Norway-based aluminum producer Hydro has begun constructing a new extrusion line at its facility in Cressona, Pennsylvania, as part of its efforts to modernize its manufacturing footprint in North America.
The $53.5mn line will include a 5,900 metric tonne (t) indirect extrusion press and a 45,000 lb/hr billet furnace, with other upgrades including a semi-automated handling system for aluminum profiles, Hydro told Argus on Thursday. The company expects the line to begin operations in the first quarter of 2028.
The project will replace a legacy line with a water-powered hydraulic press that was constructed in the 1950s, as Hydro looks to capitalize on growing demand for indirect extrusions that provide improved grain structures and consistent mechanical properties.
Indirect extrusions involve pushing a die toward a stationary billet, compared with the opposite process when making direct extrusions, which is the industry norm. Hydro primarily supplies indirect extrusions to customers in commercial transportation, automotive and electrical end markets.
The new line comes two years after Hydro installed an indirect extrusion press as part of an earlier modernization push, which coincided with an expansion of Cressona's casting capacity.
The company, which picked Italy-based Presezzi to build the new press, called for "more nuanced" trade policies that do not increase the cost of capital-intensive equipment, noting that extrusion presses and other specialized assets that are "produced only in Europe" carry tariff burdens that threaten the "competitiveness of domestic manufacturing".
