Alcoa 2003 Annual Report Download - page 21

2003
19
Record Recycling
Warrick (IN) Operations partnered
with Warrick and Vanderburgh counties’
Habitat for Humanity organizations
and the local baseball team to set
a Guinness World Record™for the most
aluminum cans collected for recycling at
a single event. Area citizens donated
approximately 152,800 cans on July 6.
Governors’ Honors
Howmet Castings earned top honors
in the 2003 Virginia USA Governor’s
Environmental Excellence Awards.
Howmet supports three Hampton, VA,
programs and has reduced its own waste
materials sent to landfill by 27%, with
8% diverted to a local waste-to-energy
plant. Recycling, conservation, and source
reductions reduced waste another 19%.
In Louisiana, the Governor’s Environ-
mental Commission hosted the 24 student
winners of the first annual Art and Lan-
guage Arts Contest at the governor’s
mansion. Sponsored by six Alcoa loca-
tions, the contest was open to grades K-12
statewide. The commission followed up
with newspaper ads and billboards, and
calendars created from winners’ artwork.
Biodiesel Use a Winner
Iowa State Representative Joe Hutter
presented Alcoa’s Davenport (IA) Works
a certificate recognizing its environmental
gains using biodiesel fuel. The plant
switched from diesel oil to a blend of
20% soybean oil and 80% diesel to fuel
mobile equipment, helping cut emissions
in the workplace by 30 - 80%. Alcoa
Davenport also was recognized with a
national award from the National
Biodiesel Board and by the Iowa
Soybean Association.
Recycling Partnership
Alcoa Aluminio joined forces with Brazil-
ian companies Tetra Pak, Klabin, and TSL
to open a new packaging recycling unit at
a Klabin location in São Paulo state. The
facility will feature a plasma furnace that
can recover aluminum from Tetra Pak’s
aseptic packaging, which Alcoa will pur-
chase for reuse in new foil for Tetra Pak.
Education Sanctuary
A Frog’s World, an Alcoa Australia-
supported educational facility at Serendip
Sanctuary, Victoria, Australia, opened
in November 2003. Developed through
the Alcoa Frog Watch program, a
partnership between Alcoa and the
Amphibian Research Centre in Victoria,
the exhibit dramatizes the importance
of a healthy environment and how it
sustains frogs – an important barometer
of environmental health.
ABS
Not Just the Shop Floor
Alcoa is beginning to bring ABS insights
from the shop floor into the office. In
one case, applying ABS principles helped
in processing employee expense reports
50% faster and 60% more accurately.
Sharing Pays Off
Alcoa’s Rockdale (TX) smelter achieved
an annualized $3 per metric ton in cost
savings and revenue gains by instituting
ABS management in two pilot potlines.
Using a system from Alcoa’s Alumar
smelter as a benchmark, workers increased
production volume, improved the purity
and value of the molten metal, and
reduced power consumption without
capital expenditures or additional
personnel. The system is being expanded
to the remaining four potlines, with
an expected $15 per metric ton annual
value upon full implementation.
Optimal Alumina
Alcoa World Alumina (AWA) showed
how ABS lessons learned at one plant
can foster improvements elsewhere, when
AWA used an approach developed at
other refineries to help the Jamalco
refinery in Jamaica improve its contami-
nant levels by 30%. A team of operations
and technical personnel from AWA’s
global system demonstrated how to build
in quality along the sand filter flow path,
enabling Jamalco to achieve a higher
level of quality and better meet the
needs of its customers and Alcoa’s North
American smelters.
Safety and Productivity
By implementing the ABS improvement
process, Alcoa Engineered Products’
Cressona (PA)plant increased productivity
on two semiautomated pack lines by 87%
and enhanced safety. A combination of
work flow redesign, standardized work,
and equipment improvements reduced
the volume of aluminum extrusions
packed manually, reducing packaging
costs, boosting delivery performance, and
significantly lowering the risk of injury
to workers.
Natalie Rhoden,
Jamalco, Jamaica
John Siemon and Kevin Robare,
Alcoa Center, Pennsylvania, USA
Sylvio Delisle, Québec, Canada