SKF AB (Sweden; Stockholm: SKFA) announced it has acquired the airframe metallic rod manufacturing business of QPM Aerospace (USA; website), near Seattle.

In addition to swaged tube airframe materials, QPM does precision machining, turning and sheet metal fabrication.

QPM's swaged rods are used in aerospace applications such as structures, actuating mechanisms, and suspension systems. It now backs up a similar SKF's business unit which produces metallic rods for aerospace operations in St. Vallier, France.

To date, the St. Vallier customer base has been European customers such as Airbus, Dassault and Eurocopter. Adding QPM not only puts SKF squarely into the North American market, it brings type certification as a supplier to Boeing and access to additional EADS/Airbus business.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.