VSMPO-AVISMA CORPORATION

Tel: + 44 (0) 1527 514 111

VSMPO Tirus Ltd, Unit 12 The io Centre, Nash Road, Redditch, Worcestershire, B98 7AS

Verkhnaya Salda Metallurgical Production Association (VSMPO), based in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia, is the world’s largest producer of titanium products. The corporation employs over 20,000 people around the world, encompassing a completely integrated manufacturing capability which begins at the sponge manufacturing stage from its AVISMA facility in Berezniki, Perm region through the various stages of blending titanium and other alloys, compaction, melting, forging, rolling and subsequent machining of titanium forged components at the VSMPO production mill in Verkhnaya Salda.

At the Salda facility, where over 15,000 people are employed, raw material and other alloying elements are melted to produce titanium ingot and slab for manufacturing the following products: -

• Titanium Billet
• Titanium Bar
• Titanium Plate
• Titanium Sheet
• Titanium Tubes
• Titanium Extrusions
• Titanium Forgings

VSMPO is currently producing in excess of 30,000 tonnes of titanium per year, representing approximately 33% of the world’s global output, and with over $1 billion investment over the next 5 years, will be increasing this level to 44,000 tonnes per year. There is a growing need for titanium, especially in the aerospace industry, as it possesses the characteristics of being lightweight, high strength, corrosion resistant and more compatible than aluminium with composite materials.

VSMPO exports 70% of its material to markets other than the Russian domestic industries. The majority of these sales are destined for the aerospace industry, with key names such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Rolls Royce, GE, Pratt & Whitney and SNECMA appearing on the customer list. VSMPO titanium is used in airframe and wing support applications, landing gear and jet engines.

VSMPO has a long list of approvals and accreditations for the supply of material to the aerospace and other market sectors, including power generation, oil and gas, motorsport and medical.

The biggest forging press in the world is located at VSMPO’s Salda facility, with a capacity of 75,000 tonnes. Some of the world’s largest titanium forgings are produced on this press for landing gear applications on aircraft such as A350, A380 and 787.

Some of the latest machine tool investments at Salda include four multi-spindle Ti profilers, 12 horizontal machining centres, three cellular pallet-handling systems and controllers. These will machine forged landing gear components for the Boeing 787, 777, Airbus A380 and A350WXB, and the Sukhoi Superjet 100, among others. This demonstrates a pro-active strategy of producing added value titanium components, which, not only is cost effective, but also means that the scrap metal produced via the machining process is re-cycled at source in Russia, thus saving a lot of waste metal being shipped around the world.

VSMPO has also established a long–term joint venture with Boeing on its Salda site to include the supply and machining of titanium products manufactured in Russia.

VSMPO Tirus, the worldwide distribution network of VSMPO, has offices and warehouses in: -

• Redditch, UK
• Franfurt, Germany,
• Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, USA
• Ontario, California, USA

Russian titanium is delivered to the Tirus sites where material can be cut via a number of different methods such as plate saws, water jet cutting, shearing and machining to provide a more cost effective service by supplying precisely the correct size of metal for the customer to perform the final manufacturing operations in their respective locations.

The VSMPO Tirus UK Ltd site at Redditch, Worcestershire is currently involved in cutting plate up to 100mm thick for Airbus and Rolls Royce applications.

The latest addition to the Redditch site is a new state of the art, twin head and dynamic water jet cutting machine supplied by the Flow Corporation specifically to cut profiles from VSMPO’s titanium plate and sheet.

The VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation can proudly claim to be the world’s biggest titanium producer and a truly vertically integrated supplier of titanium products by providing the complete range of products from raw material, through melting, rolling, forging, machining and distribution of cut to shape components to the end user.