In a Q&A session, Composites in Manufacturing spoke to Composites UK’s operations manager, Sue Halliwell at the recent Advanced Engineering 2017 show to hear more about the latest developments within the Organisation.
Q: Why is Composites UK a regular exhibitor at Advanced Engineering?
We’ve exhibited here since the event first started and we have grown with the show. We see it as the showcase event for the UK composites industry, and if you are involved in the sector at all then this is the place to be. Many of our members exhibit here on a yearly basis.
Q: What are you working on to help develop the UK composites industry?
There is a lot going on at the moment. One of our key focuses is on sustainability, partly because there is a real opportunity in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Although sustainability is important across all sectors, for these two industries, it is a critical element of whether they move into the composites sector or not.
Our sustainability manager, Stella Job is doing a lot of good work looking at how industry can reduce and recycle waste.
We’re also focusing heavily on health and safety, and we’re doing a lot of work with the Health & Safety Executive. They launched their new strategy earlier this year and we are working with then to revise the SiMPLC one for the plastics and composites sector, looking at the safety in manufacturing industry. In the New Year we will be launching our own action plan and revising our online safety management tool for our members to use, so yes, we have a lot going on at the moment.
Q: What is the current state of the UK composites industry?
Our role is to ensure our member companies have got access to the information they need to be able to operate safely, cost-effectively and competitively in the global economy.
At the moment it is really exciting times for the composites sector and there is huge growth predicted moving forward. If we want to take advantage of this opportunity, we need to act now. It looks like the industry is responding and there is a real buzz about the show this year and we’ve seen a massive growth in our industry over the last twelve months. I think this is running in-line with the growth of the industry.
For more information, watch our Composites in Manufacturing website video link: http://bit.ly/2jjJuL1
