In this episode of CW Trending, CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan and senior technical editor, Ginger Gardiner, discuss their plant tours in the latter part of this year, including Oribi, NIAR, AvCarb, Dowty Propellers, Avel Robotics, Middle River Aerostructure Systems, Boston Materials and Albany Engineered Composites​. They also discuss the growing trend of using digital tools for sustainability and how carbon fiber and advanced materials are taking new directions.

View the slideshow here.

Related Articles:

Latest 2022 plant tours:

Plant tour: Dowty Propellers, Gloucester, U.K

Transforming decades of design and RTM production reliability into more sustainable, next-generation composite propellers.

Plant tour: National Institute for Aviation Research, Wichita, Kan., U.S.

NIAR, located at Wichita State University in the heart of the American aerospace manufacturing industry, has evolved to become a premier hub of teaching, R&D, creativity and innovation.

 

Upcoming webinars mentioned/related to trends:

Moving Structural Composites into a New Era of Manufacturing

Hybrid additive manufacturing and post-print process advances are increasing the already high design freedom and performance achievable to produce structural carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite parts.

Case Study: How MRAS Uses Digital Tools to Cut Waste, Cycle Time and Boost First-Time Yield for CFRP Parts

Plataine and Middle River Aerostructure Systems (MRAS) explore tools and technologies to digitally track and optimize production planning, materials, tools, machines and other resources to meet increased production rates and cost requirements.

Achieving Sustainability with Next-Gen Mold Release Systems

Decarbonization of a composites fabrication operation requires across-the-board materials and process assessment to find opportunities for creating a more sustainable manufacturing environment.

 

Digital tools for sustainability in the news:

Velocity Composites launches digital manufacturing cell to improve material efficiency

Industry 4.0 manufacturing cell is tailored to effectively and efficiently trace individual composite plies through the entire value stream.  

Kanfit increases composite material yield with Plataine AI, IIoT-based optimization solutions 

Industry 4.0 software automates and streamlines raw material tracking, management and planning, maximizing material use up to 3%, and reducing costs and production delays. 

Boeing to open Japan research center, expand sustainability partnerships

Boeing Research and Technology Center to focus on sustainable aviation fuels, electric/hydrogen propulsion, robotics, digitization and composites.  

The next 10 years in commercial aviation and composites

Aviation Week discusses all-composite plane at Boeing, new composite wing at Airbus and trends driven by sustainability — composites are a key enabler for future aviation.

Digitizing tools for composites production

Alpex Technologies focuses on industrialization, process and part intelligence and biocomposites in its next generation of tooling systems.

Clemson Composites Center: Working with industry to transform composites

Offering liquid and thermoplastic composites molding, LCA-weighted simulation, full testing to validate materials/process data cards, CCC’s digital life cycle approach unites manufacturing, microstructure, part property map and structural analysis.

Read more about Composites 4.0, Sensors and CW’s Tech Days on design, simulation and testing for next-gen composites structures.