ATI Specialty Materials plant in Richland prepares for expansion

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

The Dallas, Texas-based company ATI Inc. may be expanding its Richland plant.

The company obtained a building permit to add a nearly 41,500-squarefoot industrial metal melting facility at its 3101 Kingsgate Way site in the Horn Rapids Industrial Park.

The project is valued at $28 million, according to the building permit.

The Richland plant, called ATI Specialty Materials, melts titanium for aerospace and defense productions. It employs about 100 people.

Natalie Gillespie, a spokeswoman for ATI, said the company obtained necessary permits in anticipation of a potential expansion in Richland, but officials don’t have anything to announce at this time.

The building permit lists Fisher Construction Group in Burlington, Washington, as the contractor.

ATI has locations in U.S., Europe and Asia.

It describes itself as a “$3 billion global specialty materials company that serves customers in aerospace, defense and other demanding markets.” It can produce alloys, shapes and finished components “that withstand the ultimate extremes in temperature, corrosion and stress” – and the company’s history dates back to the American Revolution, its website says.

In a May presentation for investors, company officials said that a titanium melt expansion was underway. The following month, the company announced that it had secured an estimated $1.2 billion in new sales commitments from aerospace and defense companies.

“The collective commitments cover nickel and titanium, materials critical to premium manufacturers as they ramp production to meet increasing demand,” a company news release said.

“Representing an average of $200 million per year in estimated revenue between 2024 and 2029, the commitments encompass materials for commercial engine and airframe applications as well as ground-vehicle armor. The majority of this revenue is incremental to ATI’s previously stated 2025 targets. The commitments will be served through already announced capital and capacity expansions,” it said.

Intermodal ramp may still open, despite parent company’s financial woes

The company is owned by the private equity firm Tiger Infrastructure Partners and describes itself as “the nation’s leading provider of temperature-controlled intermodal transportation.” would create about 100 direct jobs, plus inspire many more.

It’s not in bankruptcy or being liquidated, the source said.

“intermodal ramp” where agricultural and manufactured goods can be transferred between trucks and trains. It also will include refrigerated storage.

No one is working at the facility now.

Tiger Cool Express, the Kansas-based transportation company behind Tiger TriCities Logistics Center in Burbank, hasn’t provided an official statement following news reports in mid-June that it had abruptly shut down. But the source – who declined to be quoted by name – told the Journal of Business that the company is “continuing to look for a path forward” for the intermodal ramp project.

But it has seen a sharp decline in business as shipping volumes dropped, according to reports, and at the moment “it’s more profitable to park the equipment and not handle loads than it is to handle loads where an immense amount of money is lost,” the source said.

A “significant number” of employees have been laid off, the source said. What’s an intermodal ramp?

The Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center was once on track to open in September.

If it comes to fruition, it will include an