Build, build, build!

CiMAugust20Features - cuk1
CiMAugust20Features - cuk1

Composites UK held its online Annual Conference: Growing the UK composites industry in July to look at the growth of the UK composites industry and the opportunities and challenges it faces. Mike Richardson reports.

 

Hosted by Composites UK’s Dr Sue Halliwell the Organisation’s July online Annual Conference invited delegates to join, listen in and take part in its efforts to support the UK composites industry. Dr David Bailey, who joined Composites UK as CEO in February 2020, kicked off proceedings by addressing the effects of the global pandemic and the significant impact on the automotive and aerospace sectors.

Dr David Bailey joined Composites UK as CEO last February

“We’ve seen significant falls in commercial vehicle and engine manufacturing – which are key capabilities to the UK,” he began. “Whilst these impacts are to a certain extent temporary, it’s the length of time taken to get back to where we were pre-Covid that is important. Both the automotive and aerospace sectors are talking of up to five years to return to pre-Covid levels of production.”

Previously CEO of the Northwest Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), Bailey naturally has a wealth of experience in aerospace. With a fall of passenger numbers of over 90% at the start of the crisis, he pointed out that both Airbus and Boeing have announced between 30-40% reductions in aircraft production rates across 2020-2021.

“Throughout all the previous global crises, we’ve never seen anything as significant as Covid-19. Production levels in aerospace are forecast not to get back to 2019 levels for 5-7 years. There’s clearly more of an impact on wide-body aircraft because of that potential reluctance to fly long-haul, and also because some destinations are still experiencing significant Covid-19 impact.

“However, there are opportunities in areas of innovation that the UK has capability in. We need to think how we influence Government strategy, procurement and spending, such that the composites sector can support its ‘Build, Build, Build’ strategy.”

Follow the leaders

Dr Halliwell introduced the next topic covering the role of the Composites Leadership Forum (CLF) and particularly the future of the UK composites industry. Presented by CLF’s chair and McLaren Automotive’s executive director of business strategy, Ken Smart, he looked at the future of the UK composites sector, the challenges it faces and some of the solutions to overcome these barriers.

Ken Smart, chair of the Composites Leadership Forum

“The CLF’s primary mission is to take a more long-term view of the future of our industry and build a strategy that is appropriate and just how much growth this industry could bring. It’s about building a strategy with which the Government can use to attract inward investment the same time that industry can use it to focus its R&D efforts.

“We’ve been encouraging Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to allow the CLF to manage a new survey of potential market growth - or better still, organise one themselves. BEIS has drawn funding from different organisations and enlisted an updated market survey. We’re anticipating that seeing the results of this later in the year.

“The CLF is trying to boil down what we do in the short-term into some useful activities - once we know how the market is expected to grow - and then matching the technology roadmaps to where the activities are in order to identify and focus on the areas of largest growth. This helps industry identify where to go to do the research, and it helps Government because it now has a strategy it can go and sell to other countries for inward investment, as well as help them justify putting money into industry.

“We’re hopeful that we can use this survey to encourage Government to move some of its attention from steel into composites, and it could be that composites actually becomes the largest materials sector in the UK in years to come.”

At the tipping point

My chicken and egg question during the webinar was to ask whether the panel foresees a tipping point when composites materials will become more affordable in terms of the mass production of family cars. The major OEMs seem to be concentrating more on lightweighting using tried and trusted steels and aluminium. Everything ‘composite’ related is more expensive than what it is supposed to be replacing - despite the requirements of the ‘green’ agenda, so what’s the answer?

“McLaren has undertaken funding work in our Sheffield composites technology centre, aimed at increasing the speed and reducing the waste of manufacturing preforms,” stated Smart. “It’s proved very successful, but the route to getting more composites in mainstream vehicles is to reduce cost and increase the speed of production. If we can raise the conversation up to a strategic level that will attract Government funding at macro level, we know there are manufacturing technologies out there that are worth developing and that will get us heading towards using composites in more mainstream products.”

Bailey added that the shift to electrification may require more lightweighting and this might be a driver itself from a composite materials perspective.

“I am regularly seeing companies that are now considering investment in automation and digitalisation, whereas pre-Covid 19 they were not. This might mean that we change business models, change supply chains and change technologies.”

The automotive challenge

Alan Banks, supervisor for the lightweight division at Ford Motor Company was up next with his presentation ‘The Right Material at the Right Place’.

Alan Banks, lightweight division supervisor, Ford Motor Company

According to Banks, there’s a perception that composite materials are: too expensive; that the supply chain and infrastructure are just not there; that part design and validation and how we correlate them is very difficult; that the processing time to get parts into production doesn’t necessarily suit mass production; and even if we did have composites, how would they fit into existing facilities in a production plant that’s primarily set up for welding.

“There are aspects regarding the longevity and durability of the parts, although we believe we understand all the strength requirements we can get from composites,” he stated. “Then there’s the insurance impact and the cost of ownership for our customers. If a vehicle is in say, its eighth year of life, and is involved in an accident - and a composite part needs replacing, it could potentially write the vehicle off. We also have issues with disassembly, recycling and reuse.

“The automotive sector is the only one that has end-of-life forced upon it. There’s also a big difference in opinion over the analysis of where the CO2 breaking points are. As an automotive manufacturer, we could say that when we produce a vehicle we pat ourselves on the back and walk away, but it does us no good if the amount of CO2 we’ve produced offshore - or even in the manufacture of the parts in the UK - far exceeds the amounts of CO2 the vehicle will ever produce in its lifetime!

“However, there are opportunities available. Short-term, composite materials are prohibitive but hybrid materials can be made at a much lower cost. Ford has initial design considerations and has full industry collaboration to overcome any advanced computer-aided engineering problems. A composite part can also help reduce part count. The durability and strength opportunities lie with hybrid technology, and we can embed sensors in composite parts to assist with any durability requirements. Part longevity means that although a vehicle is now scrapped, its high value parts can be removed, similar to what’s done in the aircraft MRO sector. In short, it’s about having the right material in the right place.”

He ain’t heavy!

Banks concluded by adding that although composites are still perceived to be the domain of the supercar, what really is a ‘supercar’ is the Ford Transit van!

At present, the processing time required to make composite parts doesn’t suit mass production

“Unfortunately, it’s heavy. Weight is everything because with electrification and autonomy comes extra weight. What really hurts us in the commercial vehicle world is that we live and die by the amount of payload we can carry. The more our vehicle weighs, the less it can carry in the back. The less we put in the back, the less we sell – and the ones we do sell, we may have to sell for less to be competitive.

“If we can remove the weight out of this vehicle at scale and at cost, then we effectively solve the problem, because the composites industry can start producing materials for Ford and more importantly, we can sell them because the more payload we put in these vans, the more we can charge for them. The more we can charge, the more profit we make and the more that feeds back into industry.”

As a postscript, and in support of its members, Composites UK has been helping to spread the Government’s advice, supporting the development of PPE and supply chains, and also for ventilators; many of its member companies are engaged in this important activity.

“I think it’s going to require all the skills and capabilities of the organisations today to support the UK’s composites industry through these difficult times,” Bailey concluded. “This includes Composites UK, Composites Leadership Forum, the High Value Manufacturing Catapults and particularly the NCC - all working together to support the sector.”

www.compositesuk.co.uk

Company

Composites UK

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