Alusuisse - History

History

In 1886 Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult and Charles Martin Hall independently discovered a process for producing metallic aluminium from aluminium ore by electrolysis (Hall–Héroult process). In 1889 Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult, Gustave Naville, Georg Neher, and Peter Emil Huber established a company Aluminium Industrie Aktien Gesellschaft (AIAG) in Zurich, Switzerland to extract aluminium, creating the first aluminium production plant in Europe. It established plants in Neuhausen am Rheinfall in 1888, in Rheinfelden, Germany in 1898 and in Lend, Austria in 1899.

In 1899 the company started to invest in the Valais region of Swizterland which was rich in hydropower resources. The company built a plant in Chippis (1908) using hydropower from the river Navisence. The market for their aluminium did not meet expectations and the company began to use some of the electrical production for nitric acid manufacture (Birkeland–Eyde process); during the Great Depression the company sold electricity from its plants to municipal customers. A rolling mill was established in Sierre in 1929. In the 1950s the company acquired a concession to 30% of the flow from the dam built at the Lac de Moiry, and constructed a factory at Ernen. A factory in Steg was established in 1962. The company became a major employer in the Valais region, employing over 3000 in 1942, by 1970 the approximately 2000 were employed in the canton.

In 1963 the enterprise was renamed Schweizerische Aluminium AG. In the 1970s pollution due to fluorine by aluminium producers including Alusuisse caused scandal in Swizterland which came to be known as the guerre du fluor (Fluorine war).

In 1969 the company invested in a large aluminium smelter in the Gove Peninsula, Australia, through the joint venture Nabalco, The development which included the creation of a sea harbour, housing for 5000 people, and was worth over 1billion swiss francs. The Nabalco consortium was made to pay rent on the land used to the indigenous peoples of the area as a result of the ruling of the Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (Gove land rights) case.

During the 1960s the company began to license its aluminium production technology, and in 1967 helped to establish Koninklijke Hoogovens' first aluminium smelter in 1967.

In 1974 the company took over the Swiss-German company Lonza (founded 1897), which specialised in hydropower, construction, and electrochemical industrial production. In 1990 the company became Alusuisse-Lonza Holding AG. In 1999 the chemical production interests were split off to form the chemical company Lonza Group.

The company's aluminium production reached its maximum in 1980 at over 800,000 t. During the 1980s the company restructured, closing outdated plants, and downsized, and modernised its semi-finished aluminium production facilities. It also acquired the Canadian packaging company Lawson Mardon Group in 1994, and merged it into its packaging division.

In 1997 the company employed 31,000 of which 5,800 were Swiss. The company was renamed Algroup in 1998 and was merged into Alcan in 2000.

In 2011 the business unit Alcan Engineered Products has been separated from RioTinto Alcan and renamed into Constellium with new shareholder structure (51% Apollo Global Management, 39% RioTinto and 10% FSI (Fonds Stratégiques d'Investissement).
Constellium is a leading provider of high-performance aluminium products and solutions, organized around 3 main operating business units:
GATI Global Aerospace Transportation and Industry
SSh Specialty Sheet
EAS Extrusions and Automotive Structures