President Visits Alcoa Plant in Iowa
June 28, 2011

President Obama shook hands with employees yesterday at Alcoa's Bettendorf, Iowa, plant.

President Barack Obama visited the Alcoa Davenport Works plant in Bettendorf, Iowa, today. The factory is responsible for making the aluminum used in the wings of Air Force One, both the large 747 and the smaller 757, which the president used in today’s travels.

Accompanied by Alcoa chief executive officer Klaus Kleinfield , Malcolm Murphy, general manager of Davenport Works & Satellites, and the president of the USW Local 105, Charles “Skip” McGill, President Obama visited several different areas in the plant and spoke to employees working there while on the tour.

In his first stop, President Obama saw a milling machine used to make aluminum airliner wings. The milling machine uses large cutting heads to uniformly remove metal from the surfaces. He also saw a horizontal heat treat machine, the newest furnace in the plant’s plate finishing area. The machine makes a wide range of aerospace and industrial plate products, most of which are processed into finished rectangles of various sizes. Finally, he viewed a product area displaying a hood of a Ford F-150 and tread plate toolboxes, two products that are made with the aluminum sheets created at the plant.

Click here to see a related video.

Need more info and analysis about the issues?
CLICK HERE to subscribe to USGlass magazine.