Exel Composites becomes APQP4Wind member for wind industry
APQP4Wind’s quality assurance methodology is designed to reduce risk and lower the costs of poor quality, which Exel plans to apply to all of its global wind production sites where composite components are manufactured.
Photo Credit: Exel Composites
Pultruded and pull-wound composite materials manufacturer Exel Composites (Vantaa, Finland) has become an APQP4Wind (Silkeborg Denmark) company member for all of its wind production sites. This new quality standard underpins the company’s continued growth in composites for wind power applications.
APQP4Wind is a non-profit organization founded by wind turbine manufacturers and suppliers. The APQP4Wind quality assurance methodology is designed for the global wind industry, to reduce risk and lower the costs of poor quality, with the aim of achieving a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for the wind sector.
APQP4Wind originates in the automotive industry, where advanced product quality and planning (APQP) processes form part of ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 standards. APQP4Wind takes the same emphasis on defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste in the automotive industry supply chain and assembly processes and adapts it to create an industry standard for the wind sector.
“We started our journey to APQP4Wind in 2021, identifying this industry standard as a key means of growth in the wind sector,” explains Patricia Vázquez Moreno, global key account manager for wind energy at Exel Composites. “APQP4Wind is endorsed by the major wind OEMs including Vestas Wind Systems, Goldwind, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and GE Renewable Energy. It sets a common quality method for all suppliers, subcontractors, sub-suppliers and utility companies operating in the wind industry.”
According to Moreno, Exel Composites initially achieved APQP4Wind membership with the company’s joint venture in India in October 2022. “We’ve now extended it for Exel Composites to our facilities in China and the U.S.,” Moreno says, “which produce composite solutions for the wind industry, and eventually we want to roll this out to our other facilities across the world.”
Exel Composites currently pultrudes a range of fiberglass and carbon fiber composites for the wind sector. This includes spar cap flats, spacers and pin-joint profiles.
With the new APQP4Wind quality standard, the company will continue to expand its offering in the wind market. Exel notes its capability to produce many other turbine-related composites using pultrusion and pull-winding processes including ladder profiles, cable management systems, crane beams, insulating parts, low-speed shafts, magnet covers, antenna radomes, structural platform profiles, fencing, roof door parts and more.
Read more about Exel Composites, “Exel Composites pultruded rods enhance Umbrosa parasol durability.”
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