementation of the energy efficiency program that is part of EHS FIRST. On the product side, develop cost-effective “green” solutions to meet customers’ environmental challenges and offer enhanced solutions for the rapidly expanding alternative energy markets, which are being driven by increasing energy costs. For example, the wind
energy market is served by the group’s balsa wood and plastic foam core materials business units.
For a detailed overview of the group’s geographic and market presence, please refer to Alcan Facts 2006 available online or in publication.
