Bodycote USA Invests Over $30 Million in Ohio to Expand Aerospace Heat Treatment Capacity

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, Bodycote announced a cumulative investment of more than $30 million across its two plants in Fairfield and London, Ohio, USA, to expand vacuum heat treatment, brazing, and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) capacity required for aerospace and defense manufacturing. Of this, $12 million was invested in the Fairfield plant, while the London plant added approximately $20 million for new large-scale hot isostatic pressing equipment.

The Fairfield project was relocated and expanded from Bodycote's former Cincinnati facility. The new plant increased the number of vacuum furnaces, expanded capacity for high-volume and large component processing, and carried out systematic upgrades to existing equipment. Some furnaces underwent modernization, and centralized monitoring and control systems were added to improve visual management of furnace temperatures, process status, and equipment operating data. The new plant also reserved space for future capacity expansion in liquid penetrant inspection, tensile testing, and other capabilities.

The London plant's investment focuses on adding a "mega HIP" large-scale hot isostatic pressing unit. This equipment is configured with rapid cooling, jet cooling, and high-pressure processing capabilities and is scheduled to be commissioned in early October 2026. Bodycote disclosed that the new equipment can accommodate thousands of aerospace components per processing cycle, compared with hundreds per cycle for the existing smaller equipment. The added capacity primarily serves high-volume aero-engine components while freeing up processing capacity for other high-performance aerospace parts.

The hot isostatic pressing process uses high temperature and isostatic gas pressure to densify internal porosity and defects in metal components, improving material integrity and mechanical properties. This process is widely used in aero-engines, additively manufactured components, and other high-reliability metal parts. The core milestone of this London expansion is not simply the addition of plant space, but the addition of large-scale critical process equipment, directly enhancing the local post-processing capacity for high-value-added aerospace components.

The two investments in Fairfield and London cover three key manufacturing stages: vacuum heat treatment, brazing, and HIP. The former primarily increases heat treatment and joining process capacity, while the latter expands the scale of densification processing for high-performance metal components. Together, the two plants serve the aerospace manufacturing supply chain in Ohio and the broader U.S. Midwest. Bodycote explicitly stated that this investment primarily targets the growing capacity demands of local aerospace and defense manufacturers.