Braidy Industries

Braidy Industries is an Ashland, Kentucky-based company, planning to become an aluminum alloys manufacturer for aluminum in the automotive and food and beverage industry. [2][3][4][5]

Braidy Industries, Inc.
Private
IndustryAluminum manufacturing
FounderCraig T. Bouchard
Headquarters
Ashland, Kentucky
,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
Donald L. Foster (Acting President and Chief Executive Officer)[1]
ProductsAluminum alloys
Websitebraidyindustries.com

Subsidiaries

Braidy Industries, Inc. owns Braidy Atlas, a start-up that has designed and engineered the first aluminum rolling mill to be built in the United states in nearly 40 years. It also owns Veloxint, an MIT incubated technology company and NanoAL, a Northwestern University incubated technology company.

History

Braidy Industries was founded by Craig T. Bouchard who wanted to create eco-friendly aluminum alloys. The industry demand was bending towards stronger and lighter materials and the company was founded to accommodate the market gap created by this generational shift.[6][7][8][9]

Braidy Industries started off with an initial project of a fully integrated aluminum rolling mill in the Greenup County, Kentucky, comprising a 2.5 million square-foot area. The site, relocated to neighboring Boyd County, Kentucky is located in Eastern Kentucky and the facility costs were estimated to be around $1.6 billion.[10][8][3][11][12][13]

The site for the mill is located near the Ohio River and the CSX railroad, as well as I-64, which connects the site to various automotive plants within 300 miles around the region. This advantage allows the site to utilize the just-in-time approach.[14][8][15][16]

The company is working with the Ashland Alliance and the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) as a part of the Kentucky Business Investment program based on which they received up to $10 million in tax incentives.[17][8][18][19][20]

Joint venture with RUSAL

In April 2019 Braidy announced a joint project with RUSAL, a Russian company partially owned by the oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The project is to develop the mill site in Ashland, Kentucky "to produce flat-rolled aluminium products for the U.S. automotive industry," according to a company press release.[21]

Bouchard problems

In February 2020, Braidy Industries announced that they uncovered evidence that company founder Craig Bouchard misused company money while he was CEO of the firm. In a court filing, the company claims that an internal review raised several red flags about Bouchard's travel spending, credit card charges and legal expenses. A third-party firm was hired to conduct an independent investigation.[22] In June 2020 David L. Foster stepped in as acting president and CEO.[1]

2020 pandemic

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the company received between $1 million and $2 million in federally backed small business loans from Community Trust Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. They stated it would help them retain 65 employees.[23]

References
  1. "Braidy Industries Announces Don Foster as Acting President and CEO". Braidy Industries. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  2. "Bloomberg - Are you a robot?". www.bloomberg.com.
  3. Buss, Dale. "Auto OEMs Look To New Braidy Industries Mill In Kentucky To Boost Aluminum Supplies". Forbes.
  4. PACE, FRED. "Braidy Industries looks to raise funding to finish building aluminum mill in NE Kentucky". The Herald-Dispatch.
  5. aciwpadmin. "President Trump Mentions Braidy Industries in Speech - Braidy Industries".
  6. "Braidy Industries Launches Common Stock Offering". www.businesswire.com. 20 September 2018.
  7. "Braidy Industries - Craig Bouchard".
  8. "Aluminum Production and much more - Braidy Industries".
  9. "Braidy Industries". Crunchbase.
  10. Buss, Dale (5 September 2018). "Six Lessons from CEO's Huge Aluminum Gambit in Appalachia".
  11. aciwpadmin. "$4M Abandoned Mine Lands Pilot Grant Announced for EastPark Industrial Park - Braidy Industries".
  12. aciwpadmin. "$4M Grant Issued for EastPark Prep Work - Braidy Industries".
  13. aciwpadmin. "Did Trump's aluminum tariffs spark a $1.5 billion plant in Kentucky? - Braidy Industries".
  14. LLC, Industrial Project Innovation. "Industrial Project Innovation Selected as Construction Manager for Braidy Industries' Aluminum Rolling Mill in Kentucky". www.prnewswire.com.
  15. Staff, Associated Press, Kathryn Robinson, Chad Hedrick, WSAZ News. "PSC asks for assurances in funding for Braidy project". www.wsaz.com.
  16. aciwpadmin. "Industrial Project Innovation Selected as Construction Manager for Braidy Industries' Aluminum Rolling Mill in Kentucky - Braidy Industries".
  17. Independent, Glenn Puit The Daily. ""We are going to do it" — Braidy Industries launches stock offering". The Independent Online.
  18. Editor, Glenn Puit. "More on Braidy: 1,500 construction jobs planned". The Independent Online.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  19. "Invest in Braidy Industries - Netcapital". netcapital.com.
  20. aciwpadmin. "'I've Got Faith': Potential Aluminum Workers Wait on Jobs - Braidy Industries".
  21. Cristina Maza (April 15, 2019). "Sanctioned Russian Oligarch's company to invest millions in new aluminum plant in Mitch McConnell's state". Newsweek.
  22. Ragsdale, Chris Otts and Travis. "Braidy Industries alleges founder Craig Bouchard misused company funds". WDRB. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  23. Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek. "BRAIDY INDUSTRIES, INC. - Coronavirus Bailouts - ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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