Aluminum plant's construction on budget, to begin hiring in '15

Construction of a $150 million automotive aluminum sheet production facility is on schedule and on budget.

Since a groundbreaking in July, framing has gone up for Constellium-UACJ Body in White Plant in the Kentucky Transpark. Crews with Scott, Murphy & Daniel are working daily at the site. Markus Wild, chief executive officer for the plant, said workers plan to have the steel structure completed by March.

During the third quarter of next year, equipment will be installed. In December 2015, the first aluminum coil should be running through the factory line. The plant is slated to be ready to send out commercial shipments by mid-2016.

“We are still on time. We are on budget,” Wild said.

As with any construction project, it is always possible that uncertain and uncontrollable factors – such as weather – can affect the construction process, but Wild said everything has gone smoothly so far.

Constellium is a European aluminum company. UACJ – or United Aluminum Company of Japan – is a Japanese aluminum company. Both will supply an initial target capacity of 220 million pounds of cold-rolled aluminum coils, which will be treated and processed in Bowling Green.

Wild said there haven’t been any injuries on site since construction began.

“That’s priority that everyone goes home safe in the evening,” Wild said.

The plant is expected to create 80 jobs, according to a news release from the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. At the time of its groundbreaking, the plant was the largest capital investment in Kentucky in the past 12 months.

Wild said the plant will begin looking for operators and technicians by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said the plant’s impact will be far reaching.

“Constellium-UACJ joint venture will have an enormous direct impact, not only from their extraordinary investment, creating jobs for hundreds and their direct employees, but they will also create a huge indirect impact as a supplier to and a buyer from other regional employers, which will immediately create hundreds of more good-paying jobs,” Buchanon said in a text message.

Constellium-UACJ Body in White Plant is a lengthy, wordy title, so a new name is under development, Wild said.

“It will not forever be this long name,” Wild said.

Part of the reason Bowling Green was chosen as the location for the plant is its proximity to Logan Aluminum, which is where the plant’s pre-products will come from. The workforce also was a significant factor in choosing Bowling Green, Wild said.

“If you put everything together ... what Bowling Green has to offer and what Kentucky in general has to offer ... it was an obvious choice,” Wild said. “We have only been in Bowling Green for a few months, but we think we made the right choice.”

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