Five companies to provide $4.3 billion of aluminum By BOB REGAN

NEW YORK -- Boeing Co.'s Commercial Airplane Group Monday named five aluminum companies that will provide $4.3 billion worth of flat-rolled aluminum and extruded aluminum products it expects it will need for commercial aircraft production over the next 10 years.

The Seattle-headquartered aircraft/aerospace giant in July selected Thyssen Inc. North America as its exclusive distributor of flat-rolled aluminum and certain small and intermediate-size extrusions. The 10-year contract, seen posing far-reaching implications for the existing metals distributor networks serving Boeing, prompted Thyssen to form a new division, TMX Aerospace, to administer the Boeing contract, valued at $300 million over the 10-year period (AMM, July 8)

Asked how the five aluminum companies-Aluminum Co. of America, Pittsburgh; Kaiser Aluminum Corp., Houston; Century Aluminum Co., Monterey, Calif.; Universal Alloys Co., Canton, Ga.; and Hoogovens Aluminium Walzprodukte GmbH, Koblemz-were selected, a Boeing spokeswoman said there was an open bidding procedure and the choices were based on prices and such other criteria as business plan alignment, location, warehousing and other factors. At least two companies- Alcoa and Kaiser-had been selected earlier (AMM, March 23).