The ceremony, which marked the Group’s successful foray into aluminum rolled products, was officiated at by Mr Kwong Wui Chun, Chairman, and Dr Benby Chan, Vice Chairman & CEO of Asia Aluminum Group, Mr Eric Kwong Hoi Fung, Executive Director of Asia Aluminum (China) Company Limited, and Mr James Zhao Xiong, Senior Vice President of Asia Aluminum Group, in the presence of Zhaoqing government officials.
The commissioning of the 6-high cold rolling facilities, after a ceremony hosted by the board of Asia Aluminum Group, marks a milestone in the Group’s development of capability in rolled products. It also represents the beginning of final testing and trial run of rolled products facilities, which are expected to become fully operational before the end of this year. The Group is well on its way to become the leading rolled products manufacturer to bring world-class solutions to its clients and stakeholders.
The rolled products project is equipped with imported equipment and designed to be among the most advanced in the world. Among the installations include a 1+5 hot rolling mill and Asia’s first 5-stand cold rolling mill, as well as the world’s largest automatic aluminum coil handling system. These facilities and technologies will help secure Asia Aluminum’s unique position in delivering efficient and high-quality services.
At the ceremony, the board of Asia Aluminum Group explained the current huge opening in the Mainland market for thin aluminum sheets such as those used by cans makers who currently mainly rely on import into China. The Group is grateful for the support of Mainland government authorities and is honored by their high expectations of this project.
Dr Benby Chan, Vice Chairman & CEO of Asia Aluminum Group, remarked: “The commissioning of our cold mill facilities is a landmark move to diversify into high-end rolled products. It also marks a milestone in the technological advancement of the aluminum industry. With meticulous planning and development, the facilities will meet the most stringent requirements for the output of high-precision, thin and hard alloy rolled products. We are confident of securing a leading position in the rolled products sector. By tapping this market niche, we are also committed to helping China break its heavy reliance on import for premium rolled products.”
About Asia Aluminum Limited
Asia Aluminum Holdings Limited is the world’s premier aluminum fabricator, dedicated to offering sophisticated extrusion, design, engineering, surface-finish and fabrication expertise for the benefit of customers in the infrastructure, home-building and improvement, transportation and other industrial sectors. With a core capability of 360,000 metric tons of extrusion and 400,000 metric tons of rolled products fabrication, the Group is Asia’s largest aluminum processing company and will rank among the world’s top three. For more information, please visit www.asiaalum.com.
About Asia Aluminum (China) Company Limited
Asia Aluminum (China) Company Limited operates from its custom-built production base in Asia Aluminum Industrial City in the New & High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Zhaoqing, and is a key business arm of the Asia Aluminum Group. Asia Aluminum (China) operates a rolled products project which was a HK$6-billion investment commanding a capacity of 400,000 metric tons on full scale. The new installations include the 6-high CVC single-stand cold rolling facilities provided by SMS of Germany, and soon-to-be-commissioned 85T and 50T furnaces and casting facilities, as well as Asia’s first 1+5 hot rolling mill by SMS of Germany. The plant is also equipped with Asia’s first and only 5-stand cold rolling mill from the US, which is further upgraded by SMS and TMGE. With its competitive advantage, the company is uniquely positioned to deliver cost-effective and efficient solutions to its customers in the cans manufacturing sector.
Products will come in specifications ranging from a maximum width of 2.35 m and minimum thickness of 0.15 mm. Major end-user markets will include beverage and food cans, lithographic sheets for printing, precision construction sheets, automobile making and aerospace sheets, aluminum foils, industrial sheets and a wide array of hard alloy rolled products.