Space shuttle separating after leaving Earth's atmosphere. Photo courtesy of ATK.

Alliant Techsystems (ATK), a Fortune 500 aerospace company based Arlington, Va., announced it will reorganize its business into three groups—aerospace, defense and sporting—starting in 2013. Along with this reorganization, the company says it will need to cut 200 jobs. This is the second company reorganization since longtime CEO Dan Murphy stepped down two years ago. According to CEO Mark DeYoung, ATK is streamlining its business to address government budget pressures and the individual needs of each market.

Prior to 2010, the group operated within three groups: mission systems, armament systems and space systems. Then in 2010 it reorganized to become aerospace systems, armament systems, missile products, and security and sporting. Now, ATK states, it will condense the armament and missiles group to offset government cuts and lower sales in those markets. Meanwhile the reorganization will allow ATK’s to focus on emerging sport group and increase international sales.

Moving forward, the reduced defense group will work on armament and missiles led by Vice President Mike Kahn out of Baltimore, Md; the aerospace group will develop ATK’s flying projects, led by Senior Vice President Blake Larson in Magna, Utah; and the sporting group will focus on ATK’s growing market for accessories and equipment for sporting goods as well law enforcement, led by Senior Vice President Ron Johnson in Anoka, Minn.

Car seat concept. Photo courtesy of Faurencia.

Chemical supplier BASF and automotive manufacturer Faurencia recently designed a composite car seat that integrates into the seat frame—reducing foam, metal and weight from traditional car seat designs. The composite frame, called the Performance Seat, was recently on display at the North American Auto Show in Detroit and received an overwhelmingly positive response.

The Performance Seat is 20 percent lighter and 30 percent thinner than traditional metal frames, most importantly, reducing 75 percent of seat foam. It is manufactured using continuous glass-fiber and nylon in an injection mold.

Faurencia expects the seat will enter into the mainstream automotive market as early as 2014. It currently has two designs, both with exposed frames to reduce material. Overall, the Performance Seat wins accolades for positive engineering development for composite innovation and vehicle lightweighting.

Ford assembly line in 1913.

For over 100 years, U.S. manufacturing has remained a global leader in manufacturing despite the advances of cheaper Chinese companies and others around the world. In order to remain competitive and advance the manufacturing industry, economists suggest that the companies should move away from traditional assembly lines and toward “smart manufacturing.”

Smart manufacturing, described by Huffington Post writer Eric D. Isaacs, is the collaboration of both private and public collaboration inclusive of researchers, inventors, investors and manufacturers to establish more efficient engineering. Smart manufacturing creates vast potential to educate both the workforce and the designers that in turn would lower manufacturing costs, effectively lowering the price of products and increase profit.

Among composite manufacturers in particular, companies such as K2 Sports in Seattle, Wash., are already involving the work of teams of researchers, inventors and manufacturers. Others like the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility are also joining composite researching with advanced manufacturing facilities. But these teams are not in the majority.

In 2010, approximately 70 percent of manufacturing companies outsourced research and development (R&D) to companies overseas Supporting the need to end this trend, the Report to the President on Ensuring American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing published in 2011 argues that the U.S. cannot be a nation of research and development alone, as companies tend to invest in both engineering and manufacturing rather than just one or the other. If R&D or manufacturing needs move abroad, typically the whole operation does as well.

If the industry can address timely issues through collaboration, such as finding cost and time effective manufacturing techniques for composites, there’s a good chance that the material could go above the industrial curve and implement more jobs. Integrating R&D with manufacturing mixes the technical and practical aspects of design work, resulting in better overall products. Additionally, combining R&D and manufacturing would help to bring more jobs back to the U.S. Maybe smart manufacturing is just as practical as the name suggests, and it could be just the right solution for the U.S. composite industry.

One will be the Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine, where composites professionals will “learn the secrets of closed molding,” says Marcy Offner, marketing manager at Composites One, a leading distributor of composite materials, and chair of the COMPOSITES 2012 Convention Committee.

Composites One, along with the Closed Mold Alliance and more than 15 industry partners, is preparing to hold one of the most comprehensive, ongoing demos of closed mold technology. The live sessions will be held Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 in a specially designed staging area at Booth #629.

“Holding these demos gives people a sneak peek into how the closed molding process works, and also starts to lay the groundwork for determining which process is best suited for their specific need or overall manufacturing process,” Offner says. “We look forward to educating attendees by giving them the facts, while we’re also showing them how those facts can be applied.”

The Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine will feature both traditional and advanced closed mold processes. Attendees will see work cells demonstrating three traditional processes — light resin transfer molding (Light RTM), the vacuum infusion process (VIP) and flex molding — to produce replica wind blades, a half hull and a mini boat hull. In addition, the demos will showcase these advancements:

• Micro-infused resin technology that can be used in closed molding: From Australian company MIRteq, the technology uses a resin with a modified polymer structure, making it safer for the environment. The versatile material is viscous at room temperature and can be poured, pumped, sprayed and machined to deliver a wide range of engineering solutions. Access to the technology is available exclusively through Composites One.
• A specially formulated CCP Composites OptiPLUS infusion resin: It’s used for tooling to the vacuum infusion process. Vacuum infusion is ideal for making tooling for large and small parts.
• Fiber preforms, and Bayer polyurethane resin systems: These presentations will showcase a number of different parts, including a tractor hood and a motorcycle engine cover.
  

Throughout the event, industry experts from the Closed Mold Alliance, along with the Composites One Closed Mold Team, will be on hand to answer attendees’ questions.

This is the eighth consecutive year that Composites One and its partners have presented live demonstrations of closed mold processes at a major trade show event.

“Any composites professional who wants access to new ideas can’t afford to miss the COMPOSITES show,” says Offner. “Exposure to new products will help attendees turn knowledge into business.”

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To learn more about COMPOSITES, visit ACMA’s show website.

Lori Luchak, President of the American Composites Manufacturers Association

As we start the New Year I think, “What a great time to be in the composite industry!” There will be many new composite products developed around energy efficiency and more opportunities for expansion. For example, UPS trucks, U.S. streetcars, wind turbines and more. The growing demand for light weight, high strength-to-weight ratio and longevity make composites a great answer.

Here at Miles Fiberglass, we are currently developing a proto-type electric car with an all-composite body shell. I know of a company in Hawaii developing composite sole inserts for shoes. And many of the wave energy buoys use composite materials for their non-corrosive properties in salt water.

However, more can be done to ensure that composites get their fair share of the market with competing materials. As an association, ACMA is supporting proposed legislation that would require life cycle costing for federally funded construction projects. The 599-page bill includes several provisions that will spur increased use of composites. Life Cycle Costs Analysis (LCCA) is a process for evaluating the total economic worth of a project by analyzing initial costs and discounting future costs. In the short term analysis composites are often more expensive compared to competing materials, but under LCCA, composites shine. Eliminating the “lowest cost only” factor from government selection bids will help composites compete on a more level playing field.

If you would like to get involved in this process, contact John Schweitzer, ACMA’s senior director of Government Affairs. John has been working diligently on this and other legislative matters. Many members have already encouraged their Congressmen (or Congressional representatives) to support this effort. Meanwhile John Busel, ACMA’s director of Composite Growth Initiative (CGI), has been gathering data in collaboration with Federal Highway Administration and other agencies and universities to build the case of composites service life longevity and its cost effect on infrastructure.

The Senate Highway Bill is another one of the many opportunities this industry has to increase the use of composites. Many of the CGI committees have been working tirelessly to develop codes and standards that will help architects specify composite materials. The Green Composite Committee is currently working on the Composites Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Project aimed at developing data for certain materials and manufacturing processes so that a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be readily conducted allowing manufacturers to compare composites to competing materials. To read more about it, get your free copy of Composites Manufacturing, ACMA’s official news source. If you want to be involved in this very important, ground breaking work or learn more about what is going on, visit www,acmanet.org or call them directly at 703-525-0511. Remember, we are a member driven organization and that means we need your help! If you’re not already a member of ACMA, join today.

Sincerely,

Lori Luchak

Robert R. Lacovara, CCM, CCT-I, president of Convergent Composites

Robert R. Lacovara, CCM, CCT-I, has been in the composites industry for more than 30 years, and he thinks composites manufacturing is at a crossroads. Traditional methods and thinking may facilitate the status quo, he says, but “real transformation is necessary to meet the challenges of our time.” Lacovara is president of Convergent Composites, a consultancy that provides the composites industry with services and insight. From 1989-2009, he was director of Technical Services for ACMA, the originator of the association’s Certified Composites Technician (CCT) program, and former ACMA president.

At COMPOSITES 2012 your education session focus is The Intersection of Technology and the Composites Business. How are those forces coming together today?

I believe emerging technologies will drive the composites business into the future. Today, there are some interesting opportunities for the composites industry, so it’s valuable to examine the fundamental principles of science that will drive new business opportunities for composites firms. For example, one topic I’ll cover in the session at COMPOSITES 2012 deals with transportation systems and that industry’s need for lower vehicle weight and better aerodynamics.

Let’s start with the basic physics that it takes less energy to move a smaller mass. Lighter cars are simply more efficient. And in highway driving, vehicle efficiency is dominated by aerodynamics rather than weight — better aerodynamics equal higher efficiency. We should be using that science to challenge the status quo of Detroit automakers, and specifically the trucking industry, about how they’re making vehicles. If we can change that paradigm, we can create a huge opportunity for companies in our industry. We can lead a change that potentially can drive composites for the next several decades.

What is your main focus when you talk about this “paradigm shift”?

The transportation market is the leading market, especially trucks. As world economies face inevitable competition for petroleum supplies, we are on the cusp of development for new categories of energy-efficient vehicles. But the intersection of technology and the composites business is evident in other markets, too. The emerging requirements for larger wind turbines, seismic protection, ballistic protection and infrastructure applications also lead the way for expanding the composites market.

In the truck market, how can the composites industry reach decision-makers in a way that might lead to action?

As an industry, there are several things we need to do. We need to let the transportation systems leaders understand more about our capabilities. There’s an important education and public relations component at play here. Also, the composites industry has to develop better capabilities. We have the material systems to achieve impressive objectives, but the composites industry needs to put manufacturing systems in place to realize these benefits.

What’s one challenge or issue that’s holding the composites industry back?

Composites are more complex than other materials. Let’s go back to the Detroit example for a moment: Automakers don’t make steel; they buy steel and stamp it. Essentially, what the composites industry is asking them to do is the equivalent of them creating the steel. Because of that, composites are inherently more complex than dealing with traditional materials. They need both and understanding and a feel for composites — to know how and when to use them, and to understand the engineering aspects of composites. By their nature, composites are more complex than the materials they’re used to using.

What will it take to clarify the industry’s message about the value of composites?

There’s definitely a need for education, and it should come from both ACMA and individual companies. It’s the responsibility of each company to enable potential customers to understand what the company does and what its capabilities are. The industry has not done a good job of that to outsiders. We do it well to each other, and some industries, like boatbuilding, have a fairly good understanding of composites. That’s because fiberglass boats have been around for about 60 years, and boat owners talk to each other and discuss equipment on blogs and discussion boards. You won’t find that dynamic among truck owners or fleet operators. Who’s articulating the message to them? We have to do a better job of that.

Is there a starting point to help make that happen?

Maybe the power is in statistics: In the educational session, I’m going to cite that we could save the trucking industry $12 billion a year on fuel costs, essentially by doing nothing mechanically different, other than changing the outdated aerodynamics of trucks. That’s a real $12 billion, meaning the United States could get by with importing $12 billion less in oil. The challenge with communicating the composite industry’s message to truck manufacturers is cultural. Truckers, in many but not all cases, have a vision of the “proper truck” to have a giant, square radiator in the front and all kinds of accoutrements hanging off the body. Look at the Dodge Ram pickup truck, for instance. It has a big, high front end with a giant grille, emulating a semi truck to appeal to a certain kind of mentality. But the drag coefficient—the amount of energy needed to push the truck at highway speeds—is fractionally higher than other trucks. That fraction is a big deal, and translates into between $300 and $400 for the average truck owner annually in fuel economy. They’re appealing to the good ’ole boy trucker at the serious expense of the efficiency of the product. The paradigm shift would be for the truck owner to see something like a truck that looks like a rocket ship — one made with composites materials — and get excited about owning one.

As a seasoned veteran of the composites industry, what do you think needs to happen for more mainstream adoption of composites to occur?

Realistically, composites need to be promoted as a known, track-record-proven material, not some cutting-edge, mysterious material that only certain people are privy to understand. That’s self-defeating. The Load & Resistance Factor Design (LFRD) project is a great example of a first step in terms of making composites engineering properties known in a widespread way. Success will come from creating a solid engineering reputation for composites, rather than a message that seems to suggest, “If you were an insider you’d understand, but you’re not.”

At COMPOSITES 2012, what are you most looking forward to seeing or doing?

I’m always looking for new products and materials that will drive new opportunities. How can we take the new materials available and be more efficient at manufacturing composites? That will be my focus when I’m walking around the show floor. I’ll be trying to picture the intersection of all these new things coming together.

Session Details:

Thursday, Feb. 23
9:00-9:25 a.m.
“The Intersection of Technology and the Composites Business”

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Newly constructed windmills on the Belgian part of the North Sea. Photo courtesy of Hans Hillewaert.

Wind energy giant Gamesa Technology Corp., Inc., announced it is joining forces with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to study and test a variety of wind energy components and systems and guide the development of future wind turbines designed specifically for the U.S. marketplace.

Set to begin this month, the core provisions of the public-private partnership will run through 2013, with options for two additional years of collaboration. “This research project will examine every aspect of the turbine, from its base to the blade tip at its apex, along with all the parts that make it turn,” says Dr. Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Posada, VP of Technology for Gamesa North America.

In a press release posted by Gamesa, the chief goal of the research-and-development project is a sharp focus on interior and exterior components as well as the rotors themselves. The company states that researchers will examine how bigger rotors, as well as blade aerodynamics and some other features, can be altered to maximize annual energy production. They will also design and test new lightning protection and other turbine conditioning systems, examining turbine performances in a range of temperatures at high altitude to ensure functionality in any U.S. environment. Turbine tests will measure and validate the outcome of the research, looking at power performance, power quality and acoustics to minimize noise levels.

The group also stated that new converter technologies will be used to test ways to increase energy output while enhancing component reliability. Extensive tests also will be conducted on other turbine key components, examining motion, temperatures, stresses and vibration levels, where the findings could lead to improvements that enhance the reliability of future U.S. installations.

Completed Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia

Although completed in August 2011, The Makkah Royal Hotel Clock Tower, also known as Abraj Al-Bait Towers, jumped in searches last week as it continues to set a number of world records. It is now one of the world’s tallest hotels, is the tallest clock tower and contains the world’s largest clock face. Inaugurated in front of thousands of onlookers, its composite LED-embedded panels were lit up as part of a massive laser display.

The top of the building was managed under the leadership of SL-Rasch, an architectural company specializing in lightweight structures in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, and the clock was built and installed by Premier Composite Technologies (PCT) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Several big composite industry suppliers such as Gurit, Saertex, Toray Industries and others also contributed to the manufacturing of the impressive edifice.

The clock tower itself is almost entirely manufactured with composite parts, including over 40,000 square-meters of panels and composite clock hands. PCT collaborated with Stuttgart University in Stuttgart, Germany to incorporate the 2 million LED lights into the composite pieces. The composite panels are sandwich laminates constructed using a mixture of wet layup and vacuum bag molding with stitched e-glass, epoxy and an epoxy ultra slow hardener. Some of the parts were cured at room temperature over night while others were oven cured.

The biggest project challenge was to manufacture clock hands that could withstand the unforgiving desert heat and sun rays while protecting the LED lights. The group decided once again on composite materials for the hands, which are sandwich structures using layers of carbon fiber prepegs cured in a vacuum bag under 176 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not only do composites have a place, says COMPOSITES 2012 speaker John Unser, they are integral to Caterpillar’s materials plan. “The goal of our group at Caterpillar is to double the use of composites materials over the next few years,” says Unser, the company’s process control engineer for Global Purchasing, Nonmetalics.

At COMPOSITES, Unser will be leading an educational session you won’t want to miss if your company targets the infrastructure industry:

• How does Caterpillar approach the decision of using composites versus other materials?
• In what specific ways does the company test composites to see if they’ll hold up to rigorous conditions, strict loading requirements and field specifications?
• What does Caterpillar consider to be the biggest advantages of using composites?
• How can the composites industry impress conservative engineers at Caterpillar?

These and other questions will be answered in the session “Choosing Lightweight Materials for Heavy Duty Machines,” to be held from 2:00-2:45 on Feb. 22.

“Caterpillar is now starting to get more plastics onto its equipment, and we’re actively looking for new vendors to work with us, and for new materials to use,” Unser says. “It’s going to be a great show for both Caterpillar and the composites industry.”

Session Details:

Wednesday, Feb. 22

2:00-2:45 p.m.

“Choosing Lightweight Materials for Heavy Duty Machines”