Top 10 manufacturers in the aluminium end-user sector: 2022

Recently, aluminium has been globally recognised as an infinite metal that can help induce a closed circular economy since it can retain its original form even after undergoing rigorous recycling processes. This has encouraged many international brands to switch towards non-ferrous metal. But there were some visionary players in the aluminium sector even before this mass awakening happened, and it can be claimed that these companies are going to reap a good advantage in this era due to their prior investments. 

The top 10 manufacturers in the end-user genre in 2022 have been enlisted in the space down below:

Ball Corporation 

At the beginning of this year, during January, Ball Corporation announced its 2021 net earnings due to the incorporation of $878 million or $2.65 per diluted share. Shortly after that, in February, Ball earned ASI Performance Standard and Chain of Custody Standard Certification for the manufacturing and supply of aluminium can bodies plus can heads at its two operations in Sri City and Taloja, India. These are the first two operations of Ball in India that were eligible for the ASI certification. Then at the break of March, Ball began the construction of the UK's largest can manufacturing facility located in Kettering. In the same month, Ball Beverages USA received the ASI Performance Standard and Chain of Custody Standard Certification as well. During April, Novelis joined arms with Ball to increase the recycled content of its aluminium cup by 90%. The May month saw skyrocketing net sales for Ball, which came in at US$3.7 billion, with total earnings amounting to US$446 million. Again in May, Ball agreed on a VVPA to source new wind energy in Texas. In June, Ball finally joined the First Movers Coalition to complete its sustainability journey. During August, Ball had to close its St. Paul aluminium can beverage can facility, but in the same month, Ball partnered with Re:Water for its UK debut. Also, Ball partnered with Wildpack in August to procure aluminium packaging solutions. In October, Ball released its flagship aluminium cups in 9-ounce and 12-ounce sizes and partnered with Indian brand Radiohead to launch three new Jimmy's drinks. In November, Ball posted the Q3 2022 net earnings of US$ 392 million, with US$3.95 billion worth of sales. Recently, in December, Ball formed an alliance with O'cean appointing Virat Kohli as the ambassador who was seen promoting beverages in sustainable aluminium cans. 

Ardagh Metal Packaging 

AMP began the year by expanding its La Ciotat French unit for aluminium recycling and the development of new techniques. Next, in August, the company made a deal with AFRY to borrow its engineering expertise for the aluminium packaging unit in Brazil. In September, Ardagh and Crown Holdings hosted the first Global Aluminium Can Sustainability Summit. In October, AMP's H!GHEND technology surfaced and made headlines with this colourful printing technology. The next month itself, the company was anointed with a Gold title at the Can of Year Awards 2022. In the same month, Ardagh initiated the Mission Possible Partnership Programme to uplift the aluminium industry. This year, AMP successfully registered its units in Germany and France against the ASI Performance Standard (V2) 2017 certificate. 

Crown Holdings 

Crown Holdings started the year by gaining ASI certifications for its beverage can units in Mexico. In February, the company assured its customers with its Twentyby30 programme, which was specially designed to increase the global aluminium beverage can recycling rate by 2030. In April, Crown's Brazil beverage division was crowned by ASI with the Chain of Custody and Standard certification. Also in the same month, Crown voiced its desire to build a high-speed aluminium line at its Spanish beverage can facility. In October, Crown felicitated three of its units for maintaining high operational standards. 

Novo Capsule 

For the first time, the rising demand for coffee pods and the equally important parameters of sustainability have urged coffee makers to think about the environment. The quest has led various big brands like Nespresso and Lavazza to initiate aluminium coffee pods because of the infinite recyclable property of aluminium. But the coffee pods these companies make are usually compatible with the respective name tags. Here, Novo Capsule plays a definitive part as this year it introduced aluminium coffee pods that are compatible with Nespresso machines. The company has been brilliant in circulating such a specific product with admiration for the generic way of use. Novo Capsules' aluminium coffee pods will help in reducing carbon emissions to a great extent and will be used widely by coffee lovers. 

Dudley Aluminium 

In June, Dudley's Aluminium, a Cardiff-based aluminium fabricator, signed a deal for a project from a multi-award-winning construction company Beard Construction to install AluProf capped curtain walling, silicone glazed curtain walling, and windows and doors in the extension to the office development at Bristol. In the month of October, the aluminium fabricator started contributing to the construction of Aston Martin's new Formula 1 (F1) facility at Silverstone. In the same month, Dudley was offered an alliance opportunity by the Jones Brothers (Henllan) Ltd to accomplish a major project in Ebbw Vale. The next month, the company bagged three extraordinary orders from the education sector in the UK. 

Reynaers Aluminium 

In February, Reynaers inked an agreement with Romanian Alesonor to help realise the latter's dream of developing a sustainable livelihood in Amber Forest. The company was awarded the responsibility of installing premium doors and windows solutions in Alesonor's suburban project created to transform the Amber Forest into a green destination. In April, the European aluminium manufacturer entered the South Korean market, expanding its customer base. While in June, the company successfully completed the Al Fattan Downtown residential towers project in UAE. Recently, in December, the company hosted a strategic discussion conference in Novotel with Reynaers operatives to discuss business ideations for the upcoming three years. 

Tostem 

After Covid-19 left the world in shatters, the economy was getting more conscious as consumers started demanding sustainable products for their habitats. The Japanese doors and windows maker, Tostem chalked out a plan by which it could spread its activities to the other side of Asia. In April this year, the company decided to expand its operations to Thailand in the mode of company shares, specifically focusing on the retail (B2C) market. Currently, in December, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary with the launch of its highly sustainable Dusk Grey collection under PT LIXIL Aluminium Indonesia, its mother brand. 

Graphene Manufacturing Group 

In June this year, the clean-technology developing company Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. posted that the company has commissioned its graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Batteries") in the pouch cell format. This is the first batch of G+Al battery pouch cells produced, which is a great step for the foreseeable electronic revolution. When commercial production of this product begins, the discovery will yield high value for the electric vehicle sector. In August, GMG declared with immense pleasure the expansion of the first phase of its graphene manufacturing plant in Brisbane, Australia, with a Final Investment Decision (FID) of approximately AU$1.5 million. In November, GMG announced the phenomenal plan to store solar energy in aluminium ion batteries for future use. Also, in the same month, GMG raised US$5 million in funding to rejuvenate and standardise the company's infrastructure. Again in December, GMG committed itself to an investment of AU$600,000 to augment operational output in 2023. To close the year, the University of Queensland Materials Performance Consulting (UQMP) released a study stating aluminium coated with THERMAL-XR (TXR) can reduce the surface temperature of heated aluminium by 15%, which is a process perfected by GMG.

Phinergy 

During July this year, an Israeli energy innovator, Phinergy entered into a joint venture with India's Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) to commence their initial pilot plant of aluminium-air batteries that would help transform the automobile market. Hindalco plays a huge part in this conglomeration as it is to supply the aluminium sheets required to manufacture the batteries, making it one of the most important bodies in the Israeli-Indian alliance. In November, Phinergy's JV with Tata produced the first aluminium air-battery-powered Tata Tiago EV prototype. In that one month, there was news of Cellnex running successful tests on Phinergy aluminium air batteries at its Spanish facility, which assured us that they would soon be available on a commercial scale. 

Log9

In April, Log9, a nanotech and battery specialist from Bengaluru, announced the plan for a manufacturing plant that would produce cells to power low-cost EVs, such as two and three-wheelers. This would be a first of its kind in India. Then in September, Log9 materials raised INR 77 crores or US$9.65 million from Amara Raja Batteries, the second largest automotive battery maker in the country after Exide. This is the second round of investment by 'Amaron' battery makers after the initial fund was raised in 2020 to boost the Bengaluru-based start-up. 

The aluminium end-user portion usually is concerned with the names of innovators in the electrical, construction, packaging and Electric Vehicle (EV) sectors. Though the EV industry emerged in the past half-decade, the other sections were alive and doing great business in their vicinities. With the inception of globalisation, these businesses are expanding quite quickly with game-changing plans that will certainly help strengthen the aluminium end-user sector.