Aleris attains qualification to supply Airbus from Zhenjiang, China

Aleris announced today that its new rolling mill in Zhenjiang, China has attained qualification to supply aluminum aerospace plate to Airbus. This achievement establishes Aleris as a qualified supplier of aluminum plate from its Zhenjiang mill for use in the production of various Airbus aircraft.

Aleris' facility in Koblenz, Germany has supplied aluminum aerospace plate to Airbus for decades. Aleris Zhenjiang, which was opened in early 2013, was modeled after the Koblenz facility to meet the needs of both global and regional aircraft manufacturers by establishing a local supply of aluminum aircraft plate in Asia Pacific.

"This qualification represents a major milestone in our growth strategy, and we are excited about our ability to supply Airbus from two strategically important locations - Europe and Asia Pacific," Steve Demetriou, Aleris chairman and CEO said. "Airbus is one of the world's largest aircraft manufacturers, and this achievement serves as further validation of our Zhenjiang plant's ability to deliver high-quality, advanced aluminum plate that meets the rigorous specifications required to serve the aerospace industry in a region that is expected to experience significant growth in demand for new aircraft."

In June 2014, Aleris announced the Zhenjiang plant's achievement of Nadcap accreditation, which allowed the company to move into the final stages of qualification with Airbus and other major aircraft manufacturers. Bombardier and COMAC have also qualified the Zhenjiang facility and shipments of aircraft plate began at the end of 2014. Aleris Zhenjiang is believed to be one of the first facilities in Asia Pacific qualified to produce aluminum plate for a major global aircraft manufacturer.

Since opening last year, while pursuing the qualification process for aerospace plate production, Aleris Zhenjiang has been shipping orders to commercial plate customers globally. These products serve a number of technically demanding end uses including engineering, transportation, ship-building, and air separation units. As a pre-requisite for these end uses the Zhenjiang plant has also received approval from many certification societies such as TUV, the American Bureau of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas, Class NK, and Bureau Veritas to supply products into ship-building, silo, pressure vessel and other industries.