SDI co-founder and chief executive officer Mark Millett shared the news Tuesday with attendees of the Global Steel Dynamics Forum, telling them that Aluminum Dynamics is, despite skeptics in the aluminum business, a reality.

Millett said Aluminum Dynamics’ main mill in Columbus, Miss., USA, has been commissioning its cold mill over the last three weeks, and three of four melt-cast units are now running. The Aluminum Dynamics mill is designed to annually produce 650,000 tons of flat-rolled sheet for the beverage can, industrial, and automotive sectors.

"Aluminum for us is going to be a major growth platform going forward," Millett said.

He added that the business is not only an opportunity for the company as a whole, but also for its young engineers, who now have a chance to disrupt the aluminum business much as Millett and his Steel Dynamics peers did 30 years ago in the steel industry.