Alcoa 1996 Annual Report Download - page 10

New Labor Agreements. In
May, Alcoa reached six-year
labor agreements with the
United Steelworkers of America
union and the Aluminum,
Brick and Glass Workers
International Union. The com-
pany and unions also agreed to
an unprecedented partnership
providing that Alcoa and the
unions work cooperatively on
customer
require-
ments,
business
objectives and shareholder and
union interests. This contract
covers approximately 10,000
employees in 11 locations. On
September 30, following a
three-week strike, Alcoa and the
United Auto Workers union rati-
fied a new five-year agreement
covering 1,100 employees of
the company’s Forged Products
business in Cleveland, Ohio.
8
A Landmark
Transaction. Alcoa
Aluminio issued
$400 million of
secured export notes,
representing the largest-ever,
longest-term, and most aggres-
sively priced transaction of its
kind for a Brazilian corporation.
The issue carries a 7.50%
coupon, a 12-year final maturi-
ty, and an average life of 8.1
years. It was priced at only 140
basis points over the U.S.
Treasury bond due November
2004. The notes were rated BBB
by Standard & Poor’s as well as
by Duff & Phelps.
High-Tech Designs on Can
Sheet. During 1996, the Alcoa
Packaging Equipment business
unit designed and manufac-
tured a registered embossing
machine for a major customer
and developed a process of
printing photographic images
on two-piece aluminum cans.
A-CMI Is Off and Running.
It’s been a busy year for
A-CMI, the partnership formed
by Alcoa and CMI International,
Inc. of Michigan:
■The company built a
new plant in Hawesville,
Ky. There, A-CMI will
produce forged alu-
minum automotive
components, including suspen-
sion system control arms for
the all-activity vehicle that
Mercedes-Benz will build at its
new U.S. plant in Alabama.
The control arms weigh up to
11 pounds and will consume
some 2.5 million pounds of
metal a year.
■A-CMI announced it will pro-
duce a first-of-its-kind alu-
minum undercarriage cross-
member for the redesigned
1997 Corvette sports car. The
Corvette will be the first car in
North America to use both
front and rear aluminum
crossmembers. These compo-
nents will also be produced
at Hawesville.
■In 1996 A-CMI broke ground
for its first plant outside North
America, in Lista, Norway.
Called A-CMI Scandinavian
Casting Center ANS, the facility
will produce cast aluminum
parts for the European auto-
motive industry.
The business unit is developing
high-resolution graphics capa-
bility for the two-piece can
industry and state-of-the-art
printing technology
through teaming efforts
with can industry cus-
tomers and printing
industry suppliers.
Prowler Stirs
Excitement.
Chrysler’s Plymouth
Prowler has riveted the
attention of car enthusiasts
and automotive media. A hot
rod with an attitude — harken-
ing back to the classic street
rods — the two-seat roadster is
nearing production and will
appear in dealer showrooms by
late spring. Already, Plymouth
has received well over 100,000
inquiries from interested car
buyers through auto shows,
telephone calls, letters, and
NewsBriefs’96