Alcoa (NYSE: AA), a global leader in lightweight metals engineering and
manufacturing, is a founding member of the country’s first manufacturing
institute focused solely on light metals: the National Lightweight and
Modern Metals Innovation Institute in Detroit, Michigan. The institute
was formally unveiled by President Obama during an event in Washington
today.
“Lightweight metals are a growing and critical segment of the national
manufacturing base. We’ve seen this most recently through the increased
use of aluminum in the automotive industry to produce energy efficient
vehicles,” said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. “As one of the
country’s most established leaders in lightweight metals, Alcoa is
committed to sharing our expertise to ensure the competitiveness of U.S.
industry.”
The goal of the institute is to expand the market for products using
new, lightweight, high-performing metals and alloys by removing
technological manufacturing barriers. Alcoa’s experts at the Alcoa
Technical Center (ATC) – the world’s largest light metals R&D center,
located outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – will work closely with this
new institute and focus on developing technologies impacting the future
of key industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense, consumer
products, and maritime sectors.
“Public-private partnerships are essential to advancing the
competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing,” said Dr. Raymond Kilmer, Alcoa’s
Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. “Bringing new
innovations to market faster – while creating meaningful jobs in
advanced manufacturing – is vitally important and Alcoa is proud to have
the opportunity to participate in this new institute.”
Alcoa will serve on the board of the new institute and is one of 60
founding members, including the University of Michigan, Boeing, General
Electric, Honda North America and Lockheed Martin.
About Alcoa
A global leader in lightweight metals
engineering and manufacturing, Alcoa innovates multi-material solutions
that advance our world. Our technologies enhance transportation, from
automotive and commercial transport to air and space travel, and improve
industrial and consumer electronics products. We enable smart buildings,
sustainable food and beverage packaging, high-performance defense
vehicles across air, land and sea, deeper oil and gas drilling and more
efficient power generation. We pioneered the aluminum industry over 125
years ago, and today, our 60,000 people in 30 countries deliver
value-add products made of titanium, nickel and aluminum, and produce
best-in-class bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum products. For more
information, visit www.alcoa.com,
follow @Alcoa on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Alcoa
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Copyright Business Wire 2014