Hydro president lays foundation for new litho line

(Jan. 23, 2004) Hydro president and CEO Eivind Reiten on Friday formally opened the construction of a new litho production line at the Hydro Aluminium plant in Grevenbroich, Germany.

Both Reiten and Jon-Harald Nilsen, who is head of Hydro Aluminium, traveled to the rolled products plant to formally open the construction of the facility by laying the foundation stone.

An innovative machine line at the cost of nearly EUR 20m will be built, which is to manufacture high-quality input stock for the production of offset printing plates as of 2005. Hydro Aluminium is a leading supplier of selected rolled products including packaging and automotive applications, and is the leader for litho input stock worldwide.

Hydro’s strategy is to strengthen further this leading position in the market for specialized, high-quality products.

As the global market in the litho segment is continuing to grow, Hydro can only secure its market position if it provides the appropriate capacities to its customers. Svein-Richard Brandtzæg, head of the Rolled Products business sector, said Hydro does not expect that other materials or alternative printing technologies will replace offset printing with aluminium plates in the medium term.