Making an effort to move industry forward

In today’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, the key to staying competitive lies in embracing innovation and fostering connections, thus driving growth. This is particularly true in the composites and advanced materials industry, where technological advancements and application adoption are constantly reshaping the market.

Fall is typically the busy season for events, which means that more often than not, attending back-to-back conferences and trade shows, or are having to make tough decisions about which event to attend, is the norm. This was the case for CW, which attended the Society of Plastic Engineer’s automotive composites conference and exhibition (SPE ACCE) from Sept. 4-6 in Novi, Michigan, followed by CAMX the next week in San Diego.

A common thread running through these events dealt with the advancement of sustainable manufacturing processes and the quest for new technologies to enable high-rate production. Such megatrends are difficult to talk about independently. For example, any discussion of AI and its growing presence in manufacturing quickly leads to a discussion about workforce trends and production efficiencies. Industry events afford the opportunity to explore the intricacies of such topics.

SPE ACCE placed a focus on the future of transportation, highlighting lightweight and sustainable solutions for the manufacture of automotive components. The event’s programming addressed such topics as innovations in EV battery enclosures and approaching design and engineering with the entire life cycle of parts and products in mind. The overall message of the conference was a hopeful one that envisioned an automotive industry with fewer emissions and less waste.

Amanda Nummy, senior materials engineer for Hyundai, spoke in her keynote presentation about the need for proactive sustainability measures and the potential of materials to drive innovation. Nummy challenged the audience to think in terms of not just using more naturally sourced or recyclable materials, but to strive for true circularity where those materials can be used to create parts of comparable quality.

“It’s not enough to just exist,” said Nummy. She discussed the ways in which the industry is working to seek high-quality sustainable materials, recycle at the highest level and put sustainability at the forefront of the design process.

Meanwhile, CAMX also explored such topics as new solutions targeting high-rate production for aerospace applications, implementing AI in composites processes and sustainability in composites manufacturing. Maurice Conti, globally recognized futurist, innovator and technology strategist, delivered the event’s keynote address, focused on understanding AI and learning how to harness its potential. “We are the verge of our next great era as a species,” said Conti, “I call it the Augmented Age. It’s a vision where our technology augments our natural human capabilities.”

Conti painted a picture of a future of an exponential rate of change in the way humans go about work. He challenged attendees to think of AI not as a replacement for human ingenuity, but a tool that can be used to increase efficiency, and enhance repeatability and precision.

Debuting in 2014, CAMX has been serving the composites community as a vital platform for collaboration and innovation for a decade. Looking back, its exciting to see how the industry has evolved since the event’s inception. CAMX is made especially important as we face many existential challenges beyond simply innovating to make things lighter or improving performance, including the need to lower carbon emissions; the need to address the infrastructure and mobility for a rapidly growing population; and the need for clean energy sources to power our world. So many of the solutions being explored to address these concerns involve the use of composite materials. And while they may be perfect enablers, or even the only feasible solution, the methods of sourcing materials and manufacturing composite structures must also be environmentally and sustainable. Through collaboration with peers in the industry and AI as a tool in our arsenal, we can accomplish these goals.

In a world where materials science is moving at such a rapid pace, the information exchanged at events like CAMX and SPE ACCE is invaluable. What will the future truly look like? Rather than speculate, find the time to attend industry events, participate in the conversations, engage in the work and help shape it. We’ll see you out there.