Constellium N.V., Paris, and UACJ Corp., Japan, have signed a Joint Venture Agreement to supply Body-in-White aluminum sheet to the North American automotive industry, following their January 2014 announcement of plans to collaborate.
The JV will have an initial target capacity of 100,000 metric tons supplied by cold rolled coils from both partners’ rolling mills. The facility, which will be located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, will be designed to allow for expansion beyond 100,000 tons. The total joint investment is expected to be approximately $150 million. Production is scheduled to start in the first half of 2016, with full capacity reached by 2018.
“Bowling Green is the right place for this plant, particularly because its central location will allow us to serve automotive OEMs across the United States with our advanced and innovative range of products,” commented Laurent Musy, President of Constellium’s Packaging and Automotive Rolled Products business unit. “The availability of a highly skilled local labor force and the entrepreneurial spirit of the area were the decisive factors in choosing the city of Bowling Green and the state of Kentucky, which has been very supportive during the decision process”.
“This project is very significant for UACJ in terms of our Body-in-White market strategy. We look forward to supplying automotive OEMs throughout the Unted States with advanced products utilizing the technologies each party has separately developed in the EU and Japan. We welcome this Joint Venture with Constellium to tackle the strategic automotive market in the U.S.,” said Mitsuru Okada, CEO of UACJ. “Both companies have been working hard together in the spirit of equal partnership, allowing us to finalize the agreement in a timely and efficient manner.”
