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Metal Plant Coming To Bay Minette With 1,000 Jobs; Officials Say That’s Good News For North Escambia County
May 11, 2022
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced Wednesday that Novelis Inc., a world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, plans to invest more than $2.5 billion to build a new low-carbon recycling and rolling plant in Baldwin County.
The facility at the 3,000-acre South Alabama Mega Site, located in Bay Minette, will create approximately 1,000 jobs, which Novelis projects will pay an average annual salary of $65,000.
The facility will be located about 10 miles from Florida and North Escambia (about 15 miles driving distance due to the Perdido River).
Speaking in Century Tuesday, FloridaWest CEO Scott Luth said the jobs will be important for the surrounding communities, especially for Century and the communities in North Escambia.
“At the end of the day the framework is all around our talent,” Luth said. “Building that talent is so critical.”
“People from Century drive to the plant in Brewton, and to Cantonment to work. There are people here that did it for 30 years,” Century Mayor Ben Boutwell said. Novelis’ facility will be a 35 mile drive from Century.
“I think this is huge for our area. It will be a transportation issue for some people, but maybe they could carpool,” Boutwell added.
Atlanta-based Novelis said the Alabama facility — the first fully integrated aluminum mill built in the U.S. in 40 years — will leverage the company’s long-term relationships with leading beverage, packaging and automotive brands seeking sustainable aluminum solutions.
“With this massive investment and these large-scale hiring plans, Novelis will launch a high-tech aluminum mill that will generate significant economic impacts throughout the region for generations,” said Governor Ivey. “Novelis is a world-class company, and we know that it has selected a prime location in Sweet Home Alabama and specifically Baldwin County as home for its growth plans.”
Novelis said the new plant will be the most sophisticated and sustainable of its kind and will have a strong focus on employee safety.
The facility will be powered with renewable energy, use recycled water and be a zero-waste facility. Novelis is committed to being a carbon-neutral company by 2050 and plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2026.
In addition, the Baldwin County plant will make use of advanced automation and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, augmented reality and robotics. The facility will have an initial 600 kilotonnes of finished aluminum goods capacity per year.
“Through this investment, we are making a demonstrative commitment to continue to grow alongside our customers and meet their needs for low-carbon, highly sustainable aluminum solutions,” said Steve Fisher, President and CEO of Novelis. “In addition, we are well positioned to efficiently expand capacity at this facility in the future — above the 600kt announced today — to capture ongoing strong demand. Our readiness to invest to serve growing markets is a perfect example of how we are delivering on our company purpose of shaping a sustainable world together.”
Site work is under way now, and Novelis expects to begin commissioning the facility in mid-2025. AIDT, Alabama’s primary workforce development agency, will assist Novelis in assembling and training a workforce for the facility.
“Novelis’ decision to locate the nation’s most technologically advanced aluminum mill in Baldwin County is a powerful testament to both the state’s attractive business climate and to the capabilities of our talented manufacturing workforce,” said Greg Canfield, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “The magnitude of this project makes it a game-changing development for Alabama’s industrial sector and a jobs engine for the region.”
Novelis serves customers from a wide variety of industries including beverage packaging, automotive, building and construction, aerospace and consumer electronics. The Baldwin County facility will primarily serve the growing beverage can market.
The plant will also serve the automotive market, where aluminum is the fastest growing material, as automakers make plans to achieve their sustainability goals. Aluminum produced by Novelis can be found in more than 225 vehicle models produced by leading automakers around the globe.
Comments
17 Responses to “Metal Plant Coming To Bay Minette With 1,000 Jobs; Officials Say That’s Good News For North Escambia County”
When will it open and how can I put in an application or when will applications be accepted?
Wonder how that stainless steel mill in Mobile is doing
@ol skinny. I’m almost 50 and still work 60 hrs a week. Always pay your good workers well. But the people coming into the workforce nowadays want to start at the same level as the ones who been doing it. Yeah it’ll discourage the experienced workers when inexperienced make the same as the experienced. It’s a puzzle that’s almost impossible to solve.
escambia county has the BEACH and a mill or two. the south end has the gravy and the north end the garbage. the folks in alabama are looking ahead to add jobs and grow. escambia florida just sits on the beach and navy. we need to secede and join escambia county alabama. we have NO county services in the north end.
Those who run Pensacola/Escambia County don’t want jobs, they want tourism and customer service industry. Jacksonville doesn’t just focus on tourism, they also focus on warehousing and manufacturing. Of course JAX also benefits greatly from CONSOLIDATION which consolidating also brought Indianapolis back to being a strong rust belt city.
Alabama next door , is more business friendly than Escambia county fl.. We are getting more and more like New York, California. Regulators and unfriendly environment for working folks , and investors.
North Escambia has plenty of land and workers to accommodate many manufacturing companies. I put the blame on our local politicians and the lack of hiring a good team whose sole purpose is to seek out manufacturing companies to come here. Give me one or two great businesses to open facilities here rather than 300 acres of solar panels that will generate electricity for only 15,000 homes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled for Bay Minette. There’s just no reason Escambia County couldn’t prosper as well.
Once again,
Escambia county comes out on the
losing end…..
This county has run off more business
than I can rember……
Ol. Skinny. I know a good worker so where does one apply?
Ron needs to stop attacking Mickey Mouse and bring in jobs like this!
Hate to be a “nay sayer” but I have to agree with DJC … I have over 20 hourly vacancies right now I am trying to fill. Between background checks and drug tests it’s hard enough… then better than 30% either quit or can’t get through the probation period because they can’t get to work on time or don’t want to work when they get here! I think this a a GREAT opportunity for the area …. hopefully they can tap into a much better job pool than I have been able to.
Wish our elected officials could pull off a deal like this.
It’s impossible for employers to find 1 or 2 people willing to work these days. Good luck trying to find 1000!
I couldn’t agree more @Local this would be a great opportunity for so many families!
And all we get in Atmore is peanuts, literally. LOL
Once again Alabama gets a really good manufacturing plant that will employ 1000 people with an actual living wage. While the people in NWF can only hope the county and state leaders will do something to bring a company like this here to North West Florida. I would drive to Alabama to work but then you have to pay Alabama state income taxes while living in Florida. Why can’t we get a great manufacturing plant like this here.
About time a business comes to this area! We need more of them so folks can work and make a living. No more fast food joints, bring REAL JOBS!!