The inaugural ALUMINIUM Innovation Awards recognised Novelis and Austria Metall AG (AMAG) for technologies addressing energy efficiency, material performance and smarter aluminium production. The winners were announced on 7 October during ALUMINIUM 2026 in Düsseldorf, following a public vote that attracted more than 9,700 votes across over 70 submissions.
Novelis won the Sustainable & Low-Carbon Manufacturing category with its Ideal Furnaces programme, which scales furnace-efficiency technologies across melting and casting operations to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions.
AMAG took the Technology & Product Innovation award for CrossAlloy.57, an aluminium alloy combining high strength with formability, weldability and corrosion resistance. Its design also supports greater recycled content and more resource-efficient production.
Novelis secured a second win in Smart Manufacturing, Automation & Connectivity for Advanced Predictive Maintenance (APM). Using IoT sensors and real-time data analytics, the system identifies potential equipment failures early. At its Pindamonhangaba plant in Brazil, it has helped prevent more than 130 hours of unplanned downtime. 
The runners-up included Hydro Aluminium, Raffmetal, Primetals Technologies Germany and Presezzi Extrusion. Their shortlisted solutions addressed low-carbon aluminium, recycled alloys, extrusion performance and connected manufacturing.
Source: ALUMINIUM Exhibition with additional information added by Glass Balkan
