Kaiser Aluminum Warrick in Newburgh announced they’re expanding their campus to hold a new row coat line as part of a roughly $200 million investment in their factory.
Operations Manager Evan Quinley said that Warrick is the largest aluminum coated coil producer in North America for the packing industry. Through the expansion, they aren’t looking to provide another service; instead, they are looking to dive deeper into the coating industry.
“This coating line is going to be one of the largest in North America, and it doesn’t actually grow our total volume out of the plant. We shift our volume into a higher margin product, so it makes the plant’s future much more stable,” Quinley said.
The new building will host a 665-foot long line that stands under a 100-foot-tall ceiling.
The new coating machine would be able to coat a 12-mile coil in 20 minutes. With this addition, the 24/7 plant will be able to greatly increase the production levels as they hone in on the coating industry.
There are only 14 Kaiser locations across the entire continent, with the Warrick location being one of the newest acquisitions. The plant was formerly an Alcoa plant before being purchased in 2021.
The plant is staffed by 1,200 employees with, roughly a third coming from the Owensboro and Henderson areas.
Quinley said that they provide chances for their employees to volunteer in the surrounding communities and even give them a day to do so, which often leads to them helping impact the local economies.
They also provide an apprenticeship program, but noted that the industry is going through a shortage of electricians. Even with the shortage he said they are still able to run the program for the betterment of the plant.
