Business View Magazine - September 2015

66 Business View - September 2015 Business View - September 2015 67 Advancing the agenda of the “miracle metal” It may be hard to believe, but at one time, aluminum was considered more rare and precious than gold or silver - even though it’s the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust, making up about eight percent by weight of the planet’s solid surface. The reason that this relatively soft, durable, lightweight, ductile, and mal- leable metal, prized for its ability to resist corrosion was so rare in its pure form, is because the complexities of refining aluminum from its main ore, bauxite, and the other oxide and silicate compounds where it resides, were not successfully conquered until late in the 19th century. But once the processes for extracting and refining pure aluminum had been per- fected, far-seeing industrialists and businessmen were quick to recognize its su- perior qualities. Today, aluminum has not only become a foundation of our coun- try’s infrastructure, its uses and applications pervade every aspect of our lives. From transportation, to packaging, to construction, to electrical transmission, to utensils; in everything from window frames to rocket ships, from rolls of foil to the International Space Station, aluminum and aluminum alloys can be found in abundance. Aluminum was even selected as the material of choice for the cap- stone of the Washington Monument! Today, the American aluminum industry directly generates $65 billion in economic output and indirectly generates an additional $87 billion in economic output each year - that’s one percent of the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It em- ploys over 155,000 workers, and for each aluminum industry job, an additional 3.3 employment positions are created elsewhere in the economy, for a total of 670,000 U.S. Jobs. The Aluminum Association of America is the non-profit organization, based in Ar- lington, Virginia, that represents the county’s manufacturers of aluminum as well and their many suppliers and vendors. The Association was originally formed in 1933, after the U.S. Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), a measure of President Roosevelt’s New Deal initiative, designed to help lift the country out of the Great Depression. The Act required various industries to establish codes and guidelines in order Manufacturing Manufacturing