Airbus and Russia’s VSMPO-AVISMA signed a memorandum of understanding today at the Moscow Air Show confirming their intention to widen their activities from the supply of titanium raw material and forgings to so-called value-added activities. The MoU covers different strategic collaboration areas, such as the development of new alloys for the specific use of EADS/Airbus or the potential for industrial cooperation within the framework of the Special Economic Zone known as “Titanium Valley,” to be located in Verkhnaya Salda, Russia.
The partners also agreed to adapt their so-called Vertical Integration Project to expand VSMPO-AVISMA activities for Airbus beyond the supply of raw material and forgings to rough machining or pre-machining of titanium parts for a more vertically integrated supply chain.
“The development of the vertically integrated production structure is one of the key elements of our strategy,” said Mikhail Voevodin, general director of VSMPO-AVISMA. “This is undoubtedly a big advantage and will enable us to better control the costs and the quality of our products during the whole production cycle. Our marketing policy is about being closer to the customer and we are using all possible opportunities for this. We are sure that our cooperation with EADS/Airbus will let us preserve the leading positions of our companies in this fast-growing market.”
Since the 1990s VSMPO-AVISMA has become a major supplier for Airbus and EADS and today covers 60 percent of the group’s titanium needs in semi-finished products or titanium forgings. In April 2009, the companies signed a contract for the supply of titanium by VSMPO-AVISMA for Airbus and other EADS divisions until 2020.
