What is recycled is not inferior! How does SuperAlloy use "recycled aluminum" to conquer luxury car manufacturers such as BMW and Porsche?

SuperAlloy Industrial, located in Yunlin, is a major forged wheel manufacturer in the world, especially in the high-end luxury car forged aluminum rim market. It is the world's number one supplier, with Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz among its customers. However, Huang Guanbin, deputy general manager of SuperAlloy Industrial, said, "We hope to remove the logo that SuperAlloy can only make wheel rims."

SuperAlloy is one of the few suppliers in Taiwan that has entered the first level of the automotive supply chain. It has also ranked first in forged aluminum rims. To continue to grow in the automotive market, there is great capital pressure. They turned to raw materials and construction methods to develop 100% recycled aluminum, which reduces carbon emissions by more than 95% compared to primary aluminum. Currently, recycled aluminum product revenue accounts for 34.09% of the total, and the usage rate of forged aluminum rings exceeds 40%. Driving overall revenue growth, revenue in 2023 hit a record high of 7.78 billion yuan.

In the future, they will expand the application scope of recycled aluminum from automobiles to semiconductor, heavy electronics, aerospace and other industries. "As long as it is related to aluminum and forging, we can do it."

The only horizontal casting and smelting plant in Asia, the yield rate increased from less than 20% to 97%

Huang Guanbin said that the research and development of recycled aluminum actually started from its own pain points. SuperAlloy produces hundreds of thousands of forged aluminum rims and chassis products every year. During the production process, a large amount of scrap is generated, and it must rely on smelters to process the scrap. However, when the price of aluminum materials rises, or due to weather factors, the other party may not come to collect it regularly. "Our scrap materials often pile up in mountains, which is not very good for the environment in the factory."

In addition, SuperAlloy's production capacity has reached a certain economic scale. In 2016, in conjunction with the construction of a new factory in Pingtung, it was decided to add a furnace and develop recycled aluminum materials. "Smelting is really a new industry for us." Huang Guanbin pointed out that most domestic and foreign raw material suppliers will choose vertical casting machines for their smelting equipment, because each time they feed about 20 tons of material, there will be an interval in between. , may do 6 to 7 heats a day, and can replace different alloy types and sizes; but the horizontal casting melting furnace can continuously feed materials and produce automatically 24 hours a day, which means that the production will not be interrupted, and the overall output efficiency can be maximized, which is suitable for the alloy type and size are relatively single.

Because it is the only smelting plant in Asia that uses horizontal casting and lacks relevant experience, they found many industry experts and school teachers to jointly study and discuss. "At the beginning, our yield rate was less than 20%. Later, we tried many parameters, ranging from alloys to It took about 8 tons of adjustments, temperature changes, lubricant and cooling water control to increase the yield to 97%."

Tear off the "defective product" label and take 2 years to obtain product certification again

They have been on this road for four years, but they still have to convince customers to use it. "For a long time, customers have put a label on recycled products, thinking that they are inferior products." Huang Guanbin said that customers would question it at first. Why should he use inferior materials? "So we continue to conduct verification and testing to win the trust of customers."

"Swapping raw materials is a big deal for customers." The barriers to entry for the automotive industry are high. To break into the supply chain, early certification is very time-consuming. It takes at least 3 to 5 years to obtain certification and obtain quotation qualifications. Huang Guanbin explained that they must compare the differences between recycled aluminum materials and virgin aluminum materials, and must also put into production and conduct different product tests to prove that fire resistance, functionality, etc. meet customer requirements; each product must complete certification before it can be submitted The document allows customers to agree to switch the use of raw materials. "This is a very lengthy process. It can be completed in half a year at the fastest, and it will take about 2 years at the earliest."

Today, SuperAlloy's recycled aluminum has been certified and adopted by 7 luxury brand car manufacturers including Porsche, BMW, Lexus, and Rolls-Royce. Coupled with the social ESG trend, recycled aluminum has less carbon emissions than primary aluminum. At least 95% of the features have also prompted car manufacturers with carbon reduction needs to start asking proactively.

Since recycled aluminum is the scrap of products and its quantity is limited, the upper limit of production is about 65% of the total production capacity. Therefore, SuperAlloy turned its attention to other industries. "Taiwan is a semiconductor town, and they also use many similar alloys. But if we want to expand to other industries, we will not be a raw material provider, but will enter the recycled aluminum supply chain, help them recycle."

Judging from the figures of the global recycled aluminum market, the entire market is expected to grow to US$78 billion in 2031. Because of its optimism about the recycled aluminum market, SuperAlloy also announced that it will invest in the construction of a recycled aluminum rod smelting plant with a production capacity of approximately 60,000 tons, directly Supplying industries such as automobiles, semiconductors, heavy electricity, aerospace, and electric auxiliary vehicles to expand the application scope of recycled aluminum.

We hope to remove the sign that SuperAlloy can only make wheel rims. As long as it is related to aluminum and forging, we can do it.