Alcoa, the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum started construction on the company’s state-of-the-art $100M, 320,000 sqft, aerospace expansion facility in La Porte, Indiana. This is where the company will produce various nickel-based superalloy jet-engine components. The new facility will expand its reach from basic structural engine components used in regional and business jets, to larger commercial aircraft. This includes narrow as well as wide-bodied & military airplanes. Engines utilized in narrow-body aircraft are amongst the top-selling jet engines across the globe.
Booming Growth
Growth in the aerospace industry is booming and Alcoa is also ramping up its downstream capabilities to leverage this demand. Klaus Kleinfeld, the Alcoa chairman and chief executive officer said that they are applying their industry-leading expertise and the said facility will deliver highly-engineered components that customers require to build some of the highest-quality engines & at very high volumes. Alcoa is the supplier of aluminum that is used in the building all kinds of aircraft. This plant will also increase Alcoa’s capacity to supply various engines for the narrow-body aircraft. It will also enable the company to produce parts that are almost 60% larger than the components it currently manufactures. All of this - with added strength and durability.
Expanding its Reach
This also expands the company’s reach to the wide-bodied aircraft. All these parts are used in the hot and compression sections of the aircraft’s engine. Alcoa is already the international leader in the manufacture of specialized, jet-engine airfoils. Construction of this plant is now underway and is slated to reach completion by the 2015 Q4. Numerous customer contracts underscore this new capacity, said Alcoa. This highly-advanced facility will utilize the latest in hi-tech advanced manufacturing equipment, and includes digital x-ray for blue light technology as well as in the 3D printing of prototypes.
Quality and Innovation
It also has real-time quality assurance for dimensional & more comprehensive inspection data as well as automated casting furnaces with very advanced controls to meet all the precise product specifications. Mike Pence the governor said that goods that have been manufactured in Indiana serve various industries across the globe. This has taken Alcoa’s business reach to new heights. This is the 2nd major aerospace investment that Alcoa has made in the state in 2 years.
Amazing Advancement
In the year 2012, Alcoa had announced the construction of a $90M Greenfield aluminum-lithium facility at the company’s Lafayette operations. This construction is right on schedule and will be opening towards the latter part to the year. It will have the capacity to manufacture in excess of 20,000 metric-tons of the company’s patented aluminum-lithium alloys that are use in the constructions of significantly lighter & lower-cost airplanes against the standard composite alternatives.
All these advancements mean that the states, in which facilities such as these are opened, create new jobs and add to the economic growth of the region. In addition, this innovation brings innovative materials to the aviation industry that makes a massive difference to the way aircraft are built and flown.