Precision Castparts Buying GE Aircraft Operation

General Electric Corp. is divesting a manufacturing subsidiary of its GE Aviation business unit. Unison Engine Components will be acquired by Precision Castparts Corp. for an undisclosed cash price, subject to regulatory approval. The buyer is a Portland-based producer of various forgings and investment castings for aerospace structures, airfoils, and industrial gas turbines. GE has not commented on the sale. Unison, known as Tru-Form thanks to it brand of flash-welded and cold-rolled rings for jet engine and gas turbine applications, will join PCC’s Forged Products division, which already includes Wyman-Gordon Forgings and Special Metals Corp. Tru-Form has an estimated 275 employees at plants in Wilkes-Barre and Mountaintop, Pa., and Tyseley, England. The Tru-Form product line includes spacer rings, combustion casings and liners, low-pressure turbine (LPT) casings, and fan cases. Its namesake cold-rolling process is said to produce complex and near-net-shaped parts from flash-welded rings, with low material and machining costs. “Tru-Form broadens our forged product range, adding flash-welded and cold-rolled rings to our portfolio,” stated PCC chairman and CEO Mark Donegan. “Tru-Form, which supplies all major engine OEMs, has exposure to every major commercial aircraft in production today. We have pursued this transaction with GE for over a year and are excited to bring these operations into the PCC family.”