New Companies Join Aluminum Association During Spring Member Meeting

New Companies Join Aluminum Association During Spring Member Meeting

Ebner Furnaces, GMB Group, Penny Plate, TSI, Inc. and SciAps Bring Membership to Record 113 Companies

 

ARLIGNTON, VA. – The Aluminum Association announced today the addition of five new member companies – Ebner Furnaces, GMB Refractory Construction & Industrial Services (GMB Group), Penny Plate, TSI, Inc. and SciAps, Inc. These additions bring total membership in the Association to 113 members, a record for the 83-year-old trade association.  The five companies join as associate members – firms that supply the North American aluminum industry with goods and services. The announcements were made during the Aluminum Association’s spring meeting in Miami, FL – “Charting a Sustainable Course.”

“Ongoing membership growth in the Aluminum Association is a testament to the continued growth and resilience of the industry,” said Garney Scott, President & CEO of Scepter and Aluminum Association Chairman. “The Association will benefit from these companies’ perspectives as we continue to chart a sustainable course for the aluminum industry with the many opportunities and challenges on the horizon.”

The new members include:

  • Ebner Furnaces: Ebner Furnaces is a global, family-owned company and market leader for heat treatment facilities for the metals industry. The firm specializes in research, development, fabrication, installation and commissioning of heat treatment facilities for the aluminum industry. Ebner’s pioneering concepts in modern burner technology create new perspectives in offering environmentally friendly and energy efficient solutions.
  • GMB Group: With over 20 years of experience as a company and more than 150 years of combined experience, GMB offers unique services across the industry for the benefit of its clients. For the aluminum industry, GMB’s offerings include design engineering services as well as procurement, logistics, construction and maintenance services for refractory and insulating systems including metal fabrication.
  • Penny Plate: Over the past half century, Penny Plate has established its position as an industry leader and the largest independently owned manufacturer of aluminum food containers for North America’s packer processor industry. Penny Plate is a family-owned and operated business with a strong commitment to consistently provide the highest quality products and services to their valued customers.
  • SciAps, Inc:  SciAps, Inc., is a Boston-based instrumentation company specializing in portable analytical instruments.   SciAps devices serve the aluminum industry by providing handheld optical emission spectrometers for instant (1-3 s), quantitative aluminum alloy chemistry.  The firm’s flagship product the Z uses laser-based technology, and is equipped with both integrated argon purge and air-burn analysis for quantitative chemical analysis or fast sorting. 
  • TSI, Inc: For over 50 years, TSI has been an industry leader in the design and production of precision measurement instruments. Its new ChemLite Metals Analyzer is a handheld device that measures Aluminum and light metals and alloys with lightning speed, laser accuracy, and detection limits as low as 0.01% for lab-grade light metals analysis in  the palm of your hand.

The new member additions come at a time of continued domestic demand growth for aluminum. According to the latest industry data, the North American aluminum industry shipped nearly 26 billion pounds of aluminum in 2015, the most since 2007. Since 2013, member companies have announced domestic plant expansions and planned investment totaling more than $2.6 billion to meet anticipated demand growth for aluminum in the automotive sector as automakers strive to make better-performing and more fuel-efficient vehicles.

However, challenges remain, particularly with an oversupply of high-carbon aluminum coming from China. Since the beginning of 2015, eight U.S.-based aluminum smelters have curtailed or closed, representing 60 percent of U.S. primary aluminum capacity. A recently released economic impact report found that while overall employment in the U.S. aluminum business is up, employment in the upstream segment has dropped dramatically – from more than 12,000 primary production and alumina refining jobs in 2013 to around 5,000 today – a near 60 percent drop in 3 short years.

The Aluminum Association is committed to highlighting unfair and unsustainable trade practices to ensure the continued health of domestic and global markets. Recent actions include the initiation of an International Trade Commission investigation into the global marketplace, the launch of a new coalition – the Manufacturers for Trade Enforcement and testimony on industry overcapacity in front of the US Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce.   


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The Aluminum Association represents U.S. and foreign-based companies and their suppliers throughout the value chain, from primary production to value added products to recycling.  The Association is the industry’s leading voice, providing global standards, business intelligence, sustainability research and industry expertise to member companies, policymakers and the general public. The aluminum industry helps manufacturers produce sustainable and innovative products, including more fuel efficient vehicles, recyclable packaging, greener buildings and modern electronics.  In the U.S., the aluminum industry creates $186 billion in economic activity. For more information visit www.Aluminum.org, on Twitter @AluminumNews or at Facebook.com/AluminumAssociation.