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(AMM) Kaiser expects to reach capacity at expanded Trentwood mill in 2011

February 24, 2010 - 22:04 GMT Location: NEW YORK

KEYWORDS: Kaiser Aluminum , Trentwood , rolling mill , heat-treat plate

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. has yet to reach full capacity utilization at its Trentwood, Wash., rolling mill since more than doubling heat-treat plate capacity in 2008, but that will change by 2011, according to Daniel J. Rinkenberger, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

"We had not fully achieved the capacity utilization that we had available to us at the beginning of 2009 (as a result of the expansion) and then it fell off from there," Rinkenberger told AMM, noting that the expanded facility likely will reach full capacity utilization for the first time in 2011.

"We would expect not to be operating at capacity in 2010 but it will happen when the uptick really takes hold," he said. "We built for full utilization in plate and we didn't quite get the realization rate in that, (but) in 2011 we will meet capacity."

The first phase of the three-part, $139-million expansion at Trentwood was first announced in 2005, when demand in the aerospace and...

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