CompositesWorld and IACMI renew media partnership through 2021

The media partnership is a commitment by both parties to continue working together to support a growing advanced composites industry.

CompositesWorld and IACMI – The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI – The Composites Institute), have renewed their media partnership for 2020 and 2021. The media partnership is a commitment by both parties to continue working together to support a growing advanced composites industry.

Per the renewed agreement, CompositesWorld will act as the ‘Preferred Media Partner’ for and be recognized as a member of IACMI.

CompositesWorld will provide content regarding the latest news and industry updates for the “News” section of iacmi.org.

Both organizations will proactively collaborate on trend analysis and speaker recommendations for key industry engagements such as the annual Carbon Fiber conference. In addition, CompositesWorld will also become the content provider for IACMI’s member directory. The member directory will be linked to CompositesWorld’s SourceBook supplier directory when IACMI’s website redesign is completed this year.

“CompositesWorld is an integral resource in the composites industry, and we are glad to continue our partnership with the leading industry publication,” said John Hopkins, IACMI CEO.

“As the voice of the industry, our team is delighted to work alongside IACMI to provide resources and information to help all composites manufacturing professionals succeed,” added Ryan Delahanty, Publisher, CompositesWorld.

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People in Composites: January 2020

Albany International Corp., DHSutherland, the National Composites Centre and Scott Bader Co. Ltd. announce new hires within the composites manufacturing industry.

Albany International Corp. appoints new president and CEO

Albany International Corp. (Rochester, N.Y., U.S.) announced on Jan. 21 that its Board of Directors has appointed A. William Higgins as president and CEO, effective Jan. 20, to succeed Olivier Jarrault, who has resigned by mutual agreement with the Board. Erkie E. Kailbourne, who currently serves as a director of Albany, will return to his role as chairman of the Board of Directors, succeeding Higgins. Jarrault will assist with the transition.

Higgins previously worked as CEO and chairman of CIRCOR International Inc. from 2008-2012. Prior to joining CIRCOR, he held a variety of senior management positions with Honeywell International and AlliedSignal. Higgins has served on the Board of Albany since 2016 and as chairman of the Board since February 2019. Higgins will be closely supported by business segment leaders Daniel Halftermeyer, President – Machine Clothing – and Greg Harwell, Group President – Albany Engineered Composites, as well as Chief Financial Officer Stephen Nolan.

“I am excited to assume this role and will continue the progress we have made in driving operational excellence across the business under Olivier’s tenure. We have an exceptional team at Albany, and I look forward to working closely with Daniel, Greg, Stephen and the other members of the senior management team as we execute our strategy to deliver great value to our customers and shareholders,” says Higgins.

DH Sutherland hires new senior technical salesperson

DHSutherland (Beaverton, Ore., U.S.) announced on Jan. 21 that it has added Matt Pentland as senior technical salesperson to its team. Pentland brings more than 10 years of experience at companies such as Toray Composite Materials America and Heatcon Composite Systems, where he served leading aerospace companies across both OEM and MRO parts of the industry.

“We are very excited to have Matt join our team. His unique skillset of both OEM and MRO parts of the aerospace industry will help us to serve a broader range of our advanced composite customer’s needs. With Matt stepping into the role in the Eastern U.S., he’ll bring tremendous value to the DHSutherland network of customer and supply partners,” says Andrew Crouse, DHSutherland president.

National Composites Centre announces new member of steering board

The National Composites Centre (NCC, Bristol, U.K.) has announced that Colette Cohen OBE will join its steering board as independent chair.

Cohen has been CEO of the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) since 2016, successfully establishing it as the ‘go to’ technology center for the industry. She has worked in the oil and gas industry for more than 25 years and is a committed and active role model for women in the industry. In recognition of her contributions, Cohen received an OBE for her services to the oil and gas industry and government collaboration in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list.

At her NCC role, Cohen is responsible for providing independent scrutiny and challenge to ensure the NCC is successful in achieving its mission and strategic objectives. She will independently advise the University Executive Committee on NCC and strategic matters. Colette will also support and challenge the NCC CEO.

Cohen has previously served on the board of Oil & Gas UK and the OGA Decommissioning Board. She is now the Chair of the National College for Onshore Oil and Gas, sits on the Technology Leadership Board and is a Non-Executive Director for both OPITO and NORECO. She is also a Commissioner for the Just Transition Commission for Scotland.

“Colette is a fantastic fit for the NCC — bringing a wealth of industrial experience and diversity of thinking to our steering board at this critical time. We are impressed by her championing of industrial transition of the oil and gas industry to a net zero future and look forward to her input on our composite sustainability initiatives. We also hope that Colette will work with us to help the U.K. unlock capability in digital engineering across the engineering portfolio,” says Richard Oldfield, NCC CEO.

Scott Bader appoints new non-executive chairman

Adhesives, resins and gelcoats manufacturer Scott Bader Co. Ltd. (Wollaston, U.K.) announced on Jan. 16 that Paul Smith has been appointed as non-executive chairman. Scott Bader’s current executive chairman, Kevin Matthews, will remain as CEO of Scott Bader.

Smith is an experienced chemical industry professional and has held a number of executive and non-executive positions. He is currently executive chairman of Duranta Energy Ltd., a 120-Ktpa food waste to biogas plant in the U.K. He brings more than 45 years of experience growing specialty chemistry-based businesses, including 14 years as chief executive at Rahu Catalytics and the Catexel Group Companies within the Unilever Ventures portolio.

“I have known Scott Bader since my early days in the chemical industry some 40 years ago, visiting Wollaston as a young salesman and long been an admirer of the company and its values. I am excited to join a strong and forward looking management team, and look forward to making a material contribution to its future growth and success,” Smith says.

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9T Labs secures $4.3 million in funds to develop, scale-up continuous fiber 3D printing solution

The Swiss company has closed a seed financing round and added two additional industry veterans to its board of directors.

9T Labs (Zurich, Switzerland) has announced that it has closed a seed financing round of $4.3 million to finish the development of its industrial 3D printing solution and to scale-up the first mass manufacturing industrial use cases. 

9T Labs’ proprietary technology combines advanced software algorithms, 3D printing technology and post-processing, and is offered as a solution to ease the use of industry-grade carbon fiber composites, driving down lead times and production costs to accelerate industry growth.

The company, which is a spin-off of ETH Zurich, was founded by Chester Houwink, Giovanni Cavolina and Martin Eichenhofer in 2018, with the goal of making carbon fiber composite materials as accessible as ordinary metal materials. The company has secured $4.3 million from existing investors around Wingman Ventures and new contributions from Investiere and the Technology Fund. Furthermore, 9T Labs is supported by the ESA BIC program.

Read more about 9T Labs and its continuous carbon fiber 3D printing technology.

In addition, as part of the financing round, Andreas Wuellner and Bertrand Humel van der Lee have joined the company’s board of directors, bringing together 40 years of experience in fiber composite processing and manufacturing. Until the end of 2019, Andreas led the composites business of SGL Carbon. Bertrand Humel van der Lee is an expert in sales, services and marketing related topics who was until recently chief customer operations officer and managing director at EOS.

“Knowing from experience what limits the widespread adoption of advanced fiber composite solutions, I found 9T Labs’ integral technology approach to overcome such limitations, fostering the adoption in mass manufacturing, very convincing,” Wuellner says.

“In contrast to plastic and metal 3D printing companies, which compete with the existing and established automated CNC manufacturing solutions, 9T Labs enters a market which has not yet seen standardized automation and software solutions for mass manufacturing, providing a huge market potential,” van der Lee says.

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Employment Opportunity: Senior Applications Engineer, Materia

Materia is seeking a Senior Applications Engineer for advanced composites applications.

Materia (Pasadena, Calif., U.S.) is seeking a Senior Applications Engineer to lead the engineering, processing project support and technical project management required for new customers to adopt Materia Proxima resins in advanced composite applications. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Serve as the engineering expert that supports new customers and development projects for advanced composite applications in major industries using pultrusion, filament winding, and HP-RTM/C-RTM processes.
• Develop process and manufacturing recommendations that enable customer adoption of Materia products.
• Collaborate closely with customer engineering teams to facilitate successful technology transfer and process scaleup.
• Coordinate and execute product trials and demonstrations at customer facilities.
• Work closely with colleagues to make test samples and provide technical feedback needed for developing new or improved resin processes and/or formulations.
• Maintain careful records, produce reports and other documents to meet technology dissemination, patent protection, and/or quality control needs.
• Work with colleagues to manage and maintain facility organization and safety.

Qualifications and Experience:

 

Education

• B.S. in engineering, material science or similar. Consideration will also be given to qualified individuals with a Certified Composites Technician Degree (CCT).

Experience

• 7+ years of relevant technical experience.
• Thorough understanding and experience with pultrusion processes and equipment for liquid thermoset resins is preferred; experience with HP-RTM, C-RTM and filament winding is a plus.
• Prior experience with direct customer interactions in a technical role
• Demonstrated technical problem-solving ability.
• Significant hands on experience and technical background related to working in laboratories and/or manufacturing environments.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Good project and time management skills.
• Travel requirement: 25-50% expected (domestic and international).
• Location: Pasadena, Calif., U.S.

To submit an application, visit https://materiainc.applicantpro.com.

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Teijin to establish Teijin Automotive Center Europe GmbH

The branch in Wuppertal, Germany will serve as Teijin’s European base for next-generation automotive component concept, design, prototyping and evaluation.

Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announced on Jan. 28 that it plans to establish a new automotive center in Wuppertal, Germany next month, to serve as a new base for technical functions within the company’s automotive composites business. Called Teijin Automotive Center Europe GmbH (TACE), the company will handle concept, designing, prototyping, evaluations, marketing and technical research for next-generation automotive components, utilizing the Teijin Group’s capabilities to provide multi-material solutions for next-generation vehicles.

Due to the opportunity for increased collaboration within the Teijin Group’s European composites bases, TACE is expected to speed up concept, designing, prototyping and the evaluation of technological proposals developed by each base. Eventually, TACE will also develop marketing and research functions to explore opportunities for new technologies and M&A, aiming to accelerate joint development with European automakers.

In addition, the company plans to pursue opportunities to establish bases for automotive composite technical functions in the U.S. and China. Backed by its European, U.S. and Chinese growth initiatives, Teijin is targeting automotive composite business sales of approximately €1.7 billion ($2 billion USD) by 2030.

Teijin says that it, along with the larger automotive industry, is transforming its business model to realize more lightweight and multi-functional next-generation vehicles, following an the ongoing shift toward connected, autonomous, shared and electric (CASE) vehicles. Along these lines, Teijin acquired Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) in 2017 to become a Tier 1 supplier focused on multi-material automotive composite. In Europe, CSP’s French operation will open a new sheet molding compound plant and Teijin has acquired leading automotive-composite suppliers Inapal Plásticos SA of Portugal and Benet Automotive of Czech Republic. Teijin says that TACE will further leverage these moves and strengthen its multi-material capabilities in Europe.