Overview

An interview with Prof. Peter Uggowitzer - AluReport: As a long-standing member of the Supervisory Board, and in particular as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, you will undoubtedly have followed AMAG’s development very closely. How would you assess the company’s current level of scientific expertise compared to the situation a decade and a half ago? PU: In response to your first comment, I’d like to say that I’ve been connected to AMAG through professional and personal contacts since 2007, so for 17 years now, and have followed the development of the company’s R&D activities very closely over this period. If I had to give the company a grade for the progress it has made in developing its scientific expertise over the last decade and a half, it would have to be “outstanding”.

The world of heat exchangers is evolving rapidly, with new and increasingly complex geometries emerging all the time. At the same time, there is a growing focus on cost-efficient solutions that are also environmentally friendly. This makes the development of a flux-free brazing material for controlled atmosphere brazing an incredibly exciting and important challenge.

Approaches to tackling decarbonization by increasing scrap utilization and switching to renewable energy sources influence the entire process chain for producing sheets and plates.

AluReport: Ms. Trampitsch, the topic of sustainability is ever-present nowadays. But how do we actually measure a company’s sustainability?

Since its foundation, AMAG has made impressive progress in its primary aluminium activities. The company was founded as a smelting plant and began producing primary aluminium in 1939. As the years went by, AMAG adjusted its strategy in response to changing market conditions. In the 1980s, the state-owned company was restructured as it was no longer efficient to operate the smelter on site. In the course of this restructuring, the decision was taken to transform AMAG into an international aluminium corporation, shifting its focus away from primary aluminium production and towards metal processing.

Energy transition
Decentralized electrification of infrastructure has a decisive role to play in our society’s pursuit of climate neutrality. Many electrical technologies are expierence a real boom, from the integration of solar panels and battery energy storage systems in residential construction projects to charging infrastructure and batteries in e-mobility. All of these applications have a key component in common: cost-efficient electrical conductors with low electrical resistance and excellent processing properties. These conductors are often referred to as bus bars.

In the first article on recycled cast alloys for aluminium wheels, published back in AluReport 2/2022, we described in detail how aluminium is one of the most significant materials for durable and sustainable components in automotive construction.

In 2008, the aviation industry faced existential challenges as the financial crisis began to take hold. From one day to the next, the optimism fueled by the development of revolutionary new concepts like the Airbus A380 and Boeing’s Dreamliners quite simply disappeared. It wasn’t long before the impacts on supply chains became apparent. OEMs responded to cancellations from airlines by reducing and postponing their aircraft construction plans.

Aluminum is a cornerstone of modern engineering, offering unmatched lightweight properties, high recyclability, and versatility across industries.

First things first: AMAG has delivered on its promises in recent years. By making large-scale investments - from expanding its recycling center and foundry to commissioning new hot and cold rolling mills and a continuous heat-treatment furnace with a passivation system to opening the Center for Material Innovation (CMI) - it has become a full-range supplier to the automotive industry. As a result, AMAG has established itself as a supplier for the automotive and transportation industry.

Heat exchangers can be found in wide-ranging situations in which the transfer of thermal energy plays a decisive role. The manufacture of heat exchangers predominantly relies on aluminium brazing materials. These are advanced, high-quality, multi-layered composites made from a core alloy clad on one or both sides with an AlSi brazing alloy. AMAG has produced these composites for over 40 years using a sophisticated roll cladding technology. This solid-state pressure welding process produces a tight metallurgical bond between the brazing solder and the core bars, which facilitates outstanding soldering results in downstream processing of the material.

In the modern business world, precise and consistent data lays the foundation for sound decisions and successful strategies. It plays a key role in controlling, because the indicators calculated in this context are vital for managing and evaluating a company’s performance. But what happens when the figures for a given indicator vary in different reports, despite being based on the same data? Confusion, inefficient processes and, in the worst case scenario, wrong decisions. AMAG’s Controlling department engaged with the topic of efficient data management at an early stage. In 2012, it introduced LucaNet: a system that facilitates centralized access to indicators.