Driving innovation

the trend across many sectors to consider new materials, especially in the automotive sector.
County Antrim-based Creative Composites began life in 2000 after a management buyout and since its formation, has worked alongside international companies, targeting a reputation for quality by utilising cutting edge technology to deliver its products and services. The company has an ethos of delivering innovative design, advanced manufacturing and customer service to a standard that supports the demanding requirements of world leading companies. This approach has led the company to designing and manufacturing high quality composite components in collaboration with a number of world leading OEMs in the automotive, truck, bus, vending and renewable energy sectors.

In addition to the traditional uses of composite materials, Creative Composites has experienced business growth by developing new applications in new market sectors. Specifically, it manufactures composite components using compression moulding, resin transfer moulding (RTM) and hand lamination processes. This gives the company the flexibility to cater for projects with high, medium or low volume demand.

Creative Composites has a dedicated engineering design team who collaborate with customers at the start of every project to offer help and advice to ensure components are optimised for manufacture. Experienced composite engineers work closely with customers, toolmakers and internal teams. The results are products with properties that make them very strong, lightweight, corrosion resistant and capable of being moulded into designs with many advantages over metals and thermoplastics.

Jonathan Holmes, commercial director says: “We are at the leading edge of what can be achieved with composites and develop innovative solutions for demanding applications. Not every company has their own in-house composites resource, and this is part of the reason our customer relationships are so strong. Engineers from our design, production and quality departments are available to offer support and advice through all stages of a customer’s project – our expertise can help reduce development time, reduce risk and most importantly, help to reduce the cost of a customer’s project”.

Efficiency inherent

The advanced composites factory has been specifically designed for effective and efficient manufacturing. State of the art presses with active levelling capabilities ensure the best possible surface finish and parts are transferred by robotics to a range of 5-axis CNC centres for precise trimming before being painted on the company’s automated paint line, often used for automotive finishes. Sub-component parts including latches, hinges, seals and bonded parts can then be assembled by the experienced assembly team before being installed into bespoke, returnable packaging and shipped to the customer.

Quality is also at the forefront of Creative Composites’ manufacturing processes. The company has held ISO 9001 quality certification for over twenty years and was one of the first composites manufacturers in the UK to qualify for the ISO 14001 environmental certification. TS 16949 quality certification for the automotive industry will also be achieved in 2012 as part of the company’s continuous development programme and desire to move further into this industry.

In developing its business, Creative Composites has built long lasting relationships with a range of global OEMs by providing a dedicated team of people who look after every stage of a customer’s project. The company manages inventory stock and logistics for customer deliveries including remote warehousing and consignment stock. Quality and environmental engineers use the latest technology, including a Faro arm, CMM inspection and colour/gloss level measurement, to ensure parts are finished to the highest standards.

Time to grow

The company is predicting record sales in 2012 and to accommodate its potential growth, has just completed an £1.5m extension, increasing factory space by 40%, bringing the total size of its facility to 70,000ft². This includes the installation of a new state of the art 5-axis CNC trimming centre to complement the company’s existing suite of technology and create increased capacity to support customers. It now employs over 140 people at the facility.

Holmes continues: “Our success is due to our approach in supplying composite components and focusing on the three key elements of design, manufacturing and service. More and more industries are selecting composites as their material of choice due to their numerous advantages over the likes of steel and aluminium. As well as being lightweight, strong and durable, they have the flexibility of design required for an aesthetically superior component.

“Creative Composites is an ambitious company. We are committed to offering customers an unrivalled service, making us their preferred composites supplier as well as gaining new customers in new markets. Part of our success is due to our diverse customer base. We can apply our knowledge of composites to a wide range of markets and are currently targeting the off-highway, automotive and renewables markets. The changing nature of composites means we are always developing new innovative solutions using new materials, resins and processes to best fit our customers’ requirements”

Bringing automotive back

The automotive industry, especially in the UK, has certainly had a tumultuous time in recent years but the prevailing opinion in the industry is one of growing confidence due to the high level of technology regarding new and advanced materials being offered by UK companies in relation to the relatively new pressures that the sector faces. In the search for improved fuel efficiency and reduced costs, the obvious solution is to reduce vehicle weight through the use of lightweight materials but other benefits to OEMs of using composites include the ability to respond to lower unit costs, lower investment costs and improved technical performance.

Creative Composites have collaborated with automotive OEMs for a number of years and claims to be fully experienced in delivering not only the materials, but the innovative design features that customers not only demand, but require as the basis of their success. It’s facility in Northern Ireland is capable of producing composite components for production vehicles in medium to high volumes, and through this it believes it is positioned to offer high quality composite components to a wide range of industries throughout the world. In tandem with the implementation programme for TS 16949 and its plans to increase presence in existing markets, continuing investment in R&D, especially in collaboration with OEMs, will drive the company in its aim to create world leading products.

www.creativecomposites.co.uk