Aleris Zhenjiang achieves Nadcap accreditation for aerospace plate production

Aleris today announced that it has attained Nadcap accreditation for its new rolling mill in Zhenjiang, China, an industry standard for the production of aircraft aluminum plate and a prerequisite for inclusion on the Qualified Product List (QPL) for major aircraft manufacturers. The certification follows audits performed by the Performance Review Institute in May 2014, with respect to Nadcap requirements for heat treating and non-destructive testing.

"Nadcap accreditation represents one of the final major hurdles in the qualification process for the production of aircraft material at our new state-of-the-art facility in Zhenjiang," John Zhu, President, Aleris China said. "Achieving this milestone in accordance with our projected timeline represents an extraordinary accomplishment for our team, and sets the course for Aleris to begin serving the global aerospace industry from Asia Pacific in the second half of this year."

Aleris' $350 million hot rolling mill unveiled in early 2013 was designed to meet fast-growing national and global demand for technically advanced aluminum plate products for global aerospace and commercial plate customers. With the achievement of Nadcap accreditation, the company is preparing to move into the final stages of qualification with major aircraft manufacturers, with shipments of aircraft plate expected to begin in the third quarter. Once the qualification process is complete, Aleris Zhenjiang is expected to be one of the first facilities in Asia Pacific to produce aluminum plate for the major global aircraft manufacturers. Since opening last year, 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.