SOURCEBOOK 2014: The Online Edition

Welcome to CompositesWorld’s SOURCEBOOK, your guide to the composites industry’s suppliers of machinery, materials, software, and other supplies and services. As always, consider SOURCEBOOK 2014 part of a larger product that also includes a variety of other Web-based resources (www.compositesworld.com/suppliers). Together, the SOURCEBOOK’s printed version (mailed this year to 27,500 subscribers) and this, its online counterpart, deliver the full complement of reader services that we believe will make it worthy of a place on your book shelf and in your browser. This printed version lists 1,632 suppliers whose products and services for composites manufacturing are listed in more than 500 product, material, equipment and service categories. As in each of the previous 17 years, every company’s listing has been updated for the new print edition, making the print SOURCEBOOK 2014 the most authoritative and reliable bookshelf directory in the composites industry.

SOURCEBOOK 2014 is divided into three sections: The first, our comprehensive Industry Overview, has two parts. Part I, “Composites 2013: The Materials & Processes,” appears only here, on the CompositesWorld.com Web site. It surveys the broad basics of composites manufacturing, with special emphasis on the new and innovative materials and production processes introduced this past year. It also reviews design considerations, tooling options and a wealth of other data that, throughout the SOURCEBOOK’s life, have made the Industry Overview required reading for new employees at many of the industry’s composites manufacturing facilities. Part II, “Composites 2013: A Multitude of Markets,” appears here on the Web site and in the SB print version, the latter in abbreviated form. The unabridged Part II is available here in its entirety, online at CompositesWorld.com. In print and online it examines the current state and future possibilities of the diverse major markets served by composites manufacturers — aerospace, automotive, energy, marine, infrastructure, etc.

Also online, you’ll find our Glossary of Terms, which provides definitions for many technical terms and acronyms (particularly those unique to the composites industry), and our updated list of Industry Organizations, which offers the most complete information available on pertinent trade and technical associations that serve the global composites industry.

The second section in our print verison, our Index to Products and Services, lists suppliers by company name and phone number (including toll-free numbers, where applicable). Section three, our Alphabetical Listing of Suppliers, includes company names, locations and Web URLs. But expanded company data, including sales and engineering contacts, additional locations and product/service descriptions are viewable again this year at each company’s online SOURCEBOOK Showroom. Any time you need additional information about a company that you see in the print edition, it’s just two clicks away, here at our Web site: www.composites.world.com/suppliers.

In the SOURCEBOOK’s Web edition, you’ll also be able to search a wider database (more than 2,400 suppliers, with those who elected to update for 2014 indicated by a check mark). Online, you can hyperlink directly to a supplier’s Web site and e-mail suppliers directly with your requests for additional information about products or services. Further, the online SOURCEBOOK provides a supplemental list of subcategories in the Fabricating Services section, and an enhanced set of specific subcategories in the Materials section under four headings: Adhesives; Prepregs, thermoset; Reinforcements, unimpregnated; and Fabrics unimpregnated. These additional data are displayed online in supplier Showrooms and in the searchable category sections.

We hope the SOURCEBOOK — in print, and our expansive online version at our CompositesWorld.com Web site — will contribute to your firm’s success in 2014.

To ensure that our print and online editions continue to serve you well in the future, we need your feedback. Send your SOURCEBOOK suggestions to me at jeff@compositesworld.com.