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Boeing Is Fixed In Titanium Valley

The world's largest aerospace company Boeing and the world leader in the production of titanium forgings for the aviation industry VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation announced the expansion of capacities of Ural Boeing Manufacturing on December 21, 2016. The new production facility will be located in the Special Economic Zone Titanium Valley, located in the territory of Sverdlovsk region. There will be performed the processing of titanium forgings within all programs of the Boeing civil aircrafts, including 787 family and new 737 MAX and 777X families, the beginning of this manufacture is scheduled for 2017. The opening of the plant is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2018.

On a photo: The president of Boeing in Russia and the CIS Sergey Kravchenko, the of CEO VSMPO-AVISMA Mikhail Voyevodin and the CEO of CJSC Titanium Valley Artemy Kyzlasov are signing the agreement on the the expansion of capacities of Ural Boeing Manufacturing in the Titanium Valley SEZ in the presence of the governor of Sverdlovsk region Evgeny Kuyvashev and the vice-chairman of the Board of directors Mikhail Shelkov's VSMPO-AVISMA.



As told by the president of Boeing in Russia and the CIS Sergey Kravchenko:





Today, with our main partner VSMPO-AVISMA, we are announcing a major expansion of Boeing in Russia in our favourite small Sverdlovsk city of Verkhnyaya Salda. I would like to tell about the essence of our today's announcement and the history of our relationship.

In 1992 after the new opportunities of development of the relations between the West and Russia appeared, there was the first contact between the representatives of Boeing and the world's largest manufacturer of aerospace titanium at that time - VSMPO. A year later, in 1993, the supplier of Boeing - the Shultz Steel company which at that time was making various number of stampings and semifinished products for us bought the first titanium bar which we transported to Los Angeles. Where were made knots and details for the Boeing civil aircrafts from Russian titanium.

We, with the former director and the founder of this cooperation professor Tetyukhin, with my good friend the director of VSMPO Mikhail Viktorovich Voyevodin, consider that our cooperation is estimated since 1997. In 1997 we signed the big long-term contract between VSMPO and Boeing and VSMPO entered into the top three Boeing suppliers for the manufacture of components and semi-finished products for civil aviation. Mostly they were semifinished products. At first we were buying these details for the Boeing 777 aircraft which took off in 1995. Today it is the most successful project in the field of wide-body aircrafts. We’ve made and sold more than 1800 of these aircrafts. I am going to tell you about the importance of this aircraft in this particular event a bit later.

In 2002 Boeing has decided to build a wide-body aircraft made of composite materials instead of aluminum (B787 Dreamliner). At this point it became clear that titanium would become the base metal of any aircraft. At that time VSMPO-AVISMA already had large-scale investment programs. We are very grateful to Rostec corporation which approximately at that time began the consolidation of the assets of that entity. We are very grateful to private shareholders who invested a lot of money in this enterprise later. It became the basis for VSMPO to move very smooth from the third place of titanium suppliers to the first. Today VSMPO delivers us more than 35% of all titanium products and nodes which are placed on Boieng civil aircrafts. We began to use a huge number of forgings including unique forgings for the Boeing 787 program.

In 2007 the idea to develop our relations in the field of mechanical processing was born. This idea is connected with the fact that VSMPO is not only the largest manufacturer of forgings, but also the largest aerospace titanium smelter. In our highly complex parts a huge amount of metal goes into the chips, and we had quite an innovative idea to develop a new generation of titanium alloys, which could use a large number of "waste". It would be beneficial for both Boeing and VSMPO. And this idea of joint business became a reality. In 2009 we opened this joint business in the presence of the Russian Prime Minister at that time V. V. Putin. It was one of the best plants of the titanium mechanical processing in the world at that time. We called it Ural Boeing Manufacturing. In 2010 the Prime Minister V. V. Putin did a great honour to VSMPO and Boeing by visiting our joint business. Also from the platform of our plant was made a statement about the creation of an innovative Special Economic Zone Titanium Valley.

Thanks to support of the head of the Government at that time, now the president of the Russian Federation, the government of the Russian Federation, the former governor of Sverdlovsk region Alexander Sergeyevich Misharin and the current head of the region Evgeny Vladimirovich Kuyvashev this zone was created. It was created during difficult times. And what we are announcing today is a huge leap in our relations, because now we can build and equip a second plant in Russia, which will have the capacity to produce twice as many parts for the Boeing Company.

Why is it important for me and why we decided to announce it? In our area, in aviation and space, equipment is updated every 10 years. In 2008 we were terribly proud with Mikhail Viktorovich Voyevodin that we had the most modern equipment and what we're announcing today makes me proud to say that the equipment that we have already ordered will help us build the very best plant. We already got all the necessary permissions of the American and Russian government. Here today there are the representatives of the US Federal Aviation authorities who certify our items, and the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The equipment that we purchased, is really the most advanced. This plant will have the capacities approximately twice as more than existing.

This expansion is connected generally with two factors. The huge success of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program led to the fact that we make 12 planes a month today. It is the biggest program in the field of wide-body aircrafts. We publicly announced that we consider the transition to 14 planes in a month. VSMPO has 56 items on unique details on each of these aircrafts, 22 tons of raw materials which we buy in raw materials on each aircraft, is made in Russia. The second factor - the future of my favourite Boeing 777 aircraft. In 1995 we took off for the first time. It is known that aircrafts serve about 20-25 years, then it comes time to change them. A few years ago we announced that we are going to make a new aircraft which received the name Boeing 777X. This aurcraft, unlike the one from 1995, is going to have a composite wing. Since this is a huge, probably the biggest, wing we do now in the world and since it is a composite material, it is a huge opportunity for the use of titanium products. Aluminum and steel corrode composites and titanium doesn’t.

Today we sold 320 777X which is going to take off in 2018, and will be delivered from 2019. In 2015 on MAKS we announced that VSMPO was chosen in a very serious competition with a large number of suppliers as the prime contractor for this aircraft. So my joyful message is connected with the fact that we expand our business in Russia in Sverdlovsk region with VSMPO-AVISMA twice and at the same time we went on an absolutely new level of processing of titanium products. We are going to do not only rough, but the finishing and processing jobs. We are planning to make it almost entirely in the robotic mode, but despite this fact, we will still create from 50 to 100 workplaces. Only these places are meant not for workers, but for highly qualified engineers-operators who will manage completely automatic plant. Thanks to what we expand our cooperation with my favourite Ural Technical University named after Yeltsin. Its laboratory does a large number of research for us. By the way we make all scientific research within the joint scientific center which was created in Rostec and developed a large amount titanium technology.

Now we can produce and buy for many, many hundreds of millions dollars and decades the parts of the most advanced titanium alloy developed by Boeing and Russian engineers. We are going to make them in Verkhnyaya Salda on VSMPO-AVISMA. I announce today that Boeing registers in the Titanium Valley today.