How we got here. Where we`re going.

Today, ATI is a $4.1 billion global specialty materials company that serves customers in aerospace, defense and other demanding markets. We have a strong vertically integrated supply chain that can produce alloys, shapes, finished components that withstand the ultimate extremes in temperature, corrosion, and stress. This unique capability is the result of a corporate history that dates back beyond the dawn of the space age, the jet age, or the industrial age — all the way back, in fact, to the American Revolution.

Allegheny Teledyne: Corporate genesis

The foundation for today’s ATI was created August 15, 1996 with the merger of Southern California-based Teledyne and Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Ludlum Corporation. Teledyne was a rapidly growing, dynamic conglomerate of electronics and aerospace, industrial, and consumer products, born in the go-go tech boom of the 1960s. Allegheny Ludlum was a time-honored innovator in Pittsburgh’s legendary steel industry, with a heritage dating back to casting cannonballs to fight the British in 1776. The corporate structure that ultimately emerged from this union, Allegheny Teledyne Incorporated, developed into Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, known today as ATI.

Sheffield Operations: Stainless heritage

In 1998, ATI acquired UK-based Sheffield Forgemasters, whose founders invented stainless steel in 1912. This union expanded ATI’s presence in Europe from sales, service and flat rolled operations to include extensive, pioneering expertise in specialty steels and advanced alloy processes.

Allegheny Ludlum: Steel innovator

ATI owes its leadership in specialty and stainless steels largely to Allegheny Ludlum, a pioneering innovator in steel alloys and processes. Incorporated in 1901 as Allegheny Steel & Iron, it was the first company to use the electric furnace in manufacturing alloys. The company also commercialized stainless steel in the United States, winning its first patent in 1924. Stainless from Allegheny Steel was used in New York’s iconic Chrysler Building, in trim for the Ford Model A, and other industry firsts. The company merged with Ludlum Steel Company in 1938 to become Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, and became a founding component of ATI when it merged with Teledyne in 1996. Today, the heritage of Allegheny Ludlum lives on in several ATI metal rolling operations, including our Specialty Rolled Products and Standard Stainless Products businesses.

Allvac: Jet engine leader

ATI owes much of its expertise in jet engine alloys to the pioneering work of James Nisbet, founder of Allvac Metals Company, which became part of ATI in 1996 with the Teledyne merger. A GE metallurgist, Nisbet experimented with vacuum melting of nickel and other alloys for high-temperature aircraft and jet engines in the 1940s and 50s. He became convinced that vacuum melting would be a breakthrough commercial process for producing high-performance superalloys, and founded Allvac with that mission in 1957. Allvac’s commercial success proved out Nisbet’s vision, as the company grew to be a world leader in the production of superalloys used in jet engines, gas turbines and other high-temperature applications. They were used in America’s first jet fighters, the first commercial jet (the Boeing 707), the Gemini spacecraft, and many other aviation pioneers. Today Allvac’s history lives on in the operations of our Specialty Materials business, headquartered in Monroe, NC, with related machining operations in Sheffield, UK.

Wah Chang: Nuclear pioneer

Our leadership in refractory metals such as zirconium, hafnium and niobium comes from Wah Chang Corporation, which joined ATI as part of Teledyne in 1996. Founded more than 100 years ago as a tungsten ore trading business, the company became an innovator at the dawn of the nuclear age when the U.S. Department of Energy selected it to provide high-purity alloys for building nuclear reactors for power generation. Today, the company is still on the leading edge of alloys for power generation, superconductor magnets for MRI machines, and other applications. Its capabilities are the core of our Specialty Alloys & Components business.

Ladish: Forging powerhouse

Our ability to forge high-performance products ranging from rocket rings to helicopter rotor hubs and jet engine parts came when Ladish Forging joined ATI in 2011. Based in Cudahy, Wisconsin, Ladish was founded in 1905 and grew through the early 20th century as a high-quality supplier of forged camshafts and other parts for the automotive, farming and construction equipment industries. As the aircraft industry boomed, Ladish became known for propeller forgings, then high-temperature forgings for the hot sections of jet engines, ultimately becoming a leader in high-strength, high-temperature components for spacecraft and deep-sea submersibles. Today, as the heart of our Forged Products business, the company’s reputation for excellence in forging helps customers design products that fly higher, dig deeper and last longer.

Positioned for the future: powder metals, flowform and additive manufacturing

We’ve added more key capabilities to stay ahead of customers’ needs. Crucible Compaction Metals and Crucible Research joined ATI in 2009, adding state-of-the-art powder metal capabilities that extend our ability to produce materials and components that withstand ever-higher ranges of temperature and stress. Today it’s part of our Specialty Materials business. Dynamic Flowform joined the company in 2014. This innovative capability enables us to produce high-strength, low-cost custom tubular components for aerospace, military, oil & gas and other customers. Most recently, Addaero, a leading-edge additive manufacturing startup that joined ATI in 2018, completes the supply chain for producing leading-edge, near-net components for aerospace and other markets with complex geometries and alloys that have never been brought together before.

Today, ATI is an international company with more than 50 locations across the United States, Europe and Asia. Since the beginning, ATI has been a company willing to invest in the future, whatever form it takes. Looking ahead, we’re still investing in the capabilities and the science that will enable customers to tackle the next generation of life-changing challenges, whatever they may be.