An improving titanium outlook is prompting Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) to bring on an additional furnace whose installation reportedly was delayed.

Patrick L. Hassey, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh-based specialty metals producer, said ATI's Allvac unit is installing a fourth plasma-arc melt (PAM) furnace at the Bakers, N.C., operation. "That furnace will be up and running in the first quarter of next year," he said, giving ATI "all the capacity" it needs.

"We don't feel like our melting will be any kind of a constraint to our growth in the business," Hassey said during a conference call.

Outsiders originally expected the fourth PAM furnace to be in place by now as part of an overall expansion...