Arconic splits businesses, forms Howmet Aerospace

A little more than three years after separating from Alcoa Inc., engineered metal products company Arconic Inc. is splitting again. On April 1, 2020, the company’s Engineered Products and Forgings business (jet engine components, aircraft fastening systems, engineered structures, and forged wheels) become Howmet Aerospace Inc. The Global Rolled Products business (sheet, plate, rolled aluminum, extrusions, and building/construction systems) will be spun off as Arconic Corp.

John C. Plant, Arconic Inc.’s CEO since February 2019, and Tolga Oal will lead Howmet Aerospace as co-CEOs. Plant and Oal previously held positions at TRW Automotive; Plant for 12 years as CEO and Oal with finance and operations.

Timothy D. Myers, Arconic Inc.’s Global Rolled Products executive vice president and group president will become Arconic Corp. CEO. Myers has nearly 30 years’ experience with Arconic Inc. and its predecessors.

Howmet Aerospace takes its name from Howmet Castings, a company Alcoa bought in 2000. It will retain aerospace airfoils and ring production facilities in Whitehall, Michigan; Morristown, New Jersey; and Rancho Cucamonga, California. Howmet Aerospace will continue as sole-source of titanium and aluminum bulkheads for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Arconic Corp. will keep the Davenport, Iowa, production assets: a 4,200-ton thick-plate stretcher for aluminum and aluminum-lithium plate, horizontal heat-treat furnace, and aluminum-lithium cast house. It also retains the aluminum sheet, cast plate, extrusions, forgings, and large horizontal press capabilities at Samara, Russia.

The leading provider of aerospace sheet, Arconic produces all of Boeing’s aluminum wing and fuselage skins. It also is sole supplier to Airbus for some wing, fuselage, and structural components and provides aluminum sheet and plate for every Airbus airplane.

AE Industrial Partners acquires two aerospace companies

Private equity firm AE Industrial Partners LP (AEI) has acquired Adcole Maryland Aerospace (AMA) and G.S. Precision Inc. Officials didn’t disclose terms for either deal.

Established in 1957 and based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, AMA designs, manufactures, tests, and integrates spacecraft components and small satellites. Key products include sun sensors, star trackers, and star cameras featured on missions to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. It had been owned by Artemis Capital Partners’ company Adcole Corp.

G.S. Precision Inc. manufactures complex, high-precision components and specialty hardware for aerospace engines and defense systems.

Based in Brattleboro, Vermont, G.S. Precision has five locations and more than 700 employees across the U.S. and Mexico. Founded in 1958 by George Schneeberger, a machine tool sales engineer from Switzerland, G.S. Precision will continue to be run by CEO Norm Schneeberger, son of its founder.

The two acquisitions are the eighth and ninth aerospace investments Boca Raton, Florida-based AEI has closed in the last year.