Constellium Nuef-Brisach

of industrial
excellence
text by
Tristan Gaston-Breton
translation
Suzanne Bréant
S.E.T.S (Summer English Translation Services)
NH50-PART01-EN_Mise en page 1 04/09/2017 23:45 Page1

ConstelliumNeuf-Brisach
3
FOREWORD
1967-2017: half a century after its creation, the Neuf-Brisach plant is continuing to
develop in a manner that would make its founders proud. Its design was based on
three watchwords: Europe, excellence, and automotive. European ambition was a
determining factor in the decision to build the plant in Europe’s heartland in the
town of Neuf-Brisach, in the Alsace region of eastern France. The goal of
technological excellence was to meet the demands generated by the post-war
economic boom: mass production, innovation and quality. It is important to
remember that global consumption of aluminium grew by 8% per year between
1950 and 1975, and that production rocketed from 1.5 to 14 million tonnes! In
France, one company dominated the sector: Pechiney. It was both the oldest in
the world and one of the most innovative. In that same year, 1967, it inaugurated
two facilities that still underpin Constellium’s value today: the Neuf-Brisach plant
and the research center in Voreppe, which has now become C-TEC. As for the
automotive sector, one of the emblematic markets of the rapidly changing society
of the 1960s, not until some forty years later did it adopt aluminium as a material
for body in white and closures at such a large scale. It was packaging, another
flourishing sector at that time, that drove development of the plant, and is still its
main market.

4
Today, Neuf-Brisach is capable of delivering 450,000 tonnes of rolled products to
exacting customers, particularly in two markets where competition is fierce: food
and beverage cans and the automotive sector. Its latest major investment in 2016
boosted its capacity by 100,000 tonnes of automotive body sheet in a sector that
is now booming.
The road has not always been smooth, however, and the Neuf-Brisach plant owes
the success it enjoys today to the perseverance, imagination and rigor of all the
men and women who have contributed to its history. And, first and foremost, to its
ability to constantly reinvent itself. Anticipating the transformations taking place in
society as a whole, the plant has installed recycling facilities that have significantly
improved its economic performance while meeting the requirements of
sustainability.
This small book tells of these battles, relates the key events that have punctuated
the history of the plant and pays tribute to the men and women who have shared
this extraordinary industrial adventure. For me, it is an opportunity to express
heartfelt thanks on behalf of Constellium to all the men and women who have
contributed to its success both in the past and today, starting with the employees
of Neuf-Brisach, whether they work in the production shops, in maintenance, in
the engineering or in the administration and sales departments. My gratitude also
goes to the customers who have placed their trust in us and continue to do so, as
well as to all the plant’s partners.
Jean-Marc Germain
Chief Executive Officer
Constellium Group

5
A SHARED ANNIVERSARY
As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Neuf-Brisach, a flourishing site with a
fine future ahead of it, it is impossible not to think about all the men and women
who came before us and contributed to its history. Its founders identified the
needs to come and designed an industrial facility that was destined to last. A small
group of pioneers from the engineering department at the plant in Issoire arrived
in 1965 to oversee construction and hire the first locals (as far back as 1961!) to
organize and start up production in 1967. They paved the way, and all our
employees, at all levels and in all the professions represented at the site, have
strived tirelessly to ensure its success ever since.
Through this book I invite you to discover this fine plant, which adapts constantly
to meet the exacting requirements of its customers. Read about its facilities, main
production stages and markets, as well as the key dates that have punctuated its
history and built its culture. Find out what lies behind the site’s longevity: a
commitment to excellence, adaptability, tenacity and an ability to call itself into
question, qualities that serve it well both during the good times and when facing
challenges.
We are proud of our history and happy to share it with you.
Ludovic Piquier
Constellium Neuf-Brisach Site Director

A CONSTANTLY
EVOLVING FACILITY
© Constellium / Gérard Uféras

Aerial view of the plant in 1967 - Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach © Rights reserved

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A large plant geared towards international markets
780,000 m2
, of which 200,000 under cover, nearly 1500 employees and a
production capacity boosted to 450,000 tonnes per year since the new finishing
line for the automotive market was commissioned in 2016: welcome to the Neuf-
Brisach aluminium plant, one of the largest production facilities in Constellium.
Founded in 1967, the plant stands on the banks of the river Rhine on the outskirts
of the town of Neuf-Brisach in Alsace (eastern France). With most of its employees
living locally it is perfectly integrated into its environment in Europe’s industrial
heartland, where it operates in direct contact with the world’s biggest consumers
of aluminium, including automakers and automotive suppliers, beverage and food
cans manufacturers and the building industry. The plant’s international purpose
was confirmed right from the start, and the choice of location has been amply
justified ever since. Today, 75% of the products manufactured at Neuf-Brisach are
exported to Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa.
The history of Neuf-Brisach is one of
continuous improvement, modernization
and expansion with a view to increasing its
production capabilities. The plant is
constantly growing.
Olivier Lach, Engineering Department Director
“
”

Aerial view of the plant in 2017 © Constellium

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Once upon a time: an industrial vision...
The story of the site begins with an industrial vision that dates back to the late
1950s but that would not to come to complete fruition until several decades later,
due to the vagaries of the markets.
Neuf-Brisach was originally designed on an assumption of strong future growth in
demand for automotive body sheet, but development was slower than expected
and it had to wait until the 2000s to gain a solid foothold in this market. Not until
then was the production target set by the plant’s “founding fathers” back in 1967
finally achieved: 400,000 tonnes of rolled products per year.
In the intervening years and to provide work for its state-of-the-art facilities, the
site had to reinvent itself very quickly and establish a firm position on another
market, which would grow on a scale that nobody had imagined: canstock.
Demonstrating remarkable adaptability and responsiveness, Neuf-Brisach
achieved this goal in the early 1980s.
The organization of production and the outlets for the plant’s products reflect this
eventful history. Built in 1967 for large, continuous production runs, it remained
faithful to that initial choice. Its main original feature is that it incorporates all
stages in the manufacture of aluminium coils and sheets: recycling, casting, hot
and cold rolling, automotive finishing and coating.
The Neuf-Brisach plant has always taken change
in its stride. It is capable of calling itself into
question. Its entire history proves it.
Laurette Zaeh-Petit, Communication Manager
Packaging and Automotive Rolled Products
“
”

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Thanks to these facilities, which have been constantly modernized through a
number of major investments in the course of its history, Neuf-Brisach now
manufactures 2000 different high value-added products in a variety of alloys, most
of which are destined for its two major historic markets: the beverage can market
and the automotive industry.
A plant and its markets
Beverage and Food can market
With annual production of between 220,000 and 260,000 tonnes, canstock has
expanded constantly since the 1980s and is still the leading market for Neuf-
Brisach. “We produce aluminium beverage canstock, (bodystock, endstock and
tabstock) and foodstock”, explains Hervé Vichery, head of canstock technical
customer services.
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2016
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Production at the Neuf-Brisach plant (in thousands of tonnes), 1980-2016
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

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A key feature of the plant is that it is completely
integrated. It’s one of just a few in Europe that
go from recycling to coating.
Catherine Athènes, Director Marketing
“
”With steel likely to cease being used to manufacture beverage cans in the coming
years, the volumes produced at the site are set to increase even further.
“Aluminium has a lot of advantages over steel. Its natural shine makes it more
pleasant and more attractive. And it’s much more corrosion-resistant. A steel can
needs much more protective coating than an aluminium can”, Hervé Vichery says.
Beverage cans
©Yourg (left) Ilya Akinshin (right)

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Food cans - for food preservation - are still mainly made of steel, with the exception
of high-end products and small containers such as those used for pet food. These
are markets on which Constellium has gained a strong position.
Neuf-Brisach has a major asset when it comes to meeting the needs of can
manufacturers. “The plant’s key strength is that it is capable of producing
aluminium of a constant quality in very large quantities. Beverage can
manufacturers need to produce rapidly and continually. So the metal they use
must be homogeneous and completely free of even the tiniest variation. Very few
suppliers can do that”, Hervé Vichery stresses. Innovation therefore plays a key
role in this process, to find the best possible matches between metal and tools.
But it also comes into play in the development of special alloys, such as the one
developed for aluminium bottles and aerosols marketed under the Aeral®
brand.
Automotive sector
The automotive sector is currently the plant’s second biggest market. Following
the inauguration of a second automotive finishing line in 2016, the automotive
body sheet market accounts for an annual volume of 150,000 tonnes.
The very rapid pace of growth in the automotive market is the salient feature of the
past ten years, and 2007-2008 is the period when the plant became actively
involved in this market. It has indeed always worked for the automotive sector,
supplying automakers and automotive Tier 1 with parts to make body in white and
closures components as well as heat-exchangers, as far back as 1967. But a whole
Twenty years ago half of Europe’s beverage
cans were made of aluminium. Now the
proportion is more than 90%.
Hervé Vichery, Head of Canstock Technical Customer Services
“
”

15
new chapter began in the second half of the 2000s: high-end German automakers
switched to aluminium on a large scale, adopting it mainly for vehicle closures and
body in white.
Their decision was prompted by the need to comply with increasingly strict
standards aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles – i.e., their weight.
“These standards led to a lot of new interest in aluminium, which is much lighter
than steel and can also be recycled over and over again without any loss of
properties”, explains Hervé Ribes, head of automotive technical customer
services at Neuf-Brisach, who arrived at the plant in 2007. “If we wanted to
operate on that market, we had to invest heavily. And that’s what we did, starting
in 2008.” Neuf-Brisach’s industrial director Philippe Solignac stresses: “That year
Inauguration of automotive finishing line FT3 in 2016 © Constellium

16
marked a milestone. We completely refurbished the finishing line that had been
installed in 1966 and installed a chemical conversion process, enabling us to go
up-market in line with the German carmakers’ needs.” The site’s location just
across the river Rhine is a further advantage, simplifying and speeding up
deliveries to their factories.
Just under a decade later, the automotive market has exceeded all expectations.
“We are on the verge of a major transformation: the sector is making ever greater
use of aluminium, opening up enormous prospects for development. The
European market is likely to grow three-fold and the American market ten-fold”,
explains Ludovic Piquier, who became Plant Director in 2014 having himself come
from the automotive industry. “Aluminium offers the best trade-off between price
and weight,” Catherine Athènes continues. “Most of the growth has been driven
by the closure components: doors, hood and trunk, which can be made of
aluminium without changing the vehicle’s structure. That made the transition to
aluminium a lot easier.”
The Neuf-Brisach plant now has a reputation as a center of excellence in the
automotive sector, largely thanks to the new finishing line commissioned in 2016.
“This line is a high-performance, integrated facility that complies with the ever
more stringent standards coming into force in the automotive industry. It has
enabled us to triple our output of automotive body sheet”, Ludovic Piquier
stresses. But Neuf-Brisach is not merely a center of excellence for the carmakers
to which it delivers its products; it has also acquired this status for the other units
across Constellium. Technicians and operators from Neuf-Brisach are sent on
assignments all over the world to share their technical expertise during the start-
up of new automotive facilities. “In both human and technical terms, Neuf-Brisach
is a true benchmark for the automotive sector”, reckons Céline Steiner, a hot
rolling supervisor who spent several months at the Constellium UACJ plant in
Bowling Green, USA.
Meeting the specific needs of manufacturers
Drawing on this expertise, Neuf-Brisach has built a solid relationship of trust with
its carmaker customers. And this has had a major consequence: “We are no

17
longer merely an aluminium supplier. We do
much more than that and now design custom
products to meet the carmakers’ needs”,
Philippe Solignac explains. “Real brands have
been created, such as the Surfalex®
aluminium skin and Securalex®
for crash
applications.”
The process is based on a team work. “A
manufacturer sends us a request. If we don’t
have the product required in stock, we work
with C-TEC, Constellium’s R&D facility in
Voreppe, near Grenoble, to develop a new
alloy. Neuf-Brisach, Voreppe and the
carmaker communicate constantly with each
other”, Philippe Solignac explains. The on-
site engineering department plays a key role
in this process: “It is tasked with designing
the tools we will use to make the product the
customer wants.”
We are capable of producing specific alloys for all
vehicle parts that are made of aluminium sheet.
That’s a real special feature of Neuf-Brisach.
Hervé Ribes, Automotive Technical Customer Service Director
“
”
The Neuf-Brisach engineering department
© Constellium
4

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Pride in a job well done
Round the clock and seven days per week, nearly 1500 employees contribute to
producing the coils and sheets to be delivered to beverage can manufacturers,
carmakers and other customers. Neuf-Brisach is something of an exception when
it comes to employment. “The plant’s workforce has grown constantly since 1967.
It escaped the crises that shook the steel industry, for instance”, Human Resources
Director Thierry Carré rightly stresses.
The high level of professionalism - another key feature - stems from the lengthy
training courses completed mainly on the shop floor. It takes at least two years to
train a casthouse, rolling mill or slitter operator. “These professions are learned
directly on the line or in the shop, and not in the classroom. So people take great
pride in their jobs. They really feel they have been entrusted with very special
skills.” As a result, staff turnover is also very low.
With growing momentum in the automotive sector, the plant holds a winning hand.
“The men and women of Neuf-Brisach form the backbone of a real industrial
culture based on in-depth knowledge of their products”, Ludovic Piquier stresses.
“Because of the standards it has to meet, the automotive industry requires us to
make products of impeccable quality and deliver them on time. The plant is ideally
placed to carry out this mission.”
The folk on the lines are passionately committed.
They take great pride in their jobs. The people
here want to share their expertise.
Thierry Carré, Human Resources Director
“
”

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1, 2 & 3: © Constellium / Gérard Uféras - 4: IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Photo Rapho
5, 6, 7 & 8: Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach © Rights reserved

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Did you know?
n Two 10-tonne coils make 1.3 million beverage cans
n The 200 tonnes of aluminium sheets fitted to the Grande Arche at
La Défense in Paris were rolled at the Neuf-Brisach plant
n The weight of the aluminium found in a car has risen from 50 kilos
in 1990 to 158 kilos today
n More than 90% of the 250 billion drink cans consumed each year
around the world are made entirely of aluminium
n More than 70% of the aluminium beverage cans sold on the
European market are recycled
n Aluminium is completely and infinitely recyclable
n 75% of the aluminium ever produced is still in use today
A Neuf-Brisach niche: specialized products
for heat exchangers
Constellium is hard at work developing parts that are lighter and more
corrosion-resistant, and makes 20,000 tonnes of cladded products for heat
exchangers each year at Neuf-Brisach. “These are specialized products
occupying a specific niche in which innovation plays a key role”, Hervé Ribes
explains. Some of them are cladded up to five times, a technical feat that is
not within everyone’s grasp...
Left and right pages: © Constellium / Gérard Uféras

TOUR OF THE PLANT
IN SIX STAGES

The six stages of the process
Overview of the Neuf-Brisach plant
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. Recycling
2. Casthouse
3. Hot rolling
4. Cold rolling
5. Automotive finishing
6. Packaging finishing

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RECYCLING
1
This is where it all begins! The shop is fitted with highly flexible
furnaces capable of processing all types of aluminium scrap from
the production cycle or from Constellium customers as well as end-
of-life product waste. Each year they recycle the equivalent of
3 billion used beverage cans. Since the recycling unit was installed
in 1992 its output has risen constantly:from 20,000 tonnes in 1994
to 150,000 tonnes today.
Used beverage cans
awaiting recycling © Constellium

24
Aluminium casting from the
furnace in the recycling shop
© Constellium
Overview of the recycling shop
equipped with rotary furnaces
© Constellium
4
4
1

25
In recycling, there’s no such thing as mass
production.There are no repetitive tasks
because no two charges are ever the same.
The human dimension is vital. A furnace
operator also needs to have an eagle eye.
Laurent Vidal, Recycling Unit Supervisor
“
”
Loading scrap into a rotary furnace © Constellium
1

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The early days of recycling
at Neuf-Brisach, in the 1990s
Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach
© Rights reserved
4
4
Aluminium casting: a technician
steps in to monitor the chemical
composition of the metal © Constellium
1

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THE CASTHOUSE
The site has five melting furnaces, which are fed with
aluminium ingots and scrap and, sometimes, with alloying
elements (copper, magnesium, manganese, etc.) depending
on the alloy requested. The alloy obtained is transferred to
holding furnaces and filtered before being cast as slabs
weighing between 7 and 15 tonnes. In total the casthouse
supplies the rolling mill with 400,000 tonnes of aluminium
slabs each year.
Overview of a melting furnace
© Constellium
2

28
Top: the casthouse in the 1970s and 1980s
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Rights reserved
Bottom: the casthouse: aluminium alloy slab casting © Constellium
2

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Improve our performance, optimize our operations,
boost our capacity:the casthouse is constantly
growing and that’s what drives us. When I arrived
in 1994 we produced 250,000 tonnes of slabs a
year. Now it’s 400,000 tonnes!
Laurent Jouet-Pastré, Casthouse Expert
“
”
Alloy slab stripping © Constellium
2

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Alloy slab stripping
© Constellium
2

31
HOT ROLLING
Two rolling mills - one reversible and one four-stand tandem -
gradually reduce the 400 to 600 mm-thick aluminium slabs into
2.5 to 7 mm-thick strips. The strips obtained are rolled into coils
and placed in storage to cool.
Overview of the reversible hot rolling mill
3

32
In the hot rolling shop, operations are
continuous and once you have started a
run you can’t stop it.This requires a
collective discipline.
Céline Steiner, Hot Rolling Supervisor
“
”
A slab entering the hot rolling mill
© Constellium
3

33
4
The hot rolling mill
in the early 1970s
© Rights reserved
4
A blank being
prepared on the
hot rolling mill
© Constellium
3

34
Hot rolling mill control room
in the 1970s
© Photo Bizos - Rights reserved
Hot rolling mill control
room today
4
4
3

COLD ROLLING
Three cold rolling mills reduce the coils to their final thickness,
which in some cases can be below 0.2 mm. The installation also
has eleven annealing furnaces and a slitter for width adjustment.
Three-stand cold rolling mill L8
in the early 1970s
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney
© Rights reserved
Overview of cold rolling
© Constellium
4
4
4
35

36
Cold rolling is a bit like a marshaling yard.
The rolling mill used depends on the final
purpose of the product - automotive body
sheet, canstock, etc.
Christian Miehé, Cold Rolling Shop Logistics Manager
“
”
Three-stand cold rolling mill L8 in 1967
IHA, coll. photographique de L’Aluminium Français © Rights reserved
4

4
© Constellium & top right © Constellium / Gérard Uféras

4 Cold rolling hall

39
AUTOMOTIVE FINISHING
This used to be part of a workshop called finishing.In this shop the
coils are adapted to the customers’ standards, mainly by means of
a series of heat and chemical treatments. They are then cut to the
requisite dimensions and conditioned,either left as coils or divided
into sheets.The new automotive finishing line was installed in this
shop in 2016.
5
Overview of automotive
finishing line FT3
© Constellium

40
Finishing shop in the 1970s. Tension leveler
Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach © Rights reserved
5

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The new finishing line has a distinctive
feature:it is highly integrated. It embodies
the purpose of Neuf-Brisach:being a
center of excellence for the automotive
industry. It also enables us to offer new
products and reach out to new customers.
Markus Gehrig, Technical Manager, Automotive Customers
“
”
5
Automotive finishing line FT3. Surface inspection © Constellium

42
5
Cut to length machine C20. Cutting sheets destined for the automotive market
Shear C20. Adjusting the tension leveler © Constellium / Gérard Uféras

PACKAGING FINISHING
Products less than 0.4 mm thick,destined for the food and beverage
packaging markets, undergo a special treatment comprising two
operations: degreasing, to ensure correct adhesion, and coating
itself, which consists in applying a protective food-contact or
decorative coating.
© Constellium
6
43

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Aluminium tension leveling, degreasing
and preparation are highly specialized
tasks.The folk in the coating shop are
very proud of their work.
Bruno Naegelin, Safety Coordinator and Former Coating Shop Foreman
“
Packaging Finishing shop during the 1970s - Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach
© Rights reserved
”
6

45
Control cabin
6

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6
Top: © Constellium / Gérard Uféras - Bottom: © Constellium
Right page: IHA, coll. photographique de L’Aluminium Français © Rights reserved

THE PLANT IN 12 KEY DATES
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016

The plant before the plant:
origins of the
Neuf-Brisach site
(1959-1967)
Cegédur plant in Issoire. Coil storage area

1959
1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016 ConstelliumNeuf-Brisach
49
An essential plant...
Technically speaking, the history of the Neuf-Brisach plant does not begin in
1967... In actual fact it dates back to 1959. In that year the managers of Cegédur,
France’s leading aluminium processing company and a joint subsidiary of
Pechiney and the Compagnie Générale d’Electricité, decided to build a new rolling
plant in France. The reason for this investment was the strong growth on the
market: between 1950 and 1958, annual aluminium consumption in France soared
from 70,000 to nearly 200,000 tonnes and everything indicated that the trend was
set to continue. Aerospace, building construction, packaging, automaking: the
many applications of aluminium covered entire sectors of the economy. And the
potential outlets had broadened considerably since the signature of the Treaty of
Rome in 1957, which gave rise to the European Economic Community and
instigated the process of abolishing customs duties between member states. Up to
then most of Cegédur’s customers had been French, but from then on they were
European. Demand was rocketing and new international markets were opening up,
so there were at least two good reasons to build a new production plant...
But there was also a third reason: the Cegédur plant in Issoire, central France, had
reached saturation point. Having been commissioned in 1947, it was struggling
badly to keep up with the increase in demand in the aerospace sector, its flagship
market. Conquering new markets seemed inconceivable. To make matters worse,
the Issoire plant did not have the facilities to produce thin sheet – less than 3 mm
thick – which was needed to satisfy new requirements. Yet Cegédur’s managers
1959

5050
1959
The hot rolling mill at the Cegédur plant in Issoire, in 1956

51
believed they had spotted a particularly promising new outlet: automotive body
sheets. There was no doubt in their minds that this market was set to take off in
the very near future. That being the case and given the situation at Issoire, it was
vital to build a new rolling plant.
But not just any plant! In a world of mass production, the new one would have to
be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities capable of producing on a large scale
at high speeds. This ability to produce large volumes at highly competitive prices
and to operate leading-edge facilities would characterize Neuf-Brisach throughout
its history. It would provide the roadmap for the major investment programs of the
1980s and 90s before underpinning the more recent developments, helping to
shape one of the most efficient industrial sites in its sector...
Central building of the Cegédur plant
in Issoire, in the early 1950s
IHA, coll. photographique de L’Aluminium Français
© Rights reserved
1959

52
The increasing importance of aluminium in packaging during the 1960s
Bulletin Pechiney, no142, february 1967 - Coll. IHA

53
And the winner is... Neuf-Brisach!
Once the managers of Cegédur had made their decision to build a new plant, they
spent several months debating the best location for it. Dunkirk on the north coast
was considered for a while, but eventually ruled out due to the climate, which was
too damp to be suitable for the equipment. Another town considered was
Noguères near Lacq, in the south-west, where Pechiney had just launched a new
aluminium production plant, but the area was considered too remote. In the end
they opted for the Alsace plain near the river Rhine in the east - a logical choice,
given the emergence of the new Europe. From the heart of the Common Market,
the plant would easily be able to export its products to other countries. Not to
mention the fact that Cegédur had not at that stage ruled out building the plant in
partnership with Belgian or German industrialists, which meant choosing a site
that was not too far away. At first, the port area of Strasbourg ticked all the boxes.
But it was eventually abandoned, since the land was available for rent and not for
purchase. That was a sizeable handicap for Cegédur’s managers, who were intent
on acquiring land freehold.
In the end they opted for another port area, that of Colmar-Neuf-Brisach. This was
a wise choice – from a geographical standpoint first of all. “Most of Europe’s
industrial facilities lie within a 500-kilometre radius around Neuf-Brisach, and all
of Europe’s major ports lie within a 650-kilometre radius”, was the explanation
given at Cegédur, while also emphasizing another key asset of the area: its
proximity to the European markets and, further afield, potential for attaining “big
export” business. Indeed, from its location on the banks of the Rhine, the plant
would have direct access to the main ports on the North Sea such as Rotterdam
1961
1961
1959 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016

54
Top: the Colmar-Neuf-Brisach port area in 1967. The Rhenalu plant can be seen in the background
Bottom: the area around the Neuf-Brisach plant
1961
54

55
Did you say Neuf-Brisach?
“The site chosen to build the plant lay mostly in the district of Biesheim, with
a small part in that of Kunheim. Neuf-Brisach, four kilometers from Biesheim,
is a well-known, attractive small town that was created by Louis XIV and
fortified by Vauban when Alsace was annexed to the Kingdom of France. It
also happened to be the only place with a post office, hence the initial choice
of name - ‘Usine de Neuf-Brisach’ - in 1960” (Rhenalu, L’usine Neuf-Brisach,
IHA 1995).
and Antwerp, and be connected to the German, Swiss and Italian road and railway
networks. This would significantly reduce logistics costs and greatly simplify
shipping. Another - and by no means insignificant – advantage was that the site
would have access to all the energy needed to operate its large industrial facilities,
since Neuf-Brisach lay just a few hundred meters away from Vogelgrun dam and
hydropower plant, one of the eight such plants lying between Basel and
Strasbourg. In fact, Cegédur could not have dreamt of a more perfect site.
In October 1961, nearly two years after the first layout studies and following
signature of an agreement with the Colmar-Neuf-Brisach public port authority,
Cegédur acquired 244 hectares of land straddling the districts of Biesheim and
Kunheim. But that was just the first stage, and much remained to be done before
the new plant would become a reality.
1961
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Signing the deed of
sale of the land for the
Cegédur Neuf-Brisach
plant: Colmar,
January 29th
, 1965
IHA, coll. photographique de
Pechiney © Rights reserved

57
Rhenalu’s European ambitions
During the summer of 1962, while Cegédur’s engineers were hard at work
designing the future Neuf-Brisach site, the articles of association of a new
company were filed with a notary in Paris. Its name was Rhenalu, a contraction for
“Rhine Aluminium”. Its purpose was to build and then operate the plant. Its
shareholders were French companies in the metallurgy sector, first and foremost
among them Cegédur, which held a majority stake (75%) in the capital. The Neuf-
Brisach rolling mill would hence be French.
The company had affirmed since the outset that the Neuf-Brisach plant would be
built in association with European partners. To help fund it, of course, but also -and
most importantly - to underscore its position at the heart of the new Common
The Neuf-Brisach site
entrance in 1967 and
in the 1980s
L’Aluminium Français
© Droits réservés - © Constellium,
coll. Neuf-Brisach - Rights reserved
1962
1962

58
Market and the international dimension of its market outlets. As early as the late
1950s, contacts had been made with Belgian company Sidal, in which Pechiney
held a large stake. Pechiney was also its main supplier of metal. But the
discussions were soon halted when the French group acquired a Belgian
competitor of Sidal, Les Laminoirs de l’Escaut, which led to tensions among the
senior management.
Other negotiations had been instigated with Vereinigte Aluminium Werke (VAW),
Germany’s leading aluminium producer, founded in 1917. An agreement between the
two seemed logical: were both not seeking to boost their production capacities? But
here too the negotiations eventually foundered, because the Germans wanted to
build the plant on their side of the border near Düsseldorf, Duisburg or Dortmund.
Plant construction
site, undated [1965]
IHA, coll. photographique
de L’Aluminium Français
© Rights reserved
1962
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59
And that was difficult for the French to accept. The two parties had also been unable
to reach agreement regarding leadership of the future plant.
By late 1962, the matter was finally settled: the Rhenalu plant in Neuf-Brisach
would have a European vocation but be built by the French, VAW having decided
to build its own plant with Canadian firm Alcan in Norf, in the Ruhr. Cegédur would
shoulder the burden of the “major European plant” it was about to build on the
banks of the Rhine by itself. Neuf-Brisach’s international ambitions were sketched
out in the late 1950s, but bringing them to fruition would turn out to be a gradual
process which today makes Constellium one of the world’s leading manufacturers
of semi-finished aluminium products.
Special issue of the Pechiney newsletter
dedicated to the plant, October 1966 - Coll. IHA
1962
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Birth and expansion
of a plant (1967 to the present)
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Photo Bizos - Rights reserved

61
A major plant is born...
1967
... On October 13th
, 1967, with numerous guests
in attendance, the French industry minister
Olivier Guichard inaugurated the plant. It was one
of the largest and most modern sites in Europe,
designed eventually to produce 35,000 tonnes of
aluminium per month. That event marked the
start of fierce competition with the plant in Norf,
which still continues today.
The first facilities were already operating on that
October day. The works had begun in 1964 with
the acquisition of the land, and been completed
in September 1966. The buildings were all joined
together, allowing continuous production, which
Rhenalu will be the biggest continuous
aluminium rolling plant anywhere in Europe...
This new unit will equip the French aluminium
processing sector to compete on a more
equal footing with its larger rivals on the
other side of the Atlantic... Olivier Guichard, 1967
”
“
OlivierGuichardinauguratingtherollingmill
Coll.Constellium©PhotoBoehrer-Rightsreserved
1967
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6262
1967 : The process:
Handling coils
prior to rolling
Preparing coils
for rolling
Static coil annealing
furnace
Preparing coils for the
annealing furnace
4 4
4 44

63
The cold rolling mill.
Hot-rolled blanks entering
The cold rolling mill.
Coils exiting
Finishing line
Finishing.
Tension leveling
4 4 4
4 4
63

64
was a real novelty compared to the Issoire plant. In July 1966 the first equipment
was installed: slitter CR51, a finishing tool used to cut the aluminium coil to the
width required by the customer. But the real milestone was reached the following
September, when cold rolling mill L8 was commissioned. The centerpiece of the
new plant, this three-stand “big machine” - a group of three synchronized rolling
mills used to reduce the aluminium coils to their final thickness between 3.5 and
0.4 mm – was the largest in its category anywhere in the world at that time. It was
supplied with coils by the Issoire plant for the first three years, pending
construction of an on-site hot rolling line to transform alloy slabs into coils.
Cold rolling mill L8,
the centerpiece of
the plant, in 1967
de Pechiney
© Rights reserved
1967
1959 1961 1962 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016

The slitter and the cold rolling mill were the vanguards in a whole range of new
installations. Right from the outset, Cegédur intended Neuf-Brisach to be
completely integrated and comprise a casthouse, a hot rolling line, a cold rolling
installation, and finishing and shipment shops. Most of these leading-edge, high-
performance facilities came on-line in 1970 and would be used to produce sheets
and coils for building construction, blanks for packaging and aluminium foil but
also, and most importantly, automotive body sheets. For the managers of Cegédur
and Rhenalu, there was no mistaking the signs: the Panhard Dyna, designed by
engineer Jean-Albert Grégoire with an aluminium engine, cast frame, closures and
body in white, and produced between 1947 and 1954, was a resounding success.
The Citroën DS, with an aluminium hood, roof and trunk lid, was an even bigger hit.
Both of these examples proved that there were significant opportunities in the
automotive sector. However, the promise of a car made entirely of aluminium was
not borne out by the technological developments that followed, and the automotive
industry did not become a major outlet for the site until the early 2000s. In the
intervening years, the Neuf-Brisach plant had to turn to other markets.
Hotchkiss-Grégoire
car, 1951
IHA, coll. IHA-Grégoire
© PhotoThierry Renaux
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016 ConstelliumNeuf-Brisach
65

In Voreppe, meanwhile...
1967 did not just mark the start-up of the Neuf-Brisach plant. In
the same year, Pechiney inaugurated a state-of-the-art
aluminium research center in Voreppe, near Grenoble (SE
France), in order to develop new alloys to satisfy its various
markets. The site was chosen on account of its proximity to the
city’s academic, scientific and technical communities, but also
to Pechiney’s plants and laboratories in the nearby Alpine
valleys. Renamed C-TEC (Constellium Technology Center) in
2014, it is now the largest R&D center in Western Europe
devoted to aluminium and its alloys.
Where did they come from?
The Neuf-Brisach site started up in 1967 with a workforce of 270. The “hard
core” of the staff – particularly the management – came from the Cegédur
plant in Issoire, in the Puy-de-Dôme region of central France. These
engineers, technicians, draughtsmen and foremen also played a key role in
designing and building Neuf-Brisach. As more shops opened the horizons
widened. While many of the recruits were local – often Alsatian farmers’
sons who found working the land unappealing – some laborers and foremen
came from further afield, all over eastern France but also from the north.
Most of them had solid experience, gained on electricity infrastructure
1967
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Aluminium water tower at the CRV, the future C-TEC, in Voreppe
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Droits réservés
4ConstelliumNeuf-Brisach
66

67
projects in the region or in the metallurgy sector. People hence came from far and
wide to work at Neuf-Brisach. And where did they live? Some newcomers found
lodgings in nearby towns, while others were allocated housing in the “Georges
Lasch” workers’ estate built by Rhenalu in Biesheim in 1968.
What struck me straight away was the size
and output of the rolling mill. I had never seen
such a big, modern machine before. It was a
discovery for all of us, even the shop manager.
Start-up of the cold rolling mill as seen by Camille Selig, who arrived at the site in 1966
”
“
1967
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The cold rolling mill, 1967

69
A new market: canstock...
1970
During 1970, hot rolling mill L2 and the first duplex furnace in the casthouse - FD1 -
were brought into service. The production line was now complete. Metal slabs from
the casthouse, between 200 and 500 mm thick, were hot-rolled into 3 to 9 mm strips.
On leaving the hot rolling mill these strips, known as “blanks”, were coiled before
being cold-rolled to a thickness between 0.3 and 0.2 mm. The metal then moved on
to the finishing installations where the coils were cut up or slit before undergoing heat
or surface treatments and being packaged and shipped. At Neuf-Brisach, the future
was looking brighter…
Major changes were underway at the site, however. Even though they were barely
perceptible in 1970 they were all too real and would increase in significance as the
decade went on. They concerned the outlets for the plant which, it should be recalled,
was originally designed in expectation of strong growth in the automotive body sheet
market. Yet, three years after the facilities were brought into service, the fact had to
be faced: the “aluminium car” was not catching on among manufacturers. The reason
Roger Schaedelin, who arrived at the site in 1969,
recalls the start-up of the hot rolling mill:
L2 was pretty intimidating, mainly because of the noise. It was
a huge gamble to start up a machine like that without properly
qualified staff who had merely done a short training course.
In any case, the machine was one of a kind and nobody
really knew how to operate it.
”
“
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70
for this was the development, as of the late 1960s,
of steel grades with technical and economic
performance levels rivaling those of aluminium.
While Neuf-Brisach continued supplying aluminium
to a handful of component manufacturers, the
huge auto body sheet market upon which the
plant had been counting failed to materialize.
Deprived of an outlet it had expected to be
promising, the Neuf-Brisach plant had to start
looking for new markets.
One of them in particular seemed to be offering
real prospects: canstock. Almost non-existent in
1960, it had been growing steadily for a few years.
Beverage cans had been used in the United States
since the late 1950s and were just starting to
arrive in Europe, but the market for cans for
preserving foodstuffs was growing rapidly. A
turning point was reached in 1967 when American
engineer Ermal Fraze invented an easy method for
opening metal cans, prompting a surge in sales
that was further boosted by the advent of mass
retail. Since the metal used to make food or drink
can lids was nearly always aluminium, this was an
opportunity for the Neuf-Brisach plant to seize. In
1968 it had had the foresight to install a coating
line, which is indispensable for treating food-
contact aluminium. Responding to the huge
growth in this market would become one of the
site’s key challenges in the years to come...
Final inspection on the cut-to-length line,
undated [1970s]
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Rights reserved
1970
1959 1961 1962 1967 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016

All change at Neuf-Brisach!
1976
How could the business efficiency of Neuf-Brisach
be improved in order to harness the full potential
of the booming canstock market? To meet this
challenge, the decision was taken at the end
of 1975 to give the Rhenalu unit more
freedom in responding to customers’ needs.
The plant was transformed into a
“department” within Cegédur and given
complete independence in regard to
marketing and production matters. A sales
department was created at the site and
immediately set about developing specific
measures to target the major manufacturers
of food and beverage cans such as Cébal, a
Pechiney subsidiary, but also Metal Box
(UK), Thomassen (Netherlands), Haustrup
(Scandinavia), Schmallbach (Germany)
and even the National Can Corporation
in the USA. Major efforts were also
made to improve the aluminium alloys
used for can lids. At the same time, a
new three-stand tandem hot rolling
mill was brought into service. Little by
1976
71
IHA, coll. photographiqueIHA, coll. photographique
de L’Aluminium Françaisde L’Aluminium Français
© Rights reserved© Rights reserved

72
little, the site seemed to be finding its way... The reorganization completed in 1976
was followed on January 1st, 1978 by the restructuring of Cegédur into five
independent departments, a process in which Neuf-Brisach clearly “set the tone”.
1976 was a highly eventful year that also saw the site’s first ever strike. The plant
had expanded rapidly and the struggles of the early years had fueled a sense of
unease about the future against a backdrop of social tension across France. A
strike began in January and soon paralyzed all the shops. It lasted seven weeks,
with the strikers’ demands focusing on working conditions and wages. Work
resumed at the beginning of March, and there were soon grounds to be optimistic:
with performance improving significantly, the plant was about to record its first
positive results since 1967. And that gave all the teams a reason to feel satisfied!
Left: hot rolling mill, control console. Right: coil loading, undated [late 1970s] © Constellium,
coll. Neuf-Brisach - Photo Bizos - Rights reserved
1976
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73
Canstock keeps its promises!
1983
By the early 1980s, the plant was producing 125,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium
per year. The flagship products were standard sheets and coils for building
construction - roofing, cladding, suspended ceilings and doors -, transportation,
and ski manufacture. Another major outlet was the supply of blanks within the
group or to external customers to be transformed into foil – for household use,
chocolate wrappings and cigarettes. A third outlet, food packaging, consisting of
beverage cans, food cans and beverage closures, would become essential (though
since Neuf-Brisach’s strategy has refocused on cans, coils and sheets for closures
are now made at Singen).
Fifteen years after its inauguration, the plant was about to undergo further change.
This started with the nationalization of Rhenalu’s parent company, Pechiney Ugine
Kuhlmann, which was instigated in 1982 by the Socialist government formed after
the presidential elections in 1981. The State injected a large sum of money to
restructure the group, which was experiencing serious difficulties, and secure its
future. Practically at the same time, a new internal reorganization process began.
The goal was to place Neuf-Brisach at the heart of a large “soft rolled
products” department comprising all the rolling plants in the
Cegédur Pechiney group except for Issoire, which had
specialized in aerospace alloys. But also, and most
importantly, to boost the production of coils for the
beverage and food can market, a market that was
living up to all its promises. Since arriving in
Europe in the early 1970s, beverage cans had
1983
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© Rights reserved

75
been expanding rapidly. The trends on the US market illustrate the pace of growth:
1.7 billion beverage cans consumed in 1965, 50 billion in 1980, nearly 100 billion
today... To keep in step with this seemingly unstoppable growth, the decision was
taken to invest heavily in Neuf-Brisach.
That was the challenge of the “NH1” investment program launched in 1983 and
rolled out between then and 1987. “We want to become a major supplier on the
European beverage and food can market and significantly increase the plant’s
capacity”: thus was the message proclaimed at the time at Rhenalu. The facilities
installed in the framework of this program were on a scale commensurate with the
challenge: a new duplex casting furnace (FD4) in the casthouse, a new pusher-
Cold rolling mill L12 control room, 1988
IHA, coll. photographique de Pechiney © Photo Bizos - Rights reserved
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76
Cold rolling mill L16, 1988
© Rights reserved 1983
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016
type reheating furnace (FP6) in the hot rolling shop, a new high speed cold rolling
mill (L16) capable of delivering coils with a thickness guaranteed to within a few
microns, a new slitter and a coil storage silo, for the paltry sum of 810 million
francs! And the result matched up to expectations: between 1983 and 1987, the
plant’s production capacity soared from 180,000 to 280,000 tonnes! Thanks to its
new facilities, the site succeeded in breaking into the market of beverage
canstock while continuing to progress on its other key market: treated and coated
coils for food cans. By the late 1980s, Neuf-Brisach had become Europe’s leading
producer of these types of rolled products. Gone were the days when Rhenalu was
struggling to find outlets in the automotive sector!

77
Another leap forward...
1989
“We need to increase our rolling capacity from 280,000 to 360,000 tonnes!” In
1989, the 1300 employees of Neuf-Brisach rose to a new challenge: with NH1 barely
completed, production was to be boosted by a further 30%. This ambitious objective
entailed further heavy investment: over 700 million francs in total. Logically named
“NH2”, this major program was to be rolled out between then and 1993.
The reason for this new expansion was the transformation taking place in canstock,
the site’s principal market. An emerging trend in the beverage and food can market
was to use thinner coils, thus generating substantial savings for beverage can
makers. The steel manufacturers were quick to respond to this demand and adopted
a highly aggressive approach, developing steel foil coils that proved to be formidable
competitors for aluminium products. But that was not all! The products delivered to
can manufacturers were not just required to be lighter; their quality had to be
impeccable. One defect per million cans was the exacting standard the firms in the
sector were henceforth required to meet.
Increased competition, new technical challenges: these were the main reasons for
forging ahead with the NH2 program. This time the site’s intention was to
consolidate its position in the canstock segment and ensure reliable product quality.
Once again, the investments were on a scale commensurate with the challenges: a
casting furnace (FD5) with a melting capacity of 70 tonnes and a holding furnace
with a capacity of 45 tonnes were installed in the casthouse. The hot rolling shop
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78
was equipped with a new slab reheating furnace (FP7) and a fourth stand on the
tandem mill, and a new coating line was installed for canstock.
Little more than 20 years after its inauguration and just six years after the launch of
NH1, the Neuf-Brisach site once again demonstrated its ability to adapt quickly to its
environment. The gamble paid off: by the time NH2 ended in 1993, the plant was
capable of producing 360,000 tonnes of rolled products per year and had
consolidated its position as Europe’s leading canstock producer.
From the NH1 program to the NH3 program,
1983-1996. Presentation boards
© Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach
1989
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79
Fitting the fourth stand on the tandem
mill was a huge technical feat. We did it
without stopping the rolling mill: rolling
continued on three stands while the fourth
was being fitted. The fitting team did
extremely well. Joseph Enderlen
“
”Spot,the Pechiney group
magazine: 1991 article “Les
Cracks de Neuf-Brisach”
(the experts at Neuf-
Brisach) - Coll. IHA
1989
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80
The period from 1983 to 1993 saw real change at
Neuf-Brisach. Thanks to the investment program
we began expanding rapidly and set out to
conquer the canstock market.
Olivier Lach, Engineering Department Director
“
”Beverage cans made by the
American Can Company
(ANC). Pechiney acquired the
ANC in 1988, becoming the
world’s leading packaging
manufacturer
Pechiney © Rights reserved
4
1989
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81
The early days of recycling
1992
Of all the facilities installed in the framework of NH2, one was particularly
significant. It was the remelting shop for recovering production scrap. This shop,
equipped with rotary furnaces, was commissioned at the start of 1992, marking
the birth of recycling at the Neuf-Brisach site.
Recycling was still fairly unknown in the aluminium industry in 1992. In France, just
10% of empty drink cans were recovered (Les Echos, November 6th
, 1992,
“Pechiney-Rhenalu reste serein grâce à l’emballage”). Given the benefits of recycling
- an energy saving of 95% in comparison with primary metal and the possibility of
infinite recycling without any loss of properties - Pechiney-Rhenalu decided to
make this a strategic area of development in the coming years. As early as 1991,
A rotary furnace for the
recycling shop arriving at
Neuf-Brisach,
September 1991
de Pechiney
© Photo Albert Zekri
1992
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82
the group joined forces with supermarket chain Carrefour to carry out a recovery
operation that enabled 3 million cans to be recycled. This figure would be doubled
in 1992. Back then the recycling shop at Neuf-Brisach was still modest in size.
“There was just one remelting unit, which was used mainly to process our own
scrap and slag”, explains Laurent Vidal, who arrived at the recycling shop in 1995
and is now recycling supervisor. But the stage had been set…
The real turning point came in 2000-2001 with the commissioning of three new
furnaces. “That was when we created a proper structured recycling process at
Neuf-Brisach based on contracts with our customers to recover their aluminium
scrap”, Laurent Vidal goes on. From being a supplier to beverage can
manufacturers, the recycling unit would also become their customer. At the same
time, new technologies were installed in order to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. An effort to boost “clean recycling” that would never be halted from
that point on...
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Scrap destined for the recycling shop © Constellium / Gérard Uféras

83
Cost reductions and
first steps in the automotive sector
1996
At Neuf-Brisach it was nicknamed “NH3”, as a nod to its predecessors, but the
official name assigned to it by the Pechiney group was “Challenge”. This new
project was indeed a challenge: for the Neuf-Brisach plant, of course, but also for
all of Pechiney’s production units. It was launched in 1996, with some ambitious
targets: reducing costs by 20% in order to make the group as profitable as its
major global competitors, on account of the crisis that had been affecting the
aluminium sector since the early 1990s. For Pechiney, which had been privatized
in 1995, urgent measures were needed…
At Neuf-Brisach, it was not the first time the organization had been adapted in line
with market fluctuations. The departmentation implemented in 1975 had improved
business efficiency and prepared the teams to conquer the canstock markets. In
1984, working patterns were reformed with the introduction of continuous
production and 5x8 shifts in the shops. The aim was to make better use of the
industrial facilities, but the change had met with strong internal opposition.
Challenge would be less of a revolution than a series of shop-floor improvements
intended to gear the plant more closely to its customers and meet their needs
more effectively.
Behind these seemingly trivial changes, a major transformation was in fact in store
for the site. By the mid-1990s, the canstock market in which Neuf-Brisach had
become the undisputed specialist was continuing to progress but at a less
sustained pace. The plant therefore had to find some new outlets. In a surprising
throwback to the plant’s origins, the sector chosen was none other than the
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84
automotive industry! This market, for which the site had initially been designed but
that had not lived up to its promises, was on the point of making a strong
comeback. The plant had continued to do business with the carmakers, But this
time a real change in dimension was looming on the horizon. For the experts, there
was no doubt about it: the next battlefield between steel and aluminium would be
the automotive sector. As a sign of the times, that same year – 1996 – Rhenalu
signed contracts with Renault and Peugeot to supply aluminium car hoods. A year
later, the continuous annealing furnace FT1, one of the first facilities installed at
the Neuf-Brisach plant intended initially for the automotive sector, was refurbished
in order to produce automotive body sheet. Major investments were planned over
a three-year period, particularly in the finishing shop. The decision was also taken
to emphasize aluminium recycling – less costly than using primary metal – to
boost the volumes processed. Scrap would be bought on the market or recovered
from customers, and supplemented with end-of-life product waste. In 1997,
canstock still represented 55% of activity at the plant. But Neuf-Brisach was on the
verge of starting a new chapter in its history.
1996
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Pechiney stand at the Paris Motor
Show, October 2000

85
The Challenge plan had a limited impact at
Neuf-Brisach because a lot of effort had been
put into improving performance during
the NH2 investment program.
Bruno Naegelin, Safety Coordinator and Former Coating Shop Foreman
“
”1996
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Rhenalu Stand Geneva international motor show
© Constellium, coll. Neuf-Brisach - PhotoTrepper - Rights reserved

87
An investment boom!
2006
2006 was certainly a booming year for Neuf-Brisach. A major investment plan was
announced in May of that year to equip the plant with state-of-the-art beverage
can sheet slitting machinery as well as an additional packaging line and a new
storage and shipment hall. Further investments were announced six months later,
in November, this time to modernize the continuous annealing, heat treatment
furnace and to add a chemical conversion line very much needed for the German
automotive market. These facilities, which were scheduled to be commissioned in
2008, would consolidate the site’s position on the canstock and automotive markets.
2006
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© Constellium

88
In both cases the announcements were made by… Alcan, since Pechiney too had
undergone major changes in the early years of the 21st
century. In 2000, the French
group attempted a merger with Canadian firm Alcan and Swiss group Algroup
(formerly Alusuisse) with a view to creating a global aluminium giant. But the
proposal was rejected by the European Commission due to the risk of creating a
monopoly. The operation eventually ended with Alcan absorbing Algroup... and then
taking control of Pechiney three years later, in 2003. To comply with EU regulations
the Canadian group had to sell the Norf plant in Germany. This was deemed
preferable to selling Neuf-Brisach, which had been considered at one stage...
The major maneuvers were not yet completely over. In 2007, Alcan was in turn
taken over by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which then grouped
together its aluminium activities within a new business unit, Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA).
It was RTA that in 2008 inaugurated the facilities planned back in 2006.
2006
May 2006 issue of the “AGIR” in-house
magazine devoted to the latest investments
to modernize the Neuf-Brisach site
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89
From Cegédur to Constellium: a few milestones
1943: Cegédur is created by a group of non-ferrous metal processing
companies. It builds the rolling plant in Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme) and
commissions it in 1947.
1962: Rhenalu is created by Cegédur to operate the future Neuf-Brisach plant.
1964: Cegédur is taken over by Pechiney.
1967: Tréfimétaux is acquired by Pechiney, which thus becomes Europe’s
leading aluminium processing company.
1971: Pechiney merges with Ugine Kuhlmann to form Pechiney Ugine
Kuhlmann (PUK), France’s largest private group with more than
100,000 employees.
1982: PUK is nationalized, and renamed Pechiney in 1984.
1987: Cegédur becomes Pechiney Rhenalu.
1995: Pechiney is privatized.
2003: Pechiney is acquired by Canadian group Alcan.
2007: Alcan is acquired by Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto.The Neuf-Brisach
plant and the activities of the former Pechiney become an integral part of this
new specialized Rio Tinto subsidiary: Alcan Engineered Products (Alcan EP).
2011: Rio Tinto sells 61% of Alcan EP to the Apollo Management investment
fund and to the French sovereign wealth fund (FSI), now BPI (Banque
Publique d’Investissement). In the process, Alcan EP is renamed Constellium.
2013: Constellium shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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90
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006 2016
One final change took place in 2011: that year, Alcan Engineered Products (EP),
which grouped together Rio Tinto’s semi-finished aluminium product activities
- including those of the former Pechiney and the Neuf-Brisach plant - was sold to
American investment fund Apollo in association with the French State. At that
point, Alcan EP was renamed Constellium. With nearly 10,000 employees and
26 plants around the world making rolled or extruded products, the new group
emerged immediately as a global leader.
For the 1400 employees of “Constellium Neuf-Brisach”, that period was far from
restful. Yet as the years went by the site’s output increased significantly, reaching
a record of 420,000 tonnes in 2011. While canstock sales continued to progress,
the automotive market began to boom in the early 2000s. This is the reason why
FT1, commissioned in 1966, had been refurbished in 2008 and equipped with a
chemical conversion unit in order to serve the main German carmakers.
Constellium then continued to invest at a steady pace.
Food cans
© Photo Dominique Sarraute

91
Aluminium and the automotive sector:
a sustainable alliance
2016
“Constellium makes one of the biggest investments in its history”; “Constellium
invests massively in France”... in October 2016, the local and national French
press gave extensive coverage to a special event. A few days earlier, the Neuf-
Brisach plant had inaugurated a new automotive finishing line - its second – in
order to meet the increasing demand for its aluminium auto body sheet products.
240 meters in length, the new installation boosted production capacity by
100,000 tonnes per year and represented an investment of 180 million euros. A
huge sum that speaks volumes about the stakes involved…
With this integrated facility, Constellium Neuf-Brisach made itself battle-ready to
seize growth opportunities in the European and global automotive body sheet
market and to meet the particularly exacting standards of carmakers. The
automotive market started opening up to aluminium products in the late 1990s at
the instigation of German luxury saloon car manufacturers, and truly reached
cruising speed two decades later. Some experts, who have no hesitation in
speaking of a “new Eldorado”, believe demand for aluminium automotive body sheet
in Europe could even rise to 700,000 tonnes by 2020, from just 230,000 tonnes
in 2012. And this is no figment of their imagination: aluminium is more expensive
than steel, but the additional cost can easily be absorbed over the complete
product life cycle, through both recycling and energy savings. Weighing much less
than steel, which is used for most body in white components, “white metal” makes
vehicles significantly lighter and thus more fuel-efficient, thereby improving their
2016
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006

92
carbon footprint. It is hence an ideal material for the automotive industry, which is
required to comply with ever-stricter pollution emission standards. “With
comparable mechanical properties, aluminium alloys are 40% lighter than steel.
What’s more, aluminium can be recycled over and over again without losing those
properties”, sums up Ludovic Piquier, director of the Neuf-Brisach plant, who has
an automotive background and arrived at the site in 2014 to oversee the “ramp-
up” of this market. Aluminium is now used to manufacture the engine, the
closures, body in white, suspension, chassis and crash components and a wide
variety of accessories including heat exchangers, and could well be used to make
the entire vehicle in the near future. Some automakers are already delivering
“100% aluminium” models...
2016
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1996 2006
Automotive components made with Constellium aluminium solutions. Constellium stand at
the ALUMINIUM 2016 trade show in Düsseldorf © Constellium

93
Nearly 50 years after its inauguration, the Neuf-Brisach site is thus on the point of
fulfilling its original purpose. Opened in 1967 to supply European carmakers with
aluminium products, it now holds all the cards – the people, the expertise, the
industrial facilities and the experience – and has become a leading global supplier
to the automotive industry. Somewhat hampered at the outset by the vagaries of
its markets, the plant built a successful position on the canstock market, which
remains its key outlet, rolling out a series of structural investments in order to do
so. With automotive applications on one side and canstock on the other, the
“boom in coils” is not set to end any time soon at Neuf-Brisach!
2016
Neuf-Brisach operates on two major markets:
canstock, which represents the biggest
volumes, and the automotive sector.
The latter has grown rapidly over the past few
years. The new finishing line keeps in step
with this expansion and provides the plant
with a flexible production facility that is ideally
placed to drive our growth in the automotive
body sheet market.
Ludovic Piquier, Constellium Neuf-Brisach Site Director
“
”
1959 1961 1962 1967 1970 1976 1983 1989 1992 1996 2006

94

95
Foreword, Jean-Marc Germain, Chief Executive Officer
Constellium Group ..................................................................................................... 3
A shared anniversary, Ludovic Piquier, Constellium Neuf-Brisach Site Director... 5
A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING FACILITY............................................................. 7
A large plant geared towards international markets ................................................. 9
Once upon a time: an industrial vision... .................................................................. 11
A plant and its markets ............................................................................................. 12
Pride in a job well done ............................................................................................ 18
TOUR OF THE PLANT IN SIX STAGES ......................................................... 21
1. Recycling ............................................................................................................... 23
2. Casthouse ............................................................................................................. 27
3. Hot rolling .............................................................................................................. 31
4. Cold rolling............................................................................................................. 35
5. Automotive finishing ............................................................................................. 39
6. Packaging finishing ............................................................................................... 43
THE PLANT IN 12 KEY DATES ....................................................................... 47
The plant before the plant: origins of the Neuf-Brisach site (1959-1967)
1959. An essential plant… ....................................................................................... 49
1961. And the winner is... Neuf-Brisach! .................................................................. 53
1962. Rhenalu’s European ambitions ...................................................................... 57
Birth and expansion of a plant (1967 to the present)
1967. A major plant is born... ................................................................................... 61
1970. A new market: canstock... ............................................................................. 69
1976. All change at Neuf-Brisach! ............................................................................ 71
1983. Canstock keeps its promises! ........................................................................ 73
1989. Another leap forward... .................................................................................. 77
1992. The early days of recycling ............................................................................. 81
1996. Cost reductions and first steps in the automotive sector ............................ 83
2006. An investment boom! ..................................................................................... 87
2016. Aluminium and the automotive sector: a sustainable alliance ..................... 91
Table of contents

ENTREPRISED’
VOTRE HISTOIRE
Book produced by:
A partnership between
REF.2C, design & éditions - Aix-en-Provence - editions@ref2c.com
REVELIS-IHA, recherche & ingénierie - Paris - contact@revelis.com
Printed in
the European Union
Legal deposit: October 2017
Cover photo: © Constellium / Gérard Uféras for the front cover and IHA, photo library of
L’Aluminium Français © All rights reserved for the outside back cover
On behalf of
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the men and women
- present and past employees - who helped forge the
history of the plant and who contributed in some way
to this book. We are particularly grateful to the former
employees who have participated in the work of the
Institute for the History of Aluminium since 1986,
helping to preserve the memory of the plant by
sharing their personal accounts

Constellium Nuef-Brisach

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