M.C. Aluminum America, Inc. – Our History

What do we do?

Nikkei MC Aluminum America, Inc. (NMAA) is a secondary aluminum smelter that supplies aluminum alloys to the die-casting and gravity-casting industries. As a smelter, we recycle scrap metal and turnings by melting them in one of three reverbatory furnaces to produce different aluminum alloys. We then sell our final product, an 11 pound ingot or crucibles of molten aluminum, to companies who use it to produce wheels, master cylinders, transmissions, garden tools, and many other aluminum products.

How did we start? 

Nikkei MC Aluminum Co., Ltd. actually began as M.C. Aluminum Co. Ltd, Inc. with plants in Togura and Asaba, Japan. As the demand for secondary aluminum grew, a third plant was added in Tochigi, Japan. In 1989, M.C. Aluminum America, Inc. was formed in Columbus, Indiana from a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation, M.C. Aluminum Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi International Corporation, Enkei Corporation and Enkei America, Inc. At that time, the main goal of our company was to supply Enkei America, Inc. with secondary aluminum by recycling scrap generated in their wheel production facility.

MCAA began production in 1990 with the operation of a 20 metric ton reverbatory furnace, a casting line and a small crew of about 20 employees. In 1991, our first full calendar year of operation, MCAA produced 8,100 metric tons. A second reverbatory furnace was added in 1995 and a third in 1998. Full year production in 1996 was 22,330 metric tons. Today, 80 employees along with 3 furnaces, 3 casting lines, and 2 chip dryers are able to produce more than 40,000 metric tons per year; more than 4 times the original quantity produced.

Since the creation of MCAA, three other sister companies have been established overseas: located in Bangkok and Korat, Thailand and another outside of Shanghai, China. Two of these facilities are located near an Enkei wheel plant. The total combined capacity of all M.C. Aluminum facilities is in excess of 15,000 metric tons of secondary aluminum per month.

Who are we now?

In another joint venture, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Nippon Light Metals Co., Ltd. (NLM) merged their domestic and overseas aluminum alloy businesses for foundry and die-casting fields effective April 1, 2007, to create NIKKEI MC ALUMINUM CO. LTD. Through this unification, MC and NLM’s goal is to further improve company values by differentiation among the industry and strengthen profitability utilizing the following advantages of each group:

MC and MC Aluminum – Number of both domestic and overseas production bases and long-term experience in overseas operations.

NLM – Capability of developing new types of alloys and high operational technique.

Today’s total capacity for all of Nikkei MC Aluminum is in excess of 20,000 metric tons of secondary aluminum per month with 5 plants in Japan (Togura, Asaba, Tochigi, Koda, Mie), two in Thailand (Bankgkok and Korat), one in China (Shanghai), and one in the United States (Columbus, IN).