As the leading supplier of aluminum solutions to the world’s aerospace industry, Alcoa has continuously enhanced and broadened its product portfolio in meeting customers’ needs and helping them explore new frontiers since the dawn of aviation.
The company’s aerospace operations are comprised of four businesses with operations around the world that generate approximately $3 billion in total revenues and leading share positions in their chosen markets: Alcoa Global Rolled Products; Alcoa Forgings and Extrusions; Alcoa Fastening Systems; and Alcoa Howmet.
Almost all aluminum aerospace alloys currently in use were originally developed by Alcoa, and today’s major new aircraft programs incorporate Alcoa’s product innovations from nose to tail, and wingtip to wingtip.
Alcoa created the world’s largest aerospace forgings to reduce weight and lower cost on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while the 525-seat A380 jetliner has the largest fuselage panels and wing skins ever produced. The 787 uses the first application of large aluminum-lithium plate on a commercial aircraft – developed and supplied by Alcoa, while more than one million of its fasteners go into every 787 and A380. The company also is the world leader in single-crystal technology for advanced castings that withstand the extreme temperatures of clean-burning aero engines.
Looking to the future, Alcoa is well positioned to remain the aerospace industry’s supplier of choice, with a competence that goes well beyond materials to an understanding of how materials can work together with structural and design innovations in providing optimal solutions when aircraft are built, flown, maintained – and ultimately recycled after completing their operational lifetimes.
Alcoa’s commitment to innovation is backed by the full resources of the company’s technical teams and the Alcoa Technical Center, which is the world’s largest light metals research facility.
