Noranda Aluminum Inc. in the St. Jude Industrial Park in New Madrid has been accredited with the "Quality System (QS-9000)" registration through April 1, 2002, by American Quality Assessors (AQA).

The scope of the QS-9000 registration includes the smelting and production of primary and alloyed aluminum and the marketing and distribution of aluminum sow, billet, rod and ingot to customer specification.

Noranda president, Steve Heddle, says the certification will allow more opportunities to penetrate the automotive industry.

"We're thrilled with the QS-9000 registration," he said. "It tells our suppliers we are running our plant consistently and efficiently."

It takes a lot of long hours and hard work to meet the QS-9000 standards, said Heddle. "All 1,150 employers here did their part to work through the registration process."