News @ The GL@ZINE

Premier Profiles to Close with 220 Job Losses

According to Mike Semens-Flanagan, Managing Director, Premier Profiles: 'Due to the many adverse trading conditions facing the business, Premier Profiles suffered significant financial losses in 2004. We have subsequently carried out a full strategic review of the business and it is with great regret that, with further losses predicted, we today advised staff and customers that we propose to close the business.

'Our priority at the moment is to consult with our employees in order to discuss the impact of this proposal. If it is agreed, it is anticipated that 220 redundancies will be made at our Warmsworth site in Doncaster.

'All employees are being consulted and will be given access to recruitment specialists to help place them in new jobs within the area.

'The decision to propose the closure of the company has not been taken lightly and is a response to cost and competitive pressures on the business.'

Premier Profiles has been associated with Polypipe. As published results demonstrate, the Polypipe business is very profitable. It will not be affected by today's announcement.

Radius Steps in as North West Profile Member Fails

Following the demise of a North West bending/special frame fabricator that has left dozens of trade customers in the lurch, St Helens based Radius Plastics has stepped in with special prices and service that will mean most will be able to take delivery without further delay, and at prices that will actually save them money compared to their original order with the failed fabricato, the company promisesr.

Radius, which claims to have revolutionised the manufacture of curved and special frames to bring down delivery times, raise product quality and professionalise this sector of the market, is offering new customers 10% off their first order, a special price of £50 per frame for any size circle or D frame from Radius' profile stocks or the customer's own, and a 10 day turnaround from receipt of order.

'Many customers have been let down by this company going out of business, but this is a great opportunity to find out why more than 180 new customers came to us last year,' says Mike Crewdson of Radius Plastics. 'In addition to the great deals we are offering to new customers this month, we always offer competitive prices, 48 hour glass sizes and delivery times that are way ahead of the competition.'

Call Radius Plastics on 01744 889900.

Following a number of key strategic and new product announcements Wendland Roof Solutions has announced the appointment of Steve Gardiner as Chief Executive.

The move is particularly significant as Gardiner has a well-established and successful track record in the glass and glazing industry, having served spells with Everest Home Improvements as Manufacturing Director in charge of New Product Development and Operations, and then Installations Director. From Everest Gardiner moved on to CET, one of the UK’s biggest glass processors, as Managing Director, where he is credited with establishing the company as one of the sector’s most innovative and successful operators, with a particular focus on the domestic market. Under his stewardship operations were streamlined and sales considerably increased.

The appointment to this key position of someone with a successful track record within the glazing industry indicates the commitment to and belief in Wendland Roof Solutions and the conservatory market, says Latium Group Chief Executive Ian Kirkham. He added: ‘Steve Gardiner brings to Wendland a superb trail of success within the glass and glazing sector, and from within the Latium Group. That we have made this appointment is further indication of our belief in the future of the conservatory market, and determination that Wendland will continue to grow both in its own right, and in its status in the market place.’

This is the second high level, industry specific appointment at Wendland, following the appointment of Iain McInnes last year as Head of Marketing.

Web: http://www.wendland.uk.com

Synseal Extrusions Ltd has invested over £110,000 in a new conservatory saw centre. Rather than having to manually feed each piece individually, the machine auto-feeds 20 lengths of profile at a time.

‘The computerisation means that the accuracy and consistency is superb,’ explains Steve Musgrave, Production Director of Synseal. ‘The machine has now been fully operational for more than six months and we are pleased with the results. The increase in our conservatory roof sales to 1500 per week has made us look closely at areas we can automate. By increasing capacity to keep ahead of demand our customers will continue to get the high quality products they’re used to.’

Tel: 01623 443 200
Web: http://www.synseal.com

It looks like another busy year ahead for Everbrite Windows & Doors in Enfield as the family-owned firm gears up for further expansion. The company has recently installed the latest computerised manufacturing system, and just switched to fabricating the Duraflex Diamond Suite again, after four years with another PVCu systems supplier.

Everbrite moved to its present premises in Enfield in 1994 and since then has grown year on year to its current turnover of £3m. Primarily a retail company with extensive experience in public sector refurbishments, Everbrite is keen to expand within the trade sector and the flourishing new build market. Managing Director, Stefan Lugmayer comments, ‘With the new IT system now up and running we’ll be able to produce doors and windows faster and more efficiently, without compromising on our exacting quality standards. And offering Duraflex’s PVCu Featured system presents us with an exciting opportunity to develop our trade frames business and fill spare factory capacity.’

The fabricator has also taken on Duraflex’s new Rolled in Gasket (RIG), which when combined with the Featured profile offers an exceptionally high performance seal, and because the gasket is concealed within the frame, adds to the system’s aesthetic appeal. The fact that it is factory fitted as part of the extrusion process delivers additional benefits, ‘Our trade customers are finding the RIG a real boon as it makes installation easier and saves valuable time on site,’ adds Stefan.

Following a period of significant investment, as well as celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary last year, the Everbrite team is expecting 2005 to be just as eventful, ‘We’re currently in the closing stages of purchasing a one acre plot in Harlow, Essex where we plan to build a purpose-built factory,’ says Stefan. The new premises will be designed to accommodate the planned increase in production capacity plus future growth and development of the business.

Web: http://www.duraflex.co.uk

As it celebrates the move to a new, purpose-built 10,000 feet2 factory near St Helens, Merseyside, specialist frame maker and profile bender Arch Craft is guaranteeing a maximum 10 day delivery time for all orders, which the company believes to be the fastest service available for customers in the North West of England, and one of the most efficient in the UK.

The service is made possible by the new, well equipped factory and the completion of recruitment and training of new staff to cope with the company’s planned expansion drive. The result of this is that product quality – often a major problem with specialist frame makers and profile benders – is now running at 99% right-first-time, a figure that few conventional frame makers could compete with. And crucially, the fast order turnaround rate is aided by new management systems, extensive stocks of the 10 most popular profile systems, and computer-calculated glass sizes by return of order, the latter of which in itself can save a customer a full week in the overall lead time.

The new factory and facilities represents an investment by Arch Craft of more than £500,000 during the past six months and a major commitment to bring curved and specialist frame production into line with the rest of the window industry. ‘Specialist frame production used to be a joke in the window industry but we are changing that,’ said Dave Roberts for the company. ‘Our customers know they can schedule work confident in the knowledge that they will not be let down by delivery or poor product quality with their arched or angled frames.’

The well known and highly regarded British standard for door locks has been upgraded. But existing stocks of locks conforming to the former standard can continue to be sold without penalty.

This is the advice given by the Door & Hardware Federation which represents the UK’s leading manufacturers of building hardware and architectural ironmongery.

BS 3621 has been upgraded to coincide with the introduction of European lock standards. It is one of the most publicised British standards and it is the one which insurance companies use to state which locks they require their policyholders to have fitted to their external doors.

The new standard which starts from December 2004 and has now been published allows 12 months for manufacturers before they must adapt their products. From December 2005, manufacturers can only have accreditation for supplying locks that meet BS 3621 : 2004. From that date the old standard BS 3621 : 1998 will be obsolete. The fact that the old standard is being maintained with a new year of reference makes it easier for retailers, wholesalers, builders merchants, locksmiths, architectural ironmongers to change without incurring costs .

Suppliers can continue to supply locks that meet the old standard which they have in stock without penalty. It is recognised that it can take many years for products in the DIY/hardware industry to be completely phased out.

Said Duncan Crawley of the DHF: 'We believe that the insurance companies will probably change their policy requirements as and when they reprint, and assume they are aware of the change in the standard. We don’t expect that they will require already fitted locks meeting previous BS 3621 standards to be changed.'

The main physical change to BS 3621 is that deadbolts must now have a projection of at least 20mm which will require greater depth in the keeps. There are also changes to testing procedures and other requirements.

The new BS 8621 : 2004 standard mirrors the new BS 3621 : 2004 but is for ‘escape’ locks. This applies where there is a requirement for an easy action method of opening an external door from the inside with no need for keys or similar devices for unlocking.

Tel: 01827 52337

HIS Systems has benefited from a £250,000 investment at its South Wales factory. This includes a new 55,000 sq ft warehouse and showroom, which offer fabricators an enhanced service package.

As part of the programme of development the sales and technical team has been expanded, providing technical and marketing support for the growing customer base. In addition, the company has developed a new logo and corporate image that are featured on the comprehensive suite of literature.

General Manager, Gary Firth (pictured), comments, ‘The last twelve months have seen major expansion and developments here at HIS Systems and the company has grown from strength to strength.

‘Our new facilities mean that fabricators can now come and see our whole range of products and services for themselves. They can be assured of regular and complete deliveries, anywhere in the British Isles.

‘To date over 60 Local Authorities and Housing Associations have approved the HIS System for use in their properties, and that's a pretty impressive achievement.

‘I am thriving here at HIS. I like to take a hands-on role, working closely with both the sales team and the factory floor,’ adds Gary.

‘HIS is building on its pioneering background. It was the first British company to manufacture and supply a PVCu system and the first to produce post co-extruded (PCE) gasket, setting a precedent that other systems companies have followed.’

The Five Star system features a five-chamber design, which has excellent thermal properties, achieving a U-value that far exceeds the demands of Document L: 1.8 W/m2k with standard glazing down to 1.4 W/m2k when specially insulated glass is used.

In addition it is an attractive product, with discreet sightlines, a choice of scotia or chamfered beads and five colour options to give fabricators an opportunity to really differentiate their offer and add value to their contracts.

Gary adds, ‘I am looking forward to helping HIS maintain its significant growth in the marketplace by promoting the benefits of the innovative Five Star system to fabricators who are looking for advanced quality, aesthetics and value.’

Tel: 01685 844488

Tampere, Finland, is the destination, Friday June 17th – Monday 20th 2005 is the time, for the this year's biennial GPD Conference & Glass Product Exhibition Workshops. Organiser Jorma Vittkala has outlined the reasons for attending this important event:

1. Meet all your global key suppliers or customers at same place
• Save money and travelling time – everybody you need to see and meet from the field of glass processing technology, glass, manufactures raw materials, machinery, tools, chemicals, design, coatings etc.

2. Improving the processing performance - practical case studies & workshops
• how to save money in production/projects, quality, standards, CE etc.
• coated glass handling and practical test run etc.
• 18 different workshops
• 12 case studies

3. Efficient use of time - from Friday to Monday
• Maximising your daily business time, networking and pleasure time

4. The latest market and technology know-how
• New business ideas and related high technology, processes, products etc.

5. Learning by best practises makes sure your organisation keeps developing
• GPD offers a cost-effective way to educate your personnel

6. Unique networking – 1000 specialists from over 60 countries
• Meet professionals and use the opportunity for opening the channels for personal information flow

7. Comprehensive factory visits and exhibition show room
• Opportunity to see the latest innovations of pre-processing, tempering, printing and modifications and upgrades

8. Cost effective trip to Tampere
• Apex flight tickets from Europe cost 200-400 Euro and hotels 90-120 Euro/night. Don’t miss the opportunity to gather essential information from multiple sources. Make sure you are one of the 1000 top professional in the world
• only one good hint to production or business will pay back your trip and you still have your new network!

9. More detailed information http://www.gpd.fi

The GGF and iQ Business can provide you with a new unique business support service designed to improve efficiency and the bottom line.

All businesses must comply with a wide range of legislation which can prove time consuming and costly, unless innovative approaches are adopted. The new Business Manager portfolio now being provided by GGF/iQ.

You will receive all the necessary advice, procedures and documentation, including quarterly updates, legal advice lines plus employment and health & safety insurance which protects you completely against claims and legal costs.

All six products are on one CD-ROM and give you total peace of mind in the knowledge that your business is totally compliant with the law and costs are completely controlled.

1. iQ Employment Manager
Keeps you on the right side of the law and secures good employee relations.

2. iQ Health & Safety Manager
Enables you to fulfil your legal duty to ensure the Health, Safety and Welfare of your employees.

3. iQ Legal Manager
Unlimited access to a legal advice line of over 40 commercially experienced legal experts.

4. iQ Business Planner
It's the easy way to create persuasive, successful business plans faster than you ever thought possible.

5. iQ Tax Manager
iQ Tax Manager helps you understand and plan your business and personal finances so you gain the maximum benefit under the current tax system.

6. iQ Credit Manager
iQ Credit Manager has been designed to help you implement an effective Credit Control Policy by improving cash flow and reducing overdue monies.

Contact iQ Business Limited 01937 587798 for further information.

Total Glass says that it is gaining a reputation among social housing providers for swift and efficient service following the successful completion of a major refurbishment project for Liverpool-based Cobalt Housing Trust well ahead of schedule.

Working efficiently in partnership with contractors Whites Building Services enabled Total Glass, the UK fabricator, to complete the installation of new windows and doors in 2,500 homes within 12 months, instead of the original planned two year programme.

Houses in the Norris Green and Fazakerley areas of Liverpool were fitted with high quality windows and doors using the Profile 22 system. Managing Director Frank Deary comments: ‘We have now been introduced to other housing trusts on the basis of this success and are actively pursuing further contracts in the commercial sector.’

To assist the efficient completion of the contract, Total Glass installed a separate on-line order processing system for its commercial sector clients, and appointed a dedicated liaison officer to oversee all aspects and progression of the refurbishment work.

For further information on Total Glass, contact Frank Deary on 0151 549 2339 or visit the website at http://www.totalglass.com.

Fastener performance means everything to fabricators like Bristol-based The Window Factory when they’re fighting for market share in the competitive window market. Even though Bristol doesn’t have one of the world’s harshest climates, it’s reassuring to know that the screws in your frames are a match for anything the elements can throw at them. That’s why, after a long investigation into a new supplier, The Window Factory opted for UK Fasteners.

Initially a price-lead decision, a month-long trial helped seal The Window Factory’s choice of supplier just over a year ago. Since then, The Window Factory has started using UK Fasteners’ Marutex screw – BBA certified and tested for 1000 hours in a harsh salt environment. That’s at least twice as long as for other screws.

Speaking about UK Fasteners’ appointment, The Window Factory Managing Director Wayne Chapman says: ‘It’s great to work with a company you can really trust. UKF is so reliable and the product, borne out by its performance in tests and on-site, is technically brilliant. That means a great deal in our scheme of things.’

Tel: 01242 577077

The final pieces are now in place to complete the Newdawn Newera S150 system. Launched at last years Glassex show, the company says that the new roofing system has taken the market by storm over the last 12 months with over 90% of Newdawn’s existing customers and all of its newly recruited fabricators adopting the system.

Four new additions complete the range and make it even more adaptable and able to handle those complex roofs where a fully developed system is required that allows ‘P’-shapes, T- shapes and gazebos to be built from standard items - a new full width wall bar using the standard rafter cap but incorporating an aluminium flashing upstand for ease of installation, a new universal valley providing fast independent rafter fixing and continuous sealing with a moulded undercladding and a new multipurpose wallplate incorporating all the Newera ridge developments to glaze polycarbonate up to 35mm thick and provide faster fabrication times and simple on site installation.

To meet the increasing demand from architects who specify Newdawn Cervoglass the company has added a glass jointing muntin bar to the range. This enables the glass units to span even greater lengths and meet the demands from designers who are increasingly turning to Newdawn for the larger more prestigious projects where the quality and aesthetic appeal of a full aluminium clad glass roof are required.

‘Available in warm and high (blue) white, golden oak, mahogany, rosewood and any RAL colour in aluminium the picture is now clear the future is indeed bright for the ever growing number of Newdawn fabricators.’ says the company.

Tel: 01789 764444
Email: mailto:sales@newdawn-sun.co.uk

Thistle Windows and Conservatories Ltd Found Guilty

Thistle Windows and Conservatories Ltd was recently found guilty of breaching The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulation 1996 (No 6) para 3 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. The company was fined £1,000.

The company's employees were undertaking construction work erecting a conservatory at the company's head office without there being any precautions in place to prevent the workers from falling from the conservatory roof.

Nobody likes a good helping of chips – well, not the type that appear in a car’s paintwork anyway. Whether it’s a shower of stones thrown up by the car in front, or a carelessly opened door in a supermarket car park, minor damage to a car’s appearance can be both annoying and detrimental to its value.

ChipsAway International Ltd – one of the country’s leading franchise organisations – offers a mobile cosmetic car care service to motorists all over the UK. The company’s success has resulted in rapid expansion and now the Kidderminster-based business operates a fleet of 70 Volkswagen Transporter panel vans. In fact, ChipsAway has been so impressed with the performance of the Transporter that this number looks set to increase.

The vans have been adapted to become fully equipped mobile workshops and carry paint mixing schemes of the type found in a traditional bodyshop, but designed exclusively for mobile repairs. This enables ChipsAway to take its service to both public and trade customers and cost-effectively repair minor damage to automotive paintwork, such as scuffs, chips and scratches, to a very high quality.

The latest generation of the Volkswagen Transporter was launched in 2003 and builds on the solid reputation of its four predecessors. Innovations, including a range of powerful and economical TDI engines featuring Volkswagen’s ‘Pumpe Düse’ (PD) unit injector technology; independent suspension on all four wheels; precise, dash-mounted gear change; car-like handling; and a well thought-out ergonomic cab all create an unbeatable overall package.

Since its launch the new Transporter has won numerous industry awards including International Van of the Year 2004, as well as What Van? magazine’s Van of the Year.

Nick Bicknell, Operations Director for ChipsAway, fully endorses the praise heaped upon this exceptional van: ‘We selected the Volkswagen Transporter because it reflects the business ethics of our company: a product of the highest quality and reliability.’

ChipsAway first developed small and medium area repair technology, or SMART as it is known, in the USA. It introduced the concept into the UK ten years ago and still remains the dominant brand in this sector. With around 27 million vehicles on the road the scope for growth in this industry is huge, and ChipsAway fully expects to be running a fleet of 400 Volkswagen Transporters within the next few years.

Listers Volkswagen Van Centre in Worcester – part of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ national network of over 80 dedicated Van Centres – supplies ChipsAway with its Transporters.

Tel: 0800 717131
Web: http://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Leeds East Homes, the arms length management organisation providing housing management services to council tenants living in the east of Yorkshire’s biggest city, has driven through a number of improvements in the window specification it inherited from Leeds City Council and now insists on austenitic stainless steel fasteners throughout.

The organisation, which was recently awarded the commendable 2-star rating by the Audit Commission Housing Inspectorate, has taken this step to further its commitment to Best Value and ensure the quality of the PVCu windows it is installing in its 12,000 properties goes beyond the Decent Homes standard.

The key supplier of austenitic stainless steel fasteners in the latest window replacement programme is SFS intec, which is liaising closely with Leeds East Homes and its four appointed contactors to police the specification rigidly.

Tony Butler (pictured), Surveying Manager for Leeds East Homes, said: ‘With multiple fabricators and installers using a variety of window systems, including Veka, Deceuninck and Plus-Plan, having the support of SFS intec to ensure the correct fasteners are being used is extremely important. We know from experience that we have to police the entire window specification and this is particularly the case for fasteners unfortunately.’

SFS intec’s support extends through its audit scheme. Under this, SFS intec liaises closely with the contractors to ensure the correct fasteners are chosen for the application and then makes periodic and unannounced visits to both the site and the windowmaker’s factory to check the specification is being strictly followed.

Tony adds: ‘Using SFS austenitic stainless steel fasteners is clearly going to provide better performance in the longer term than using carbon steel or martensitic. But the SFS audit scheme gives us that important extra support and confidence in the components being used, giving us more time to deal with other areas of our extensive refurbishment programme.’

So far, 1,500 windows have been installed throughout the Seacroft, Gipton, Ebor Gardens and Lincoln Green areas. In addition to the window programme, many properties require work including re-roofing, rewiring and other structural, environmental and security work.

Many homes also require new kitchens and bathrooms plus loft and cavity wall insulation to bring homes up to today’s more acceptable thermal standards.
Leeds East Homes is also working in partnership with British Gas to install central heating systems under the Heat Lease scheme.

Further information on SFS intec is available by contacting Robin Szymura on 0113 208 5500.

With depots already in Cardiff and Swansea, to be closely followed by Gloucester in early 2005, Principality (Plastics and Hardware) Ltd has been supplying PVCu Building materials and allied products to both large and small contractors within South Wales for the last 14 years.

The company is an authorised distributor for Swish Building Products, Deeplas Building products by Deceuninck and the Polypipe range of rainwater and underground drainage products.

In addition it offers a range of internal and external decorative products (Marbrex/Decor) that the company says have proven to be very popular with contractors. On most products the company offers a next day free delivery from its extensive stockholding at all depots.

Amongst Principality’s customer base are several of the major house and property developers and Building contractors within South Wales. In addition, the company is a specified supplier to local authorities.

When Managing Director John Peters first started trading back in 1992, he made a decision to predominantly supply Deceuninck plastic products. As the customers needs grew so did the company’s range of products. Principality is now a major stockist of Swish as well which has increased the company’s turnover as it now supplies many of the new build contractors such as George Wimpey, Lovells, Persimmon, Barratts etc. These products have also opened the doors to many of the local authorities in South Wales.

Continued expansion on the plastic side of the business has seen the introduction of additional lines such as Polypipe rainwater goods and underground drainage, a range of external window cills, decorative dado, cornice and skirting, as well as fixings, sealants and glazing accessories.

A few years later Principality ventured into PVC-U hardware and glazing products. It then had all the products to extend the company’s customer base, and offer a one stop shop for the PVC-U double glazing industry.

On the hardware side, Principality is now a distributor of Avocet Hardware Ltd, which supplies the company with most of the components to manufacture windows and doors. The company also supplies the Siegenia tilt and turn, tilt before turn and patio tilt and slide components. As well as a range of Ferco door locks.

In addition to the above the compny says that it can supply all your glazing needs. It has a wide range of glass bevels including a smaller collection of coloured bevels. Principality’s colour film collection is quite extensive ranging from plain to patterned films and even textured films. It also hold stocks of a variety of spacer bars; anodised, mill, bronze, gold, and white together with all the relevant keys to suit. The company also carries Georgian bar in white, mahogany and light oak and again with all the necessary components.

‘As an expanding company our main priority is to provide our customers with an excellent level of service.’ says Paul Davies, Sales Director. ‘We strive to give our customers what they want when they need it, so we have incorporated an exceptional delivery service delivering daily to many areas to ensure their needs are always met.’

Tel: 07970 885580

Sales staff will no longer have to face hours of work preparing sales proposals – thanks to the launch of a pioneering web-based system.

The ProposalGENie, the first system of its kind, allows sales staff to produce proposals of consistently high quality in minutes.

ProposalGENie was developed XiS Ltd, and headed by businessman Colin Potter founder of Uniworld, the fast-growing telecommunications service provider (pictured with Jo Hilsden).

Recognising that writing sales proposals was a time consuming process for sales staff, he developed a system which enables them to access a web-based database containing all their company’s standard text passages, product and pricing information and calculation formulas.

From this they click on selected text of their choice and print their customised sales proposal in minutes. ProposalGENie can be used with minimum training. No special hardware or new software is needed – just an Internet connection, web browser and word processing package.

Mr Potter said; ‘Each sales proposal is constructed from a series of customised templates that use predefined content combined with customer information to select the relevant statements and data components to build the sales proposal.
‘It takes a sales person just a few minutes to input the data and answer a series of intuitive questions over the Internet to produce the proposal.

‘The potential benefits are enormous. ProposalGENie is suitable for any size company and enables sales staff of varying ability to produce sales proposals of consistently high quality to win business at all levels.’

Using ProposalGENie led to increased sales at Uniworld, which has grown in four years to a turnover of £24 million.

Mr Potter said: ‘Our sales agents loved the system as it saved them hours of repetitive work and increased their sales penetration. Customers commented regularly on the quality of proposals and, more importantly, increased their rate of signing up for the company’s products.’

Uniworld Operations manager Jane Mclaren said: ‘ProposalGENie saves us considerable amounts of time and ensures I am confident that the content of proposals is correct and presents Uniworld in the best possible light. This allows our sales people to do what they do best – sell.’

Mr Potter has now sold Uniworld to concentrate on XiS, which is based at Portsmouth Technopole.

For more information or to produce a sample ProposalGENie document see http://www.document-genie.com

Caption Colin Potter and Jo Hilsden of Proposal Genie

Alcoa announced on 31st January it has completed the acquisition from RUSAL of two fabricating facilities in Samara and Belaya Kalitva in the Russian Federation for $257 million in cash.

'These plants have unique capabilities, a wide product breadth and a very capable workforce,' said Alain Belda, Alcoa Chairman and CEO. 'Acquiring these assets supports our growth plans in the commercial transportation, aerospace, automotive and packaging markets.

'We plan to integrate these facilities and invest in them so that we can be in an even better position to serve customers not only in Russia, but throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas as well,' added Belda. 'Over time, as these facilities are integrated into our system, we expect they will contribute to substantial advantages for our customers and competitive advantages for Alcoa.'

In 2005 Alcoa plans to invest more than $80 million in capital and technology in the two facilities as well as investing in environmental, health, safety and Alcoa Business System (ABS) training to build consistency across these plants and others within the Alcoa system. The investments also will strengthen the ability of the plants to compete in the world market. These capital spending figures are included in Alcoa's previously announced 2005 capital spending plan of approximately $2.5 billion, of which $1.6 billion is dedicated to growth projects.
As a result of the acquisition and integration, Alcoa expects 2005 earnings from these assets to be an after-tax loss of approximately $40 million as they are put in a position to compete globally.

'We have a proven track record of taking fabricating assets - such as those in Hungary, Spain and Italy - integrating them into Alcoa, and putting them in a strong position to compete globally and grow profitably,' said Belda. 'These countries have provided additional growth opportunities to Alcoa once we began operating in them and we look forward to the chance to grow further in Russia.'

The two facilities will join Alcoa's flat rolled products manufacturing system with operations in the U.S., Europe, Australia, China, and Brazil; the company's extrusion facilities in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, and Korea; and its wheels and forged products system with facilities in the U.S., Mexico, Japan and Europe. The integration will be led by Ric Belda, Alcoa Executive Vice President - Europe, who has successfully integrated all the major acquisitions made by the company in Europe over the past several years. Ric will be assisted by Phil Collins, Country Manager - Russia, who has managed similar assets in Hungary.

The Samara facility is located about 500 miles southeast of Moscow. It features cast house, flat rolled products, extrusion, and forging capabilities and serves customers in many markets, including transportation, packaging, and industrial products. The plant's production and quality control systems have been ISO 9001/9002 certified and is preparing for the ISO 14001 certification in Ecological Management.

The Belaya Kalitva facility is located about 500 miles south of Moscow. The facility also features cast house, flat rolled products, extrusions, tubes, and forgings capabilities. The Belaya Kalitva facility has specialised plate rolling and finishing equipment that will complement and increase Alcoa's present supply position.
With Alcoa know how and management systems, the plant will not only be able to expand the product offerings for Russian customers but also will eventually be able to produce products for major customers in the west. The plant is ISO 9001 certified and is preparing for the ISO 14001 certification in Ecological Management.

The parties also entered into long-term arrangements for the supply of metal to the two plants. Separately the parties also entered into a long-term alumina supply arrangement.