Alcoa, Pittsburgh, has broken ground on a new state-of-the-art, $100 million, 320,000-square-foot facility in La Porte, Indiana, where it will produce nickel-base superalloy jet engine parts. The plant will expand Alcoa’s reach from structural engine components for business and regional jets, to large commercial aircraft, including narrow- and wide-body and military airplanes. Engines for narrow-body aircraft are among the top selling jet engines in the world.
The plant will increase the company’s capacity to supply engines for narrow-body aircraft. It also will enable Alcoa to produce parts nearly 60% larger than components it makes today, expanding its market reach to wide-body airplanes. These components are used in the compression and hot sections of the engine. Alcoa is already the global leader in jet engine airfoils.
Construction of the plant is underway and is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2015. Customer contracts underpin the new capacity. The facility will use the latest in high-tech advanced manufacturing equipment, including digital X-ray for real-time quality assurance, 3D printing of prototypes, blue light technology for more comprehensive dimensional inspection data, and automated casting furnaces with advanced controls to meet precise product specifications.
This is the second major aerospace investment by Alcoa in Indiana in two years. In 2012, Alcoa announced construction of a $90 million greenfield state-of-the-art aluminum lithium facility at its Lafayette operations. The facility is on schedule to open later this year and will be capable of producing upwards of 20,000 metric tons of Alcoa’s patented aluminum-lithium alloys used to build dramatically lighter and lower-cost airplanes versus composite alternatives.
