People and Organizations That Steel Our Heart

Alcoa - Pittsburgh

When Charles Martin Hall discovered the process of smelting aluminum in 1886, he discovered a product that made life easier. Since Hall discovered the smelting process almost at the same time as Paul Heroult in France, the discovery was named the Hall-Heroult process, and is still used by the company Hall founded in 1888: The Pittsburgh Reduction Company, later known as Alcoa.

Alcoa’s legacy can be found in many things. The company created the “Easy Open” tabs on beverage cans, aluminum gutters, vinyl siding and markets household products including Reynold’s Wrap. The company’s materials have been used in the first flight, in one of New York’s most recognizable skyscrapers, and even went to the moon during the first lunar mission in 1969. These, and many other household items we often take for granted, are a result of Hall’s commitment to innovation. There’s a slogan “Plastic makes it possible.” But just as important as plastic is, without aluminum products, our lives would be much less convenient. With that in mind, the history of this aluminum manufacturer is not unlike that of many other businesses, with successes and failures. But Alcoa is one of those companies that kept looking to the future for inspiration in the present.

After finding a way to make aluminum usable, Hall teamed with financial backers to form The Pittsburgh Reduction Company. Eleven years later, a plant built in New Kensington, Pa., pioneered the use of bauxite refining, a process where bauxite is combined with other materials to form aluminum. In 1903, only four years after Hall opened the New Kensington plant, The Pittsburgh Reduction Company played a major role in the beginning of flight. The Wright brothers used aluminum parts from Pittsburgh in their planes, which were the first ones to take flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C.

In 1907, The Pittsburgh Reduction Company changed its name to the Aluminum Company of America, and the popular acronym ‘Alcoa’ stuck, even if it wasn’t the official name until much later. By 1920, Alcoa was already a nationally recognized leader in the aluminum industry, so the company took its products worldwide. The company faced a major antitrust suit against the federal government between 1937 and 1957, and were under stricter than normal business guidelines as a result of the monopoly case. It proved to be a tough learning experience, but Alcoa still managed to grow and expand. They built an aluminum research plant in Pittsburgh in the early 1930s, contributed aluminum supplies to the Empire State Building, and built 20 new plants to support the war effort.

Alcoa is not just a business that makes money for its own profitability. They have long been a contributor to philanthropic and community efforts. Beginning in 1951, they sponsored the CBS program “See It Now” with Edward R. Murrow. Although the sponsorship wouldn’t last beyond 1957, Alcoa’s backing gave thousands of Americans the chance to listen to one of the first documentaries, and one that would become the standard for many journalists in years to come. In 1952, the Alcoa Foundation was created to streamline the giving process to many deserving charities and nonprofit agencies. More recently, in 1999, Alcoa donated more than 1.8 million spear points, pottery shards, and stone tools to the University of North Carolina to preserve the history of the state’s earliest inhabitants. Archaeologists estimate the artifacts to be over 10,000 years old, and the oldest in North America.

Alcoa is also a leader in developing business practices that are environmentally safe. They are a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an alliance of nine U.S.-based companies and four environmental organizations aimed at significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Alcoa is the only metals company in the alliance.

Despite the many accomplishments, Alcoa is also looking to expanding their business and make their workplace culture unlike any other.

In the 1980s, then-CEO Paul O’Neill set the bar high for his competitors: His goal for Alcoa was an injury-free workplace. Years later, it has been goals like O’Neill’s that have taken Alcoa to the next level. Their Peru office was highlighted in 2005 as being one of The 25 Best Places to Work, an award that was given only after a careful evaluation of trust and integrity between management and employees. And two years ago, the Pittsburgh office announced it had been named one of The 50 Top Employers for Minorities.

Alcoa’s commitment to continued growth is based upon their workforce, and management’s ability to attract and retain talented, motivated employees. All across the world, they are displaying characteristics of a VEO, or a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Organization. Their vision and values are driven by a commitment to their people; integrity; environment, health and safety; the customer; excellence; profitability; and finally accountability. Open, honest communication is valued, respected, and upheld in work cultures that rely on a feeling of inclusiveness, advancement and professionalism. Alcoa also mandates employees’ community activism, which promotes personal growth as well as social development. Employees volunteer in a myriad of nonprofit organizations on behalf of Alcoa, something they call “employee engagement.”

There is much to be said about a company that has been at the forefront of so many “firsts” in United States history, and yet remains dedicated to sustainable business practices. A large part of Alcoa’s continued success has been its commitment to core values and qualities, like accountability, excellence, employee satisfaction, and a focus on the needs of the customer. Incorporating the cornerstones of a VEO have made Alcoa an organization that doesn’t just talk about values, traditions and innovation, but rather, a company that implements those strategies to create a positive and lasting impact economically and socially.

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Hallman, Speed. “Alcoa Gives 1.8 million points of North Carolina history.”
            http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/connections/spring1999/alcoa.htm. Spring 1999.
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Simon, Ron. “See It Now: U.S. Documentary Series.”
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/seeitnow/seeitnow.htm. 2005.
2 March 2007.

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