Firth Rixson Limited, a provider of highly engineered forged, cast and other specialty metal products and a holding of The Carlyle Group, has announced it has signed an agreement to begin construction of a 50,000 sq ft facility to be built near Shanghai, China. The plant, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Firth Rixson Limited, will forge and process seamless alloy rings for aerospace applications. It is the first of two ventures in China.
According to Armand F. Lauzon, Jr., CEO of Firth Rixson, “The first venture, our wholly owned manufacturing facility, will focus on supplying aerospace customers. Our second joint venture is an agreement with a Chinese manufacturing company. This venture calls for the two parties to operate a heat-treatment and machining facility, near Guiyang, China. This new facility will be designed to meet the most modern aerospace quality requirements and service product up to – and exceeding – current market demand for large sizes.”
Lauzon says that under the terms of the Memo of Understanding, Firth Rixson will supply back-extruded pre-forms that will be processed on the Chinese manufacturer’s seamless-ring mill. “We will also provide technical consulting and systems to support heat treatment and finish machining of the rings our joint venture partner produces,” says Lauzon.
Firth Rixson Limited was formed in 2003 from a merger of UK-based Firth Rixson and US-based Forged Metals, Inc. It is majority owned by The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. Firth Rixson serves customers worldwide in market sectors such as aerospace, defense, power generation, transportation, petrochemical, medical and general industrial. Firth Rixson operates 14 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia and has more than 1,700 employees.
The Carlyle Group is a global, private equity firm with more than $18.3 billion under management.