RTI Expands to Support Titanium Supply Contracts Exceeding $3 Billion

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In response to the recently signed contracts worth more than $3 billion with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Airbus, RTI International Metals Incorporated (NYSE:RTI ) (Niles, Ohio) is planning a total investment of $400 million to increase production capacity. RTI is spending $100 million to expand its melting, rolling and forging operations at existing facilities in Ohio (Canton and Niles). The remaining $300 million is invested in a new titanium sponge manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Mississippi. Parsons Corporation (Pasadena, California) is providing engineering and construction management services for the grassroot project, which is scheduled to kick off soon and be completed by early 2010.

The plant will be built next to Tronox Incorporated (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), a titanium dioxide plant. RTI will refine the titanium tetrachloride piped directly from Tronox to produce metal used to produce downstream titanium bar and sheet products. The resulting titanium sponge will be hauled by trucks to RTI Ohio plants, where it will be melted, rolled and processed into sheets and billets for aviation use. With a beginning employee count of 200, the Hamilton plant will have the initial capacity to produce 10,000 tons of titanium sponge annually. Mill production at RTI's existing facilities, now at 17 million pounds, will increase to about 37 million pounds annually when all projects are completed.

To meet rising demand for titanium, all of the major producers including Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (Albany, Oregon) and Titanium Metals Corporation (Timet) (Dallas, Texas) have initiated capital spending programs to increase capacity. For details, see related April 17, 2007, article – Titanium Metals Producers Line Up Expansions to Meet Growing Demand.

View Plant Profile - 1074766 1034188 1519363 1515597
View Project Report - 03002939

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading marketing information services company for the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy-related markets throughout the world. For more than 24 years, IIR has provided accurate and timely intelligence through products such as plant and project information databases, focused market databases, industry forecasting, key industry contacts, industry and territorial map products, direct marketing services and applications, and daily industry news.