Welcome to Shape Makers, the podcast series from the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC). AEC represents over 75% of North America's aluminum extrusion production. In this series, we explore key issues affecting extruders, suppliers, and users of aluminum extruded products. Our guest speakers dive into topics like aluminum extrusion Fairtrade cases, industry efforts to attract and retain skilled workers, how extrusion products meet stricter building and energy codes, the increasing...

 Lynn Brown of the AEC and Shane Tredup of Custom Aluminum discuss decarbonization efforts in the extrusion industry, highlighting the growing demand from customers for information on carbon footprint, scope one, two, and three emissions, and decarbonization plans.    Industry tool for aluminum extruders to track carbon emissions. ACC aims to create industry tool for extruders to track carbon footprint and reduce it by 20%. Tool to calculate carbon emissions for extruders, covering...

Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), sits down with our distinguished guest Rob Nelson Executive Vice President at ALMAG Aluminum.   ALMAG ALUMINUM  ALMAG’s history began in 1953, when Edward Peacock founded ALMAG Aluminum and Magnesium Ltd. manufacturing decorative door...

Jason Weber visits with Prof. Lorenzo Donati about the upcoming ET'24 In-Conjunction Workshop on Process Analysis & Optimization    8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $595 Instructors: Professors from the Manufacturing Technologies Group at the University of Bologna, Italy Learn how to optimize and analyze the aluminum extrusion process in this one-day intensive course from the experts at the Manufacturing Technologies Group at the University of Bologna in Italy. They have worked...

George Oh & Judy Runge join Jason Weber of the AEC to discuss their upcoming Anodizing Essentials Workshop at this years ET'24 event in Orlando. For more details visit: ET In-Conjunction Workshops | Aluminum Extruders Council (aec.org) AAC Anodizing Essentials Class 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $495 AAC members / $895 nonmembers Instructors: AAC member anodizing experts Anodizing Essentials is part of the Aluminum Anodizers Council's (AAC) "School for Anodizers" that teaches more than...

SHAPEMAKERS EPISODE 57 Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), sits down with our distinguished guest ET'24 track chair, Gary Jones.  Listen as they discuss the upcoming ET’24 Seminar, the 75th Anniversary of the AEC, and how to maximize your membership benefits by getting...

SHAPEMAKERS EPISODE 56 Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), sits down with our distinguished guest ET'24 track chair, Bill Rogers. Listen as they discuss the upcoming ET’24 Seminar, the 75th Anniversary of the AEC, and how to maximize your membership benefits by getting...

SHAPEMAKERS EPISODE 55 Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), sits down with our distinguished guest ET'24 chairman, Jerome Fourmann. Listen as they discuss the upcoming ET’24 Seminar, the 75th Anniversary of the AEC, and how to maximize your membership benefits by getting...

SHAPEMAKERS EPISODE 54  Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) sits down with our distinguished guest Brook Hamilton – President of Bonnell Aluminum. Listen as they discuss the upcoming ET’24 Seminar, the 75th Anniversary of the AEC and how to maximize your membership...

Welcome back to another riveting episode of SHAPEMAKERS, where we explore the fascinating world of shaping industries and innovations. In this special edition, we are honored to have Jason Weber, the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), as our distinguished guest.   Episode Highlights: Introduction to Jason Weber: Dive into the professional journey of Jason Weber, unraveling his role as the VP of Operations and Government Affairs for the...

AEC Extrusion Kits: PSU Capstone Project Teams Interview In 2023, AEC sponsored three capstone projects with the Pennsylvania State University engineering department. These projects are designed to develop aluminum extrusion kits for use by high school STEAM students, teachers and universities to support education in Science, Technology Engineering, the Arts and Math. Craig Werner, podcast host and AEC Workforce Development and Academic Engagement Team member), worked with Bonnell Aluminum,...

Aluminum Safety Summit Preview Nancy Klein, AEC Education Director, talks with Mel Mitchell, AEC Safety Team Leader, about the 2023 Aluminum Safety Summit, scheduled for November 8 & 9 in Rosemont, Illinois. Mel discusses the program highlights and the new program configuration. Learn what topics are on the schedule and who will be sharing their experience and knowledge at the Aluminum Safety Summit this year!

AEC Management Conference Preview: Heat Stress & Heat Illness with Dr. Thomas Bernard   Meet the Heat Stress and Heat Illness expert, Dr. Tom Bernard, professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health.  Tom will preview his upcoming Safety Spotlight session on “Heat Stress and Heat Illness” in the AEC Management Conference General Session on September 20 in Chicago.  He will discuss the causes, research data, prevention and mitigation strategies that will educate...

Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition Winner Drew Klopfenstein First-place winner in the 2023 Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition, Drew Klopfenstein from Purdue University, with AEC members Duncan Crowdis, Alexandria Industries, and Craig Werner, Werner Extrusion Solutions talk about Drew’s award-winning design. Duncan and Craig get into the details about the Design Competition and what the judges are looking for when evaluating the entries. They discuss Drew’s design of a modular aluminum...

How One Automotive Engineer Discovered the Value of ET The ET Seminar is a technical conference that focuses entirely on the aluminum extrusion industry – from alloy development and process improvement to design and applications, and everything in between. Andrew Halonen, principal and engineer at Mayflower Consulting, had heard about ET for years but never thought it was an event meant for him–a design engineer who focuses on transportation lightweighting materials applications and...

Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition Winner Brady Hawks  Brady Hawks, Second Place winner of the 2023 Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition and Industrial Design student at Purdue University in Indiana, talks with competition judge Craig Werner about his winning design. Brady discusses his electric motorcycle design, the inspiration for the design and how his background in the bicycle industry informed the design process, digging deep into research on the manufacturing process, alloys,...

Challenges to Aluminum Extrusion for BEV Growth Abey Abraham, principal of Ducker Carlisle and Mark Butterfield, president of manufacturing for Metal Exchange Corporation, the parent company of Pennex Aluminum, discuss the recent Ducker Research study that examines the use of aluminum extrusion in battery electric vehicles through the end of this decade. Challenges that need to be addressed, according to OEMs and Tier suppliers, to make the expected substantial BEV growth a potential reality...

The past decade has seen doubling in per-vehicle aluminum extrusion use in North American passenger vehicles.  More recently, significant additional growth has emerged from aluminum extrusion’s role in battery electric vehicles (BEV) applications.  To better understand the likely future, AEC asked Ducker Research to examine the implications of the BEV market on extrusion use through the end of the decade. Abey Abraham, Principal at Ducker Carlisle, and Lynn Brown, Marketing Strategy...

Actions Designers and Specifiers Can Take to Reduce the Embodied Carbon in Aluminum Extrusion Bonnell Aluminum’s Division Marketing Director, Guy Charpentier, and AEC’s Marketing Consultant, Lynn Brown, dig deeper into the 2022 update of AEC’s Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). They revisit the major conclusions from a deeper analysis of the AEC EPDs and explore a subsequent sensitivity analysis that demonstrates the impact on embodied carbon that purchaser decisions can have. By...

Actions Designers and Specifiers Can Take to Reduce the Embodied Carbon in Aluminum Extrusion Bonnell Aluminum’s Division Marketing Director, Guy Charpentier, and AEC’s Marketing Consultant, Lynn Brown, dig deeper into the 2022 update of AEC’s Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). They revisit the major conclusions from a deeper analysis of the AEC EPDs and explore a subsequent sensitivity analysis that demonstrates the impact on embodied carbon that purchaser decisions can have. By...

What are EPDs and What Do the Newly Released AEC EPDs Tell us? Guy Charpentier, Chairman of the AEC Industry Promotion Steering Committee and Division Marketing Director for Bonnell Aluminum, talks with Lynn Brown, AEC’s Industry Promotion & Marketing Consultant, about Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). They discuss what EPDs are, how they are developed and how they are used. They also review, in depth, the newly released aluminum extrusion industry average EPDs – one for mill...

Jeff Henderson, AEC President, and Robert DeFrancesco, AEC’s Fair Trade lead attorney, will discuss the latest developments in the Kingtom case. Specifically, they will examine the reversal of the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) decisions and the Withhold Release Order (WRO). Customs and Border Protection (CBP) implements Withhold Release Orders to prevent merchandise produced in whole or in part in a foreign country using forced labor from being imported into the United States. Learn more in...

The competition for today’s talent has never been more fierce. Young talent graduating and searching for a career are faced with a variety of options and most manufacturing companies are struggling to find ways to attract this needed talent to help them run and grow their business. The aluminum extrusion industry is no exception. Duncan Crowdis, leader of AEC’s Academic Engagement and New Talent Development Team and Shane Tredup of Custom Aluminum Products interview Savanah Kinney, a...

ET ‘22 will feature a Closing Keynote address by special guest, astronaut Mike Massimino. At ET Mike will talk about his experiences as an astronaut and fixing the Hubble Telescope. In this preview interview, Mike discussed his “stellar” career as well as his stint on the American television sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”.  Be sure to catch Mike Massimino in the Closing General session on Thursday, May 5 in Orlando, Florida!