Consumer

Consumer 30 Sep 2015

Is a composites technical talent shortage looming?

Regular CW columnist Dale Brosius, also the chief commercialization officer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, TN, US), calls for more schools with curricula that mint engineers with undergraduate degrees in composites.

Aerospace 30 Sep 2015

Selling your business, Part 1: The best price with the best deal

Adrian Williams, co-founder and managing director of Future Materials Group (Cambridge, UK), begins a two-part advisory for owners of composites manufacturing businesses interested in placing their companies on the market.

Marine 31 Aug 2015

CW Business Index at 48.0 – Lowest since July 2013

Steve Kline, Jr. is the director of market intelligence for Gardner Business Media Inc. (Cincinnati, OH, US), the publisher of CompositesWorld magazine. Here, he presents the CompositesWorld Business Index, a measure of the relative health of the US composites industry, for the month of July 2015.

Aerospace 31 Aug 2015

Some thoughts on the M&A "heat wave"

CompositesWorld's editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan takes some admittedly educated guesses at the significance of the six momentous acquisitions that were announced in the short space from mid-July through early August in the composites industry.

Aerospace 26 Aug 2015

Automated preform process boosts properties and cuts cycle time

Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) achieves optimized fiber orientation for up to 150% increase in stiffness and reduced cycle time, weight and material waste.

Mass Transit 31 Jul 2015

Additive manufacturing: The past, present — and future — of composites

A regular CW columnist and the chief commercialization officer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), Dale Brosius offers this insightful look into why it's unwise to use the terms "3D printing" and "additive manufacturing" interchangeably.

Pressure Vessels 31 Jul 2015

IP vigilance: Good business?

CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan observes that in the composites industry, where much of what is considered to be trade secrets and proprietary knowledge really isn't, a better course might be to share that knowledge and, thus, advance the industry as a whole.

Marine 31 Jul 2015

CW Business Index at 50.4 – First growth in two months

Steve Kline, Jr., the director of market intelligence for Gardner Business Media Inc. (Cincinnati, OH, US), the publisher of CompositesWorld magazine, outlines the results of the CompositesWorld Business Index survey for June 2015.

Automotive 1 Jul 2015

Workforce development: Let's start in high school

CW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan says one concern at the otherwise positive initial membership meeting of the new Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) was that the composites industry is quickly losing knowledge, as old-timers retire, that is not so easily replaced. Here's his prescription.