TORONTO - Operations at TIMET Corp. and the importance of titanium were discussed during the city chamber's meeting Thursday at the city shelterhouse.
Steve Wright, plant manager at TIMET, told chamber members about basic operations at the plant and the importance of titanium alloy in industry.
"We're currently at our highest employment ever," said Wright, adding the plant currently employees 699 people. We have a global presence."
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IMPORTANT INDUSTRY — Steve Wright, plant manager of TIMET Corp. in Toronto, discussed the plant’s operations and the importance of finished titanium in industry during the Toronto Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Thursday luncheon meeting at the city shelterhouse. -- Mark Miller
Wright said TIMET's parent company was founded in Hanson, Nev., in 1950, and TIMET operations in Toronto began in 1956. He added the company has several plants devoted to different aspects of titanium production throughout the world, including plants in the United Kingdom and France.
"We have a presence in China, Japan and some emerging markets such as India," he said, adding TIMET is one of the world's largest manufactures of finished titanium, and the Toronto plant has a capacity to turn out 15,000 metric tons of milled titanium annually. "(TIMET) is a publicly traded company. From a capacity standpoint TIMET is the largest miller of titanium. We've historically been tied to military and industrial aerospace (production)."
Wright said the commercial aerospace industry accounted for 66 percent of TIMET's business production.
"TIMET is doing well, and we picked up relatively quickly (after the latest economic downturn)," said Wright. "We are a long-term supplier to Boeing. We are under contract with them (to supply titanium) for several years."
Wright said titanium also was used in Humvees during the Iraq War, and the military also will be using a substantial amount of titanium in its new F35 Joint Striker Fighter. He added the military will be producing thousands of the fighters in the next 20 to 30 years.
Between $115 to $120 million will be invested in plants worldwide by the end of 2012, including possible upgrades at its Morgantown, Pa., facility, Wright said. TIMET also is a worldwide leader in "melt" technology. The company also is cautiously eyeing possible competitors in Russia and China, said Wright, adding it's difficult to tell how much finished titanium the two countries are producing.
"Japan also is a very large titanium producer," he said. "These are some exciting times for us. We're cautiously optimistic about the future."
In other chamber business:
Chamber member Dani Swearingen said the chamber's annual style show, held April 14 at Karaffa Elementary School, was a success, with 106 tickets sold and 23 vendors present.
Chamber member Mike Biasi said the annual Robert Urich Memorial Race/Walk will begin at 8 a.m. July 7. Biasi added he's begun sending out letters to possible sponsors, and this year registrations will be available soon on the chamber's website, www.torontoohiochamber.com. He added registration also will be available the morning of the race.
