Cold operations resume

Novelis’s cold mill and heat-treatment operations in Oswego, New York, were running again on Nov 21, 2025, following a second major fire the previous day. The facility continued shipping finished aluminum to Ford. Both companies said workers had been safely evacuated and no employees, contractors or first responders were injured. Novelis was sourcing alternative material through its worldwide plants and industry peers. Restart details.

The hot mill, damaged in September, remained a separate recovery project. A Nov 11 update had targeted its return by December’s end. Ford’s October forecast put the fourth-quarter F-Series production shortfall at 90,000–100,000 trucks. Novelis also planned to begin commissioning its new Bay Minette, Alabama, plant in the second half of 2026.

Ford plans and Oswego cold operations restart
Ford plans and Oswego cold operations restart.

Ford’s production response

Ford had announced plans on Oct 23, 2025, to increase F-Series output by more than 50,000 trucks in 2026, addressing customer demand and recovering production lost after the supplier fire. The planned additions covered two assembly operations:

  • More than 45,000 extra gasoline and hybrid F-150 trucks at Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan.
  • More than 5,000 additional Super Duty trucks at Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.

Dearborn’s proposed third crew comprised 1,200 employees, including transfers from the adjacent Rouge Electric Vehicle Center and other southeastern Michigan facilities. F-150 Lightning assembly would remain paused while Ford prioritised gasoline and hybrid trucks. Across the production increase, Ford planned up to 1,000 new jobs. Kentucky’s target involved raising assembly speed by one vehicle an hour, supported by a planned $60 million investment in training and other changes.

A wider rolling network

Novelis shipped 941 kilotonnes of rolled products across its business in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, broadly matching the preceding year’s quarter. Slightly higher automotive and aerospace shipments offset lower beverage-packaging and specialty shipments. Those figures covered the company as a whole, rather than output from Oswego alone.

The company’s manufacturing and customer network extends across North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Its products serve automotive, aerospace, beverage-packaging and specialty markets. Novelis’s Nov 4 financial results put quarterly sales at $4.7 billion, up 10% year over year, mainly because of higher average aluminum prices. The same announcement retained a December 2025 hot-mill recovery target.

Typical southern Lake Ontario shoreline
Typical southern Lake Ontario shoreline.

Material sourcing across sites

Oswego was among the North American facilities included in Novelis’s ASI Chain of Custody certification announced on Jul 8, 2024. Its scope covered regional management functions in Georgia and production sites in the United States and Canada, including Kingston, Berea, Greensboro, Guthrie, Warren and the Logan Aluminum joint venture in Russellville. The certification applied the initiative’s V1 standard from 2017.

That framework establishes requirements for tracking material through the value chain and linking verified practices to products from certified entities. It also addresses sourcing policies and due diligence for corruption, human-rights issues and material from conflict-affected or high-risk areas. DNV Business Assurance Services UK conducted the independent audit before May 31, 2023. ASI identified no non-conformances in that audit when announcing the regional certification.