OREANDA-NEWS. On July 07, 2009 Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Verkhnaya Salda Metallurgical Production Association (VSMPO-AVISMA) opened Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM), a joint-venture company based in Verkhnaya Salda, Russia. UBM is a new, state-of-the-art facility that will machine titanium forgings for the world’s most technologically advanced airplane – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner -- and for Russian airplanes, reported the press-centre of VSMPO-AVISMA.

“The opening of UBM represents another step in a relationship between VSMPO and Boeing that began in 1997,” said Scott Carson, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “VSMPO-AVISMA and Russian Technologies continue to be Boeing’s largest partners in Russia. I am certain that UBM will be a successful enterprise, delivering high-quality products and adding value to the 787 program.”

"Together, Boeing, VSMPO-AVISMA and Russian Technologies have created a strong, mutually beneficial alliance that is able to accomplish 21st-century manufacturing tasks using the latest technologies at a world-class level,” said Sergey Chemezov, chairman of the board of VSMPO-AVISMA and chief executive officer of the Russian Technologies Corp. (the major shareholding company of VSMPO- AVISMA).

“This joint venture is a testament to the deep cooperation between The Boeing Company and Russia --cooperation that was first forged in the historic U.S.-Soviet space mission in the 1970s,” said US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. “These partnerships create jobs and economic growth in both the United States and Russia and are a model of the benefits of open trade and investment opportunities.”

The joint-venture company was formed in August 2007. During the past two years, the team completed building the new facility and installing the latest high-tech milling machines and tools.

UBM will perform preliminary machining of titanium forgings that will be delivered from the adjacent VSMPO-AVISMA titanium mill. Final processing of the forgings will be completed by Boeing’s Portland, Ore., fabrication facility and other machining subcontractors. In addition the titanium machine-turnings, or “chips,” from UBM will be recycled back to VSMPO-AVISMA to create a more efficient closed-loop system.

Boeing forecasts that over the next 30 years it will spend as much as US27 billion on Russian titanium, aerospace design-engineering services, and a variety of other services and materials.