SOURCEBOOK 2015: The online edition

Welcome to CompositesWorld’s annual SOURCEBOOK, your guide to the composites industry’s suppliers of machinery, materials, software, supplies, services and other technologies. If this is your first time here, consider this article a short overview of a larger product that includes not only the variety of Web-based resources you see here on the SOURCEBOOK Home Page (www.compositesworld.com/suppliers) but also our annual print-based SOURCEBOOK. Together, the SOURCEBOOK’s printed version 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 Web browser.

The printed version, for 2015, lists 1,678 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 18 years, every company’s listing was updated for the print edition, making SOURCEBOOK 2015 the most authoritative and reliable directory in the composites industry.

SOURCEBOOK 2015 is divided into three sections: The first, our comprehensive Industry Overview, has two parts. Part I, “Composites 2015: The materials & processes,” appears only 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 2014: A Multitude of Markets,” appears in the both the print version and here online. It examines the current state and future possibilities of the diverse major markets served by composites manufacturers — aerospace, automotive, energy, marine, infrastructure, etc.

You may access the online versions of individual subsections of Parts I and II by clicking on their titles under "Editor's Picks" at top right. Subsetions of Part II are distinguished from those in Part I by the inital words "The Markets."

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 print version's second section, 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 our online Index, viewable here, features expanded company data, including full addresses, phone and fax contact numbers, sales and engineering contacts, up to 5 additional company locations and product/service descriptions. All this additional information is recorded again this year in each company’s online SOURCEBOOK Showroom. Any time you need additional information about a company that you find in the print edition, it’s just two clicks away at our Web site.

In the SOURCEBOOK’s Web edition, you’ll also be able to search a wider database (more than 2,300 suppliers, with those who elected to update for 2015 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 — the print version backed by our expansive online version at our CompositesWorld.com Web site — will contribute to your firm’s success in 2015.

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.