voestalpine secures attractive high-tech 10-year contract with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce

19 June 2019 |

A new contract with Rolls-Royce, a world-leading engine manufacturer, again draws on high-performance materials from voestalpine. As a new European producer, the Group’s High Performance Metals Division supplies highly sophisticated pre-materials for engine disks which are required to withstand huge forces during flight. High-tech materials and special forgings from voestalpine are already used in structural, undercarriage, wing, and engine parts in all major models of aircraft, from Airbus and Boeing to Embraer and Bombardier. The Group currently generates revenue of around EUR 400 million in the growing aerospace market, and this figure is expected to increase to EUR 500 million over the medium term.

For a number of years, voestalpine has supplied Rolls-Royce with high-quality steel alloys for engine components from its site in Kapfenberg, in the Austrian federal state of Styria. The current major contract has been secured by Group company voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl, marking its entry into the market for rotating engine disks. The disk materials must meet particularly stringent requirements, having to operate in conditions of up to 16,500 rotations per minute and temperatures of more than 2,000°C inside an engine.

Over the past ten years, we have established ourselves as a leading global supplier to the aerospace industry as a consequence of our expertise in special steels. In both commercial and technological terms, the contract with Rolls-Royce is the largest breakthrough we’ve had in the engine segment to date and confirms the value of our consistent focus on quality and innovation.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

Innovation and investment as basis for success

Around the world aerospace is regarded as a long-term growth market: according to market forecasts, 40,000 new aircraft will be built over the coming 20 years.

We laid the technological foundations at Group company voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl at an early stage in order to benefit from this growth. The signing of the contract with Rolls-Royce is the result of both intensive innovation and investment activities over the past years, and is an absolute milestone in terms of product quality and process security. My thanks goes, above all, to the employees whose expertise and dedication have made this success possible.

Franz Rotter, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the High Performance Metals Division

As recently as fall 2018, a new EUR 40 million high-speed forging line went into operation at the site in Kapfenberg, creating the ideal technical conditions for the manufacture of such high-tech products. The contract with Rolls-Royce extends over a period of ten years, with the first deliveries scheduled for 2020.

High Performance Metals Division

The voestalpine AG’s High Performance Metals Division is focused on producing and processing high-performance materials and customer-specific services including heat treatment, high-tech surface treatments, and additive manufacturing processes increasingly using digital technology. Due to its unique sales and service network at about 160 sites around the world the division offers its customers material availability and processing as well as local points of contact. The division is the global market leader for tool steel and a leading provider of high-speed steel, valve steel, and other products made of special steels, as well as powder materials, nickel-based alloys, titanium, and components produced using additive manufacturing technologies. The most important customer segments are the automotive, oil and natural gas exploration, and mechanical engineering industries as well as the consumer goods and aerospace industries. In the business year 2018/19, the division reported revenue of around EUR 3.1 billion, of which about 50% was generated outside Europe, and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 435 million; it has around 14,400 employees worldwide.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, it is a leading partner of the automotive and consumer goods industries as well as of the aerospace and oil & gas industries. voestalpine is also the world market leader in complete railway systems as well as in tool steel and special sections. In the business year 2018/19, the Group generated revenue of EUR 13.6 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.6 billion; it had just under 52,000 employees worldwide.