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Virtual CAMX and IBEX trade shows offer new opportunities

Phenix City, AL – Like many other things, in-person trade shows in 2020 look a lot different than usual. Due to the global pandemic, live gatherings have been replaced by virtual events to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19. Two prominent shows in the composites industry, The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX) and The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference (IBEX), have announced their transition to a virtual format offering new opportunities for networking and education.

CAMX is the largest, most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event in North America for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking. This year the show has been re-titled, “A New CAMX for a New Time” and scheduled for Monday, September 21 – Thursday, September 24 (See CAMX Schedule HERE). As a yearly exhibitor at CAMX, Vectorply will once again participate as a virtual exhibitor at the 2020 show. Visitors who register for CAMX 2020 will be able to schedule meetings with our sales and engineering teams, view our products, and learn more about our company and capabilities. Those interested in attending CAMX are invited to register for a free exhibit hall pass as our guest via the link at the top of our home page.

The following week, IBEX will take place virtually from Tuesday, September 29 to Friday, October 2 (See IBEX Schedule HERE). IBEX is North America’s leading technical boat-building showcase which delivers a unique forum where the marine industry can do business, share ideas, and accelerate new product development. As a leading supplier to the marine market, Vectorply will also be virtually available for meetings and discussions, and will have a sample of fabric variety available for viewing.

Although we won’t be able to visit in-person this year, we invite you to join us virtually at these two important composites industry trade shows!

Vectorply carbon fiber utilized in historic new mid-engine Corvette

Phenix City, AL – In July 2019, General Motors Co. made waves in the automotive industry with the release of the highly anticipated 2020 mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. A dream more than 60 years in the making, the mid-engine Corvette features innovative components that maximize performance and blaze new trails for parts and processes within the automotive market.

One such part that GM highlighted during the July 18th debut is the automotive world’s first curved pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam. Produced by Shape Corp. with Vectorply Corporation carbon non-crimp fabrics, the multi-hollow bumper beam garnered national attention of its own within the composites industry. To date, the carbon bumper beam was nominated for the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Process, Assembly and Enabling Technologies Award and been featured in numerous composite and automotive publications.

The first production model Corvettes will be available early 2020, but development for the crucially important carbon bumper beam began many years ago. In 2014, Vectorply joined forces with Shape Corp. to begin developing specialized carbon fabrics and laminate schedules for this vital part. Initially, Vectorply’s sales and engineering teams assisted Shape Plastic and Composites Engineering Manager Toby Jacobson with dialing in the ideal fabrics for the revolutionary curved pultrusion process. For this distinctive task, Jacobson, Shape’s team members and Vectorply’s staff turned to VectorLam, Vectorply’s proprietary laminate analysis software.

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray features an industry-first curved, pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam produced by Shape Corp. with Vectorply carbon fabrics.

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray features an industry-first curved, pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam produced by Shape Corp. with Vectorply carbon fabrics. Photo Credit: General Motors

VectorLam provides a cloud-based, multi-platform compatible approach to classical laminate theory and helps customers achieve goals of stiffness, strength, weight and cost by allowing users to design the perfect laminate for their application. Despite the wide range of applications VectorLam excels in, Shape’s industry-first part provided a unique challenge for Vectorply’s engineering team and software.

With adjustments to VectorLam required, Vectorply Senior Composite Engineer Molly Ditzler, P.E. accepted the challenge of tailoring the software to provide the perfect recommendations and data for Shape.

“We took the profile of their bumper beam and modified VectorLam to analyze their section so they could narrow in on the optimum laminate,” Ditzler said. “This was in the initial stages and Shape took it much further, including an FEA to verify the results.”

The hollow, curved bumper beam offered a unique challenge due to the complex structure dependent on multiple shear wall supports.

As the relationship between Shape and Vectorply grew, several different versions of advanced carbon fabrics were produced for testing and validation. According to Jacobson and Vectorply Northeast Region Sales Manager Seth Holman, this process helped both companies strengthen their expertise, processes, and quality.

“The support that Vectorply has provided has been unbelievable. I don’t think we’d be where we are now without them,” Jacobson said. “We asked Vectorply to do a lot of things that has been critical to producing the final design.”

Holman added that Shape’s requests helped Vectorply push their capabilities and production offerings to a new level.

“Through the entire development process, they have helped us think outside the box and be a better material supplier,” he said. “We’ve developed and maintained tighter tolerances in several key aspects that yield favorable processing and create efficiencies in Shape’s process. As time went on, they actually made us a better supplier and allowed us to prove our value in the process with our Production and Technical Services Team.”

In a high-end application such as the Corvette Stingray where each pound is key to performance, Vectorply’s wide range of carbon fabric production capabilities and technical assistance proved valuable to the success of the history-making bumper beam. As new markets and applications continue to push the boundaries of what is possible through composite production, Vectorply will play an integral role in the development and production of advanced composite fabrics to meet growing demands and expectations.

“Our goal at Vectorply is to help customers build the best products through the use of highly engineered composite reinforcement fabrics and optimized laminates, especially in new and emerging markets” said Vectorply President and Interim CEO Trevor Humphrey. “Shape Corp. and GM’s curved, pultruded bumper beam is a monumental accomplishment in the automotive and composite industries, and we are proud of the role that we played in the development and supply of specialty carbon fabrics for this groundbreaking application.”

Photo Credit: General Motors

POSITION FILLED – Manufacturing Engineer Job Posting

Purpose:

Design, modify, and improve Vectorply’s manufacturing machinery, systems and processes. Will work with in-house and commercial designers to refine product designs to increase producibility and decrease costs. This position will take a lead and be very hands-on in the maintenance PM program as the company continues to develop and improve its performance.

This person will be a responsible for modifying and developing manufacturing machinery and the processes to give the customer the more challenging composites they are demanding.

Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical/Industrial Engineering or equivalent degree and/or experience
5-10 years’ experience in a manufacturing plant setting working in Maintenance, Production, and/or Process engineering roles

A passion for machinery and process improvement with a mechanical focus

Knowledge:

Production and Processing – Knowledge of production processes in general, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing effective and efficient manufacturing. Experience in textiles or other composites would be a plus.

Skills:

Basic Skills

  • Active Learning – Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Active Listening – Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Critical Thinking – Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Speaking – Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Writing – Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Social Skills

  • Coordination – Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
  • Instructing – Teaching others how to do something.
  • Negotiation – Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Persuasion – Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Service Orientation – Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Social Perceptiveness – Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Technical Skills

  • Complex Problem-Solving – Identifying complex problems and review related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions in the production processes.
  • Equipment Maintenance – Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
  • Operation Monitoring – Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
  • Operations Analysis – Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
  • Quality Control Analysis – Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
  • Repairing – Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
  • Technology Design – Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
  • Troubleshooting – Determining causes of operating errors and deciding how to correct it.

Tasks

  • Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes on a daily basis.
  • Provide technical expertise and hands-on support related to manufacturing and production machinery operation.
  • Incorporate new methods and processes to improve existing operations and efficiency.
  • Design, install, or troubleshoot manufacturing equipment to improve the product to the customer.
  • Determine root causes of failures using known methods and recommend changes in designs, tolerances, or processing methods.
  • Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks.
  • Train production personnel in new or existing methods.
  • Identify opportunities or implement changes to improve products or reduce costs using knowledge of fabrication processes, tooling and production equipment, assembly methods, quality control standards, or product design, materials and parts.
  • Purchase equipment, materials, or parts.
  • Design layout of equipment or workspaces to achieve maximum efficiency.
  • Communicate manufacturing capabilities, production schedules, or other information to facilitate production processes.
  • Evaluate manufactured products according to specifications and quality standards.
  • Design testing methods and test finished products or process capabilities to establish standards or validate process requirements.
  • Estimate costs, production times, or staffing requirements for new designs.
  • Prepare documentation for new manufacturing processes or engineering procedures.
  • Review product designs for manufacturability or completeness.

Interested candidates should send their resumes to employ@vectorply.com

Vectorply to demonstrate at “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” automotive workshop

Phenix City, Ala. – On April 17-18, Vectorply Corporation will participate in the “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” automotive and transportation workshop at the IACMI Scale-up Research Facility (SURF) in Detroit Michigan. “Road2Composites: Scaling Up Innovation” is an automotive and transportation workshop hosted by Composites One, the Closed Mold Alliance, and Magnum Venus Products (MVP), in partnership
with IACMI-the Composites Institute. Live demonstrations will focus on scale-up, light-weighting, and high-volume composites products and processes.

Vectorply Field Engineer Mike Ditzler will present in the Carbon/Epoxy Light Resin Transfer Molding (LRTM) Demonstration on Tuesday, April 17th at 1:15 p.m. The demo will show the steps of LRTM, including reinforcement
loading, drawing vacuum, leak checking the mold, injecting resin, and proper de-mold in a heated LRTM tool. Ditzler will discuss reinforcements in detail, including VectorUltra carbon fabrics C-BX 0600, C-LTi 1105, and C-WVs 0600 that will be used in the demo.

The IACMI Scale-up Research Facility (SURF) is located at 1400 Rosa Parks Blvd., Detroit, MI 48216. This is a free event, and you can register at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/road2composites-scaling-up-innovation-tickets-42645018398