Firth Rixson Earns Two Awards from WTL

East Hartford, Connecticut - Firth Rixson Limited announced today that Westland Transmissions Limited (WTL) has named Firth Rixson 2005 Supplier of the Year in the categories of "Raw Material" and "Most Improved."

Commenting on the awards, Michael Alexander, Firth Rixson's Director of Sales-Europe, said, "WTL holds an annual ceremony to recognize supplier performance in the areas of delivery, quality and relationship effectiveness. Thirty suppliers participated in this year's competition. Firth Rixson won two awards, which took into account the total performance of the four Firth Rixson UK operations that supplied WTL during 2005."

WTL is a division of Augusta/Westland Helicopters, a Finnmeccanica company. Firth Rixson has been a supplier to WTL for more than 30 years, providing aerospace materials used to manufacture shaft, gear and ring components for a variety of rotor-wing aircraft, including the EH101, Sea Lynx and Apache helicopters.

Firth Rixson Limited (www.firthrixson.com/) was formed in 2003 from a merger of UK-based Firth Rixson, US-based Forged Metals, Inc and Schlosser Forge Company. Firth Rixson serves customers worldwide in market sectors such as aerospace, defense, power generation, transportation, petrochemical, medical and general industrial. Firth Rixson owns 15 operating facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.

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