Looking at the latest developments at JEC Composites in Paris this week, it is clear that the pace of innovation, integration and change in today’s aerospace, automotive, consumer electronic communities continues apace. Mirroring this is an exponential increase in demand for specialist suppliers and experts. So far, so predictable perhaps but when reflecting on 50 […]
The curious thing about most manufacturing processes is that when you dial down to the absolute energy required to form, consolidate, fuse or even move a collection of atoms /molecules from one state to another, they are not very energy efficient at all. There are of course various ways of calculating this but when it comes […]
To patent or not to patent? It’s certainly an interesting question. The recent $533 million award against Apple for infringement of iTunes related IPR (http://goo.gl/jwcHsK) may be overturned but nonetheless is a clear reminder of the importance of establishing an intellectual property position. In a rapidly evolving, knowledge based economy, deconstructing an instinctive understanding to […]
200 hundred years ago the industrial revolution had transformed cloth production but it still took ~15 hours to hand stitch a dress shirt. Over the course of the next 100 years, increasingly sophisticated versions of the sewing machine ushered in a sea change in quality and repeatability as the likes of Singer & Co reduced […]
After four years of R&D we are now rolling-out PtFS for injection molding. With the pressures involved in injection molding environments substantially higher and the cycle times far shorter than compression molding this has required significant upgrades to the tool stack (mold base & face) and control software. Enhanced lightweight mould face designs to withstand […]
Looking at recent PR on work to integrate composites into mainstream automotive engineering by BMW, Ford, Magna, Toray etc (Financial Times & Reuters) one perhaps should first ask what in todays context is a composite? Having accepted the move from steels (cold formed) to aluminum (using heat) it is a small step to accept multi-materials and ultimately […]
With the days getting longer, and the ground beginning to thaw, the world of sport is beginning to wake up with champions league football, international rugby and formula 1 all offering a reminder that winter will soon be over. Success and failure within these disciplines may be largely driven by resource (talent, money) but time […]
With whispers of yet more industry consolidation , 2015 looks certain to continue the trend for the creation of vertically integrated end-to-end service providers as OEM’s, material suppliers and tier 1’s try to position themselves for composites arrival in mainstream manufacturing. More will no doubt be revealed as we enter spring show season but one […]