

Straface said North American operations shipped 1.4 billion pounds of aluminum extrusions in 2015. “We’ve been growing probably 5 percent on average the past five or six years,” said Charles Straface, North American president for Sapa Extrusions.īeside light-duty automotive parts, the company produces aluminum components for an array of products - from cruise ships and semitrailers to window frames.

The company spent more than $3 million on the facility, and sees a major opportunity to expand its automotive business in North America.

Sapa Group on Tuesday officially opened a 10,000-square-foot research and development lab in Troy. Troy - A Norwegian supplier of aluminum components for vehicles such as the Ford F-150 pickup and Tesla Model S electric is expanding its operations in Metro Detroit. The subjects were misidentified in a previous version of the story. In the United States, these include the NATC in Michigan, Oregon and other locations, and the Corrosion Test Center in Florida.Correction: In the photo below, Sapa CEO Egil Hogna, left, is joined by Tolga Egrilmezer, vice president of strategic products, in a tour of a new Sapa Group facility in Troy. In addition to Sapa Technology and its new satellite in Troy, the company has technical expertise working around the world in market-specific or industry-related centers. Sapa's automotive customers include OEMs like Ford, General Motors, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Tesla, as well as Tier 1 suppliers such as MAHLE, Benteler, Panasonic and TI Automotive.
Auto lab troy iso#
In addition to its current portfolio, Sapa Technology Americas is working toward ISO 905 certification, which it expects to achieve this summer. Sapa Technology Americas provides service to the business areas within the company, specifically on projects requested by Sapa's North America Technical Center, its plant network and corporate R&D. Sapa Technology Americas has five engineers on staff and expects to further increase manning before the end of the year, says lab manager Nathan Nickolopoulos, who adds that Sapa has invested more than $3 million in new equipment at the Troy site. We want to stimulate the use of aluminum in automotive applications and build on our role as the preferred development partner in automotive extrusion-based solutions"

Sapa Technology Americas, located near the "motor city" of Detroit, represents an extension with an automotive focus.Įxecutive vice president Tolga Egrilmezer, who is responsible for Strategy & Business Development for Sapa, said the company "is committed to developing innovative and sustainable aluminum solutions, and the Troy facility brings us even closer to the automotive industry, which is focused on building lighter and safer cars. Established in 1963 and with its base in Sweden, the R&D unit has expertise in material, physics, chemistry and mechanical engineering. Sapa Technology is Sapa's corporate research and development hub. Sapa is a 50/50 joint venture owned equally by the Norwegian companies Orkla and Hydro. Oslo, Norway-based Sapa delivers solutions to all industries, from automotive and mass transportation to building and construction, electronics, offshore and maritime. This is a new step forward in our work to provide customers with the solutions that improve their products," says President/CEO Egil Hogna. "In total, we have around 1,000 engineers working in research and with application development throughout the world. Norway-based Sapa Technology Americas established a North American facility dedicated to the research and development of extruded aluminum solutions for the automotive industry in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Michigan. Auto Manufacturing Through the Eyes of a Design-Build Contractor
