Boeing Forging Machining Expansion on Track in Russia

The Boeing Co.’s joint-venture titanium machining company in central Russia is due to start production at its second plant in September, according to a report from the region. Ural Boeing Manufacturing performs roughing and finish machining of titanium forgings at Verkhnyaya Salda, in Russia’s Titanium Valley special economic zone. The forgings are produced nearby by VSMPO-Avisma, and titanium alloy chips and turnings are returned for remelting.

"The plant will be opened in September. The entire process chain of Boeing will depend on this facility's operation," according to a statement by Artemy Kyzlasov, Titanium Valley CEO.

VSMPO-Avisma is the world’s largest titanium producer and supplies titanium forgings and mill products) to Boeing, as well as other aircraft OEMs. It is a holding of Russia’s state-controlled aerospace conglomerate, Rostec, which is Boeing’s partner in UBM.

The venture was established in 2007 to machine titanium forgings for structural components of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 737, and 777 series. UBM started operation in July 2009. In 2010, Boeing forecast it would invest up to $27 billion over 30 years on Russian titanium supplies, aerospace design-engineering services, and other services and materials.

The figure $27-billion figure was repeated recently by Sergey Kravchenko, president of Boeing operations in Russia and CIS, in comments at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show.

The second UBM plant was announced in 2016, aiming to support the expanded need for titanium components as series production increases for the 777X program. At that time, it was reported that the expansion would triple UBM’s total capacity for machined parts.