New Norco composite facility opens for business

new-norco-composite-facility-opens-for-business
new-norco-composite-facility-opens-for-business

A host of eye-catching prepreg, infusion and epoxy FRP composite structures in varying stages of production were on show as Norco officially opened its Composites Centre in Poole on 6th June. Mike Richardson reports.

The new 16,000ft2 manufacturing facility was constructed to combine the existing and growing range of advanced composite projects and features two separate work areas with twin gantry 16 ton overhead cranes at 12m high to offer the capability of manufacturing and moving very large structures and safe handling of the tooling. This now allows Norco to cater for the growing market demand for larger composite structures. “This open day is the next step in our diversification and development and in looking at targeting industry sectors like civil and military aerospace,” stated Norco’s managing director, Mark Northey. “Our open house event allows us to demonstrate how we are stepping up into the domain of higher technologies, showcase every element of what we can offer and capture all our services under one roof.” Northey went on to add that one of the main industry trends is in satisfying the customer demands to make composite parts much quicker: “New technologies like our heated tooling system allows us to do this. The rapid turnaround of patterns made on our CNC machine tools into highly-tuned mould tools that produce many parts is a powerful statement of intent and will be much better for our customers in terms of both cost and lead-time. “The key issue here is getting products out quickly and efficiently. So much time can be spent working on product design, finite element analysis and product engineering, and once all this has been completed, the next step means producing the end product as quickly as possible. This is exactly what we are trying to push by changing the way we do things to ensure our customers can get products quickly.” As well as providing many networking opportunities with designers, engineers, customers and suppliers alike, the open house event also provided an opportunity to visit joint venture partner MouldCAM’s impressive 5-axis CNC facility nearby. www.norco.co.uk

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