Alcoa 1998 Annual Report Download - page 16

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14
Growth in
Telecom Services
Alcoa Fujikura Ltd.
(AFL) made three acqui-
sitions during 1998 to
support its growing
telecommunications
business segment:
• MinTel, headquartered
in Norcross, Ga.,
servicing BellSouth
• QCS, headquartered in
Richmond, Va., servicing
Bell Atlantic
• TICS, headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., provid-
ing networking products
and services throughout
the southeastern U.S.
AFL has also opened
a new plant in Allentown,
Pa. to serve the growing
opto-electronics business
in the northeast and
mid-Atlantic states. This
facility connects and
packages fiber-optic
lasers that are used to
boost optical signals in
telecommunication net-
works.
Beating the
Bandwidth
Explosive growth in
telecommunication and
Internet traffic has cre-
ated the need for much
higher fiber-optic band-
width capacity than has
been available until now.
Anticipating this trend,
AFL was first in the
market with high fiber
count (432 fiber) ADSS
aerial cable and the
world’s highest fiber
count (288 fiber) optical
ground wire. These
products offer telecom-
munication customers
more than a 100%
increase in bandwidth
capacity compared with
existing products. AFL
expects that over 30% of
1999’s aerial cable vol-
ume will come from high
fiber count applications.
New customers include
long-distance telephone
providers as well as local
telephone carriers.
On Boeing’s Team
Boeing Commercial
Airplane Group awarded
major supply positions
in a 10-year contract
to Alcoa Mill Products
and Alcoa Engineered
Products as part of
Boeing’s new “lean”
procurement strategy.
One service provider,
Thyssen, Inc., will han-
dle the global logistics
for Alcoa and a few
other selected aluminum
companies for all of
Boeing’s aluminum flat-
rolled products and
small and intermediate
extrusions. Boeing
will buy metal directly
from the Alcoa mills,
which will ship to TMX,
a Thyssen subsidiary,
for delivery to Boeing’s
external suppliers
and internal parts shops.
Brotherhood
Award
John LaFevre, vice
president of human
resources for Alcoa
Building Products,
received the Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Brotherhood Award
from the Tri-County
NAACP in Ohio. The
award is in recognition
of outstanding contribu-
tions toward upward
mobility of African
Americans. It was pre-
sented at the annual
Martin Luther King
Recognition Dinner.
Good Report
Card
Iowa Governor Terry
Branstad named Alcoa’s
Davenport Works as the
A+ Company of the
Year. Alcoa swept the
competition, beating out
1,500 other companies.
Criteria included eco-
nomic impact (to the
community), innovative
workforce development,
technology application
and innovative product
development.
Innovation in
Aerospace
A new thick plate, devel-
oped by Alcoans at
Davenport, Iowa, and
Alcoa Technical Center
near Pittsburgh, in col-
laboration with Lockheed
Martin Tactical Aircraft
Systems, has been rec-
ognized as one of the 100
most technologically
significant products of
the year by R&D
Magazine. In the past,
R&D 100 awards have
gone to such inventions
as the ATM and the fax
machine. Aircraft parts
made from the new
plate, 2097-T861, are
more reliable, can with-
stand more fatigue-
cracking damage and
last longer than parts
made with other alloys.
Results: safer aircraft
and lower maintenance
costs. The plate products
are being retrofitted in
F-16 aircraft.