RTI plant loses out on $100M, gets $15M

A local union official is
disappointed that Virginia was chosen for a $100
million plant.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

WEATHERSFIELD — A local titanium plant has been left with a $15 million consolation prize.

RTI International Metals stresses that it plans to invest that much in its Weathersfield mill this year, even though the mill wasn’t chosen for a much larger prize.

The top prize is a $100 million plant that RTI has said it will build in Martinsville, Va.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Todd Weddell, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 2155 in Weathersfield.

RTI officials announced last May that it would invest $100 million in additional production capacity to support a jet fighter contract it just received. Virginia officials announced Tuesday that the investment would be made there.

Weddell had hoped the investment would be made in Weathersfield, where RTI employs 360 hourly workers at its RMI Titanium mill. Weddell said he offered to negotiate a new labor contract in advance of any announcement and said that work rules and other issues could be discussed.

He said he never got much of a response.

But Richard Leone, an RTI spokesman, said the company isn’t turning its back on the local plant. It spent $8 million on equipment upgrades at the mill last year and intends to spend $15 million this year.

Despite his disappointment on losing the new plant, Weddell said the upgrades are good for the Weathersfield plant. He said he hopes 10 or 15 jobs could be created by the upgrades that are coming.

Weddell said the mill has added 60 hourly workers since 2004.

The use of titanium in military and commercial aircraft is booming, and RTI has responded by increasing its local hourly and salaried workers by 25 percent in the past two years. The company employs about 600 at its mill and corporate offices in Weathersfield.

Weddell said the union and company are discussing the possibility of meeting to extend the union contract even though it doesn’t expire until 2010. Both sides are interested in letting RTI’s customers know that they can expect labor peace at the local mill, which has had work stoppages in the past.

Leone said RTI looked at local sites for building a new mill but chose Virginia because of the economic incentives that were offered.

“They just had the upper hand,” he said.

Local officials, however, weren’t asked to put together a package, said Reid Dulberger, a Regional Chamber official who oversees economic development programs for Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

He said chamber officials have been talking to RTI about potential sites and available buildings, but company officials never outlined a specific project.

Leone said RTI doesn’t release specific information on incentives. He said tax abatements and job training assistance were involved, but an official with the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. declined to provide any information.

A newspaper report said state and local governments provided about $5.3 million for upgrades to roads and sewers and site improvements.

The Virginia plant will employ about 150 workers and will have forging and rolling operations. It will produce titanium sheets, plates and billets that will be used to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.

The plant will use titanium ingots shipped from RTI’s mills in Weathersfield and Canton.

In addition, RTI said in September that it was going to build a new $300 million plant in Mississippi to produce titanium sponge, which is used at the Weathersfield and Canton mills.

RTI also is preparing to move its senior level executives to the Pittsburgh area. Leone said a location hasn’t been announced because details haven’t been finalized.

He said about 30 employees will be relocated, probably by the end of March. He said, however, that most of the corporate offices will remain in Weathersfield, including engineering, quality assurance and research and development.

RTI employs 1,400 at 18 locations worldwide.

shilling@vindy.com