Alcoa

U.S. company, the world's largest producer of aluminum. Established in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1888, it adopted the name Aluminum Co. of America in 1907. Alcoa introduced aluminum foil in 1910 and found uses for aluminum in the emerging aviation and automobile industries. In 1913 it established the town of Alcoa in eastern Tennessee as a planned industrial community. A 1945 federal antitrust ruling obliged it to sell its Canadian subsidiary (now Alcan Aluminum Ltd., its strongest competitor). In 1998 Alcoa acquired Alumax Inc. Alcoa's other products include plastic containers and packaging equipment.

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