Allegheny Technologies Inc. once again extended its long-term titanium products supply agreement with The Boeing Company. The supplier and the aircraft OEM already have in place, an arrangement that started in 2006 and extend two years ago, to run through 2018.
The actual terms and length of the new extension were not announced, and details of the products covered by it are vague.
“We are pleased to extend and expand our titanium products supply agreement with Boeing,” said Rich Harshman, ATI chairman, president and CEO. “The new agreement enhances and solidifies our strategic relationship with The Boeing Company and recognizes the ongoing requirement to provide enabling technology, increased value-added titanium products, and supply chain efficiency.”
Both Boeing and its rival Airbus SAS have long-term supply agreements with ATI and other titanium producers, covering
What is significant in ATI’s new agreement with Boeing may be that, in addition to mill products (titanium billets, bars, rods, plate, sheet, etc.), it will be supplying new alloy formulations.
Pittsburgh-based ATI is an integrated titanium producer, manufacturing varieties from titanium sponge (the product of reducing titanium ore, and the source material for titanium alloys), and long list of mill products, castings, and forgings, in different alloy formulations. Aerospace alloys are increasingly maintained as proprietary holdings of metal producers and the OEMs that they supply, and are used to achieve weight savings or formability, or other critical characteristics.
“Through this expanded and extended agreement, ATI is well-positioned to participate in Boeing’s significant growth into the next decade,” Harshman continued. “ATI’s strategic investments, acquisitions, and new product development provide the capacity and unique capability to produce titanium products from raw material (titanium sponge) to value-added mill products, including next-generation and advanced titanium alloys in both long product and flat-rolled product forms.”
