alimex is an employer for people who want to make a difference in the aluminium industry. Working at alimex means scope for personal responsibility and development. alimex stands for world class from Willich! Our aluminium solutions are in demand worldwide and are used in a wide variety of industries. These include the semiconductor, solar and automotive industries as well as machine, tool and mold making – a truly broad field. alimex as an employer has also impressed former intern Jacqueline Kühl. Since January 2019, she has been part of #wearealimex and has been working in Global Business Development. High time to ask her for her initial appraisal after six months! Working at alimex? Especially varied and (positively) challenging Jacqueline Kühl describes her workspace as a broad and very diverse spectrum. A large part of her working time is spent on process optimisation. What does that mean? Ms Kühl supports the individual alimex departments – for example, Production and Sales – and looks at how the work processes are organised, where the differences lie with the other departments and how work processes can be made more efficient. Coordination is especially important – how can the cooperation of often very different departments...Read More

Without a fundamental change in current leadership practice, Germany will remain far below its potential, according to a study by the Ministry of Labour. In the struggle to retain talent, different methods are required to those of twenty years ago. The way we understand good leadership is subject to rapid cultural change. So what does it mean today – in practical terms – to manage a company in such a way that it develops positively? My first weeks as new CEO When I joined alimex in 2014 as the new CEO, I immediately had to make a very tough personnel decision – whether I wanted to or not. It was necessary to correct past mistakes that had caused economic damage to the company. One of the turnaround measures was to fundamentally change the internal structures. I decided that we should dismiss some experienced managers and employees and recruit replacements. In addition, important new roles such as Research & Development and Product Management had to be introduced. Looking back, these decisions were certainly among the most important of my first months at alimex. Had they gone wrong, I might not no longer be with the company today. Being bold is therefore...Read More

The cast aluminium plate is hugely important for the industry: Machine, plant and mould construction, as well as the optical industry and many others benefit from the properties of the cast aluminium plate: extremely low stress, excellent dimensional stability and savings resulting from no distortion, less waste, faster processing times and the prevention of additional annealing. In addition, of course, the cast aluminium plate has all the classic advantages of aluminium: its easy to machine, easy to recycle and low weight. A double win for the user! In certain applications, the aluminium cast plate has almost completely displaced the conventional aluminium plate. alimex -pioneer of the aluminium cast plate process The aluminium cast plate process was invented by alimex in Willich. According to Marc-Wilm Lünemann, head of the CNC business unit at alimex, in the 1970s, alimex founder Helmut Geller had the idea of slicing the raw material for both roll-bonded plates and cast plates (the so-called rolled bars) “like a sandwich”. “Since then, the process has been continuously developed by us in Willich, and we have become a sought-after specialist around the world whenever the incomparable advantages of aluminium are required.” What is the difference between roll-bonded and cast...Read More

2018 was a challenge, economically and politically speaking. The uncertainty brought by looming Brexit or Donald Trump’s economic and customs policies are prominent examples. Nevertheless, German aluminium companies and also alimex approach the new year with optimism – because the material aluminium is enjoying growing (international) demand. Thanks to its versatile material properties, it can be used in the most varied fields, such as electric mobility, lightweight construction, infrastructure projects and climate protection measures. 2018 – a turbulent year for the aluminium sector From an economic-political perspective, 2018 began with a bombshell, namely Donald Trump’s announcement that he would implement one of his manifesto pledges and levy punitive tariffs on imports into the USA. The European aluminium sector was also affected by these, and from June some aluminium products were given a punitive tariff of ten percent. As a result, the US sanctions against the Russian aluminium smelting works Rusal and its Irish subsidiary also affected the European market because through this factory, the aluminium-oxide supply to the European market was secured. Nevertheless, the sector proved to be robust. Firstly because of the relatively stable aluminium prices during the year and secondly due to continual demand for aluminium products from...Read More