Novelis, the world’s leading producer of aluminum coil and largest recycler of aluminum beverage cans, today officially opened its new Global Research & Technology Center outside of Atlanta, Ga. The 160,000-square-foot facility serves as the global hub of the company’s extensive research and development activities.

“Innovation is the foundation of our strategy and a critical driver of our growth,” said Jack Clark, Novelis’ Chief Technical Officer. “It’s also one of the key components of achieving our commitment to having 80 percent recycled content across our products by the year 2020. This new center will help drive increased collaboration with our customers, enabling us to work side-by-side in developing innovative, sustainable aluminum coil products.”

The state-of-the-art center will be the critical focal point for all R&D within the company, focused on world class solutions for the company’s can, automotive and specialty customers. It is also the central point for all of Novelis’ technical activities worldwide including engineering, manufacturing excellence and metallurgy.

Located in Kennesaw, Ga., just north of the Novelis world headquarters in Atlanta, the facility includes a variety of materials development and testing laboratories, a pilot beverage can production line and meeting space. Future plans include a small scale aluminum rolling mill, and heat treatment capabilities for finishing automotive aluminum coil.