Azuqueca ready for its Iberian customers
 REMELT: Christian Wagener (left) and José Angel Galindo check out the condition of the process metal to be remelted. (All photos: Dag Sunnanå) |
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(Dec. 21, 2001) The new remelt plant at Azuqueca outside Madrid recently kicked off the first trial production of aluminium extrusion ingot. Production will gradually increase with full operation starting in March.
The new plant gives a considerable boost to Hydro Aluminium’s position in the Iberian market for aluminium products, says plant manager José Angel Galindo. Hydro has increased its share in this market by over 100,000 tonnes in a relatively short time.
Logistics will be improved as well, as Hydro will be able to offer its customers scrap conversion locally. Until now, process scrap from Hydros extrusion customers in Spain and Portugal had been sent to Hydro’s remelt plants in Luxembourg and France.
Says Iñigo Aranguren, sales director of Hydro Aluminium Azuqueca: "We will be able to achieve better margins through considerable savings on transport costs, and we will be able to deliver faster. We can also show that Hydro is a long-term and reliable supplier to the Iberian market. Our customers will notice the difference.
"This plant in central Spain will make our system more flexible. Apart from Madrid, most of our customers are in the Barcelona area and in the northern region of Galicia. Hydro has good experience of using Lisbon harbor for the import of primary metal from the Norwegian plants to the aluminium markets in Portugal and Spain, which are mostly spot markets.
 RUNNING IN: The Azuequeca plant has been dimensioned for an annual production of 60,000 tonnes. |
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"Demand in the Iberian Peninsula has been strong in recent years, and Hydro has been obliged to purchase metal from external suppliers. But we will in any case have to adjust our production to the total European market."
Plant manager Galindo is grateful for the assistance provided by the other remelt plants in the Hydro system during the construction phase, including training of new operators by personnel from Clervaux.
Support teams made up of experienced technical experts from Hydro Aluminium and Hydro Technology and Projects have been stationed at Azuqueca for periods of time to ensure that equipment and routines are properly established.
Galindo points out that there will be a total of 32 persons involved in production, distributed over four shifts. In terms of age, this is a young crew. Another 20 make up the aluminium sales and support functions and holding functions that are now located at the Azuqueca office.
"Now that we can offer scrap conversion right in the middle of the Spanish market, it will also be easier to show our customers the value of better sorting of scrap. This will be an important task in the time to come," says assistant sales manager Rodrigo Vajda Guerrero, who hopes to strengthen links with customers through inviting them to the new plant.
 CLOSER TO THE CUSTOMERS: "We'll be able to offer our customers both commercial and technical services," says Rodrigo Vajda Guerrero, shown here with Iñigo Aranguren. |
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In the new sales office, which is just next door to the remelt operation, he has played a key role in the development Hydro Aluminium’s new e-business portal. This gives metal customers online access to the services Hydro offers its regular customers.
"It’s important that e-business is straight-forward and adapted to the customer’s mind-set and language. Together with the program Hydro Billet Plus, the e-portal will simplify and systemize customer contact."
Rodrigo Vajda Guerrero is in no doubt of the great advantages of setting up a sales office in the immediate vicinity of a remelt plant, as at Azuqueca. "We commercial people need to stay in contact with production, and vice versa."
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