Formaplex restructures its Composites Division

It has opened a new, 3,000ft² composites R&D facility and added to its expert composites team. Leading the newly restructured Formaplex Composites Division is Ian Wilson, a founding director of the company, who has gained a wealth of composites experience over the past 12 years. At the same time as giving more responsibility to the current composites team, Formaplex has boosted its technical sales capacity with the addition of two new staff members. The new members of the composites team are a specialist manufacturing engineer and a new business development manager, who boasts extensive composites engineering experience. A key focus for the new Composites Division will be expanding the company’s market share in aerospace and defence, as well as continuing to grow its activities in motorsport. The division will have new composites machining capacity and the new Formaplex R&D facility at its disposal. The 3,000ft² R&D facility will focus on out-of-autoclave processes, including resin infusion, RTM and pressing, plus the use of thermoplastics with composite dry fibres. It is already working on a number of projects in various sectors, including automotive. Leading the R&D work is Andy Dance, who is highly experienced in out-of-autoclave processes. “This is a fantastic time for our Composites Division,” stated Wilson. “We are expanding rapidly into new markets, bringing our expertise from the motorsport sector. Having a dedicated R&D facility strengthens our ability to provide state-of-the-art out-of-autoclave processing. The new Formaplex composites team will be blazing a trail.” www.formaplex.com