Future Ford F150 increases Demand for Aluminum

[Bamaman]

I often wonder how many Bud Lite recycled cans it takes to build a pontoon boat.

The new 2015 Ford F150 will have an aluminum body, and the aluminum industry is going to have to ramp up production for aluminum sheeting for future automobile/truck production. Government mandated CAFE ratings are going to require lighter vehicles with smaller, more efficient engines in the future.

My question is what will high demand for aluminum do to the price of pontoon/tritoon boats in the future?

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2014 ... n-aluminum

[jimrs]

What's it going to do to the price of a new vehicle? Aluminum is light but dents very easily. I think its more expensive also.

[fergusmj]

Aluminum is about 4x the price of steel. Aluminum has been used on vehicles for years, primarily hoods and rear lift gates. The weight savings is huge. Life a steel hood and then an aluminum hood. You'd almost flip the aluminum hood over the roof of the car if you weren't paying attention as it's so much lighter.

In regards to pricing, a couple things will probably happen

1. Prices go up due to less supply than demand (likely to be this situation at first). There's only a couple aluminum suppliers in the US

2. Additional companies start opening up to supply aluminum as well as getting imported aluminum. This could actually drive the aluminum cost down over the years as there will be more competition.

Aluminum for pontoons I assume is different than the aluminum for vehicles also. The different series of aluminum for vehicles have age hardening issues, which means there is a shelf life for the aluminum before it has to be pressed and hemmed into its final shape. If it gets too old, you have splits and such. I assume that aluminum type for pontoons is the standard 5,000 series which is pretty common. Being that pontoons don't get "stamped" there's probably no aging issue before forming.

[sidewinder]

Making Fords lighter is the best idea since the Mustang.

It will make them-----MUCH-----easier to push off the road when they QUITE

In 2014 Ford is coming out with a-----HEATED TAILGATE------
so your hands don't get cold------PUSHING---it home on a Saturday night

[fiddlebick]

I am a roll grinder/mechanic for the Aleris Rolled products mill here in Lewisport, Ky. We have successfully secured the contract to produce the aluminum product for the Ford trucks, and that will necessitate an investment of one half billion dollars in our rolling mills. I know little beyond that, but the company is eager to secure a new long term contract with our steel workers union, and are in the process of negotiating an early contract, months ahead of schedule. There is a lot of excitement here, as foreign markets have steadily cut into our market share, year after year. I am relatively new to the aluminum industry, having only worked here the past 3 years. My last job was a 32 year stint working for the GE industrial motor plant in Owensboro, Ky....sadly, that business was packed up and moved to mexico in 2010, and our crew built the LAST GE motor to be built in the USA. I am looking forward to doing my share to produce a fine quality product here on American soil, for the company that will be my next choice when I buy by next truck!

[Bamaman]

Fiddlebick:

Nothing like job security. Should be interesting to see what $500,000,000 in machinery looks like. Congratulations.

Our local Wise aluminum factory has 1,200 employees, and they were thrilled to pickup all of Anheuser-Busch's can stock business for the coming years. They're rolling can stock out paper thick. The factory was once Reynolds Aluminum with a complete aluminum production factory--and about 8,500 employees. Union labor prices and TVA's high electricity contracts ran the reduction factory to the Pacific Northwest.

[rancherlee]

I don't think it will effect the price too much, but it sure hurts my feeling, I work for USSteel! Should help with mileage a bit but I can't complain about my current 12' F150 4x4 5.0l as it sips fuel compared to any previous truck/SUV I've owned. No problem getting 20-22mpg @ 70mph on the highway or mid 12's pulling the toon. Not sure about the weight loss though for towing, weight = stability.

[fiddlebick]

At one time, before I worked here, our mills ran can stock as well, but no longer in that business. We do run the diamond treadplate, although not nearly as much as before, and may be getting out of that altogether I hear. Currently, a lot of our aluminum is used to sheet semi trailers. I have always heard that chinese steel is junk, as you can witness if you own any chinese hand tools for instance, and I suspect the aluminum industry is similar. I am impressed with Fords products, and I wish I had bought their stock when the market crashed a few years ago. It paid handsomely for those who did.

[Heatman]

Could be shooting themselves in the foot with this. Body panels that don't rust. People may hold on to them much longer

[HandymanHerb]

I've never seen to many hoods rusted out, it's the lower body parts that get the rust, but you don't want aluminum down low, the salt would eat it up

[badmoonrising]

The road salt up here eats steel pretty quick, we'll see how bad it is on aluminum.

[lakerunner]

Making Fords lighter is the best idea since the Mustang.

It will make them-----MUCH-----easier to push off the road when they QUITE

In 2014 Ford is coming out with a-----HEATED TAILGATE------unny
so your hands don't get cold------PUSHING---it home on a Saturday night

That's funny sidewinder

What do you drive?

[HandymanHerb]

The road salt up here eats steel pretty quick, we'll see how bad it is on aluminum.

Airports don't use salt or a plane wouldn't last five years if they did, be like sitting a pontoon in salt water without a protective coating, be ate away in no time