Novelis Oswego hot mill restart brings relief to US auto supply chain

Novelis Oswego

Novelis Oswego hot mill restart is set to ease pressure on US automotive aluminum supply. The accelerated Novelis Oswego hot mill restart from early 2026 to December will help stabilize automotive-body sheet deliveries. As a result, automakers facing tight aluminum sheet supply, including Ford and Stellantis, gain a clearer path to production recovery.

Fire damage accelerates focus on Novelis Oswego hot mill restart

The September fire at Oswego’s hot-rolling mill disrupted one of the largest US sources of automotive-body sheet. Novelis responded quickly, advancing the Novelis Oswego hot mill restart to December after initially guiding for early 2026. All motors have been removed for inspection, while teams assess damage to major electrical components and control systems.

Meanwhile, Novelis Procurement teams are working “with extreme urgency” to source the 2,455 unique parts affected by the fire. Around 1,900 parts are already on site, underscoring the scale of the repair effort and the importance of the Novelis Oswego hot mill restart. The focus now is on closing the remaining gap and re-commissioning the line safely.

Automotive aluminum customers brace for tight sheet supply into 2026

US automakers have felt the impact of Oswego’s outage across their aluminum supply chains. Ford plans to increase full-size pickup output in 2026 to recover lost volumes once supply normalizes. Stellantis was forced to idle its Warren, Michigan SUV plant because of an unspecified parts shortage, likely tied to constrained aluminum-body sheet.

However, partial operations at Oswego have already resumed, providing some near-term relief. Power has been restored to ingot casthouses and scrap processing, while cold-rolling and finishing lines are back in operation. Until the Novelis Oswego hot mill restart is fully executed, though, the market will continue to depend on inventories, alternate mills and imports to bridge the hot-band gap.

The Metalnomist Commentary

The accelerated Novelis Oswego hot mill restart highlights how critical single sites can be in automotive-body sheet supply. For OEMs, the episode reinforces the need to diversify hot-band sources and build more redundancy into aluminum sourcing strategies. For Novelis and its competitors, it underscores that reliability and recovery speed are now as strategically important as capacity itself.