Assessing a composites supply chain in flux
The global pandemic, shipping woes and winter storms have wreaked havoc on the composites supply chain. CW attempts to find out how widespread the problem is.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
What a difference a year makes
If 2020 was bad, then 2021 can only be better. CW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan discusses the promising and not-so-promising industry trends leading up to 2021.
And the winners are...
As 2020 comes to an end, CW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan takes a look at the stories over the last 12 months that garnered the most attention on the CW website.
The meaning of next-generation
When the past becomes the present and the present becomes the future, the future starts looking a lot like the past. Got that?
Composites durability and an asymmetrical pandemic
Highly engineered, long-life products, like those made with composites, even if thrown off stride by a recession, have a built-in time horizon that extends beyond the timescale of the pandemic.
Picking up the pieces
The multi-generational appeal and utility of LEGOs.
Home building with composites
There’s a house being built next door. It could be using more composites.
Shooting trouble
CW launches The Troubleshooter, a new column designed to help you identify, assess and correct the technical challenges that can plague composites manufacturing operations.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
Corvette, yesterday and today
The Corvette has changed much in 67 years, but its appeal is enduring.
CAMX 2020 Preview
Transformed into a virtual event, the latest CAMX 2020 preview describes some of the opportunities that will be available for visitors and exhibitors.
Thinking machines
Algorithm-based artificial intelligence, once only imagined, is here. It can do a lot of good.
When — not if — to pivot
In the business and manufacturing world that CW operates in, we have heard one particular coronavirus vocabulary word very frequently: pivot.
What will the composites industry's post-pandemic future look like?
We already have the tools needed to help us craft our future, even if we do not know yet how and where those tools might be deployed.
The black swan events hitting the composites industry
From the Boeing 787 to COVID-19: When the out-of-the-ordinary becomes ordinary — and affects the manufacturing supply chain.
Lessons learned, a year later
When the pandemic struck, we yearned for normality. Getting back there will take time and patience.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
I have seen the future and it is coming
The last 20 years were good to composites. What does the next 20 years have in store?
To boldly go . . .
Space travel is a challenge, even if filmmakers like to make us think otherwise.
How much is that composite wing in the window?
With Spirit AeroSystems buying Bombardier’s Belfast operations, the future of composites fabrication for large commercial aerostructures starts to come into focus.
CW Top Shops: Meaningful data for composites fabricators
The amount of data produced by manufacturing facilities is increasing exponentially. CW Top Shops' inaugural benchmarking survey helps contextualize some of that data.
What will the aerocomposites industry look like after the 787 and A350?
CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan considers the future of the aerospace composites industry as production of the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 appear ready to wind down in the next few years.
The evolution of the commercial aerospace landscape
Following the grounding of the 737 and the downturn caused by the pandemic, Boeing finds itself a distant second to Airbus. What should it do?
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
Looking ahead to CAMX 2019
Editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan looks ahead to CAMX 2019, the largest composites trade event in the largest composites market.
National Composites Week is born
National Composites Week will be held Aug. 26-30, celebrating the ways that composite materials and composites manufacturing contribute to today’s manufacturing landscape.
Bigger, better, faster, more
Editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan considers the implications of propitious aircraft OEM announcements for the aerocomposites supply chain.
A flight plan for next-gen manufacturing
If the commercial aviation industry effectively doubles in the next 20 years, as projected by the two largest aerospace manufacturing companies in the world, how can aerospace manufacturers and suppliers possibly keep up?
A hand for the next generation
CW Editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan advocates educating the next generation on all levels of future career opportunities — especially in composites.
Next-generation aerospace: shaping the supply chain landscape
The global commercial aerospace industry is at a unique time.