| As noted in the management profile, Composites USA is staffed with degreed and licensed chemical and mechanical engineers, as well as extremely capable non-degreed fiberglass professionals. Although our process engineering capabilities are not highly advertised, we have completed a number of turn key projects that included responsibility for process, as well as product design. We have also completed a number of consulting projects for clients, including DuPont, Reynolds Metals, Standard Chlorine and others related to fiberglass structural design questions or serviceability for existing equipment.
In pursuit of our goal of providing world class products and services, Composites USA has participated in numerous industry related seminars and trade shows, customer training seminars, as well as developing in- house proprietary tools, computerized and others. Shown at the end of this section are examples of some of our in house software applications routinely used for corrosion equipment applications. A partial listing of proprietary software for composite structural analysis precedes the examples.
Prediction of Product Performance:
Product performance begins with a thorough understanding of the end user system requirements. These requirements can generally be categorized as chemical environment requirements and mechanical requirements.
Chemical resistivity in many cases is well documented by the resin manufacturers. These published guidelines are used when ever possible. Composites USA has long standing and continuing relationships with many of the resin manufacturer's technical departments, including Ashland Chemical, Ciba Geigy Specialty Resins, Dow Chemical, BP Chemical, Great Lakes Chemical, and Reichhold Chemicals.
These organizations are consulted in cases of ambiguity or lack of published information. Joint programs between Composites USA and end users have in the past resulted in improved resin systems for given applications. In 1997, discussions were initiated with University groups for additional long-term studies.
Mechanical performance begins with an engineering analysis of the end user requirements. Examples of engineering tools follow this discussion. Tolerances on wall thickness (generally -.005"/+.025"), level of cure, flange thicknesses, shear build ups, drilling patterns and sub assembly dimensions are covered in greater detail in the QA section.
In general, overall quality and predicted product performance is ensured by:
- Understanding the requirements.
- Picking the resin system.
- Designing the duct for the mechanical requirements using the allowable physical properties for the given resin and reinforcement chosen above.
- Purchasing raw materials from pre-approved vendors and obtaining raw material certifications on purchased materials.
- Manufacturing all required components with in-process quality checks on part dimensions, cure, appearance, material and labor usage.
- Final assembly checks for dimensions, cure, appearance, special test requirements and documentation, including documentation for customer installation.
This program has the full support of Composites USA top management. In addition to independent oversight by the Quality Assurance Manager, the production department is supported by a full time manufacturing engineer (BS, M.E.).
Current and planned efforts in research and development include evaluation of silicone, cyanate ester and epoxy modifications to existing resin formulations for improved corrosion, flame and smoke properties. These efforts will result in the introduction of new proprietary products during the coming years.
As noted above, discussions are underway with university groups for work in a number of areas, including improvement of corrosion resistance and manufacturing techniques.
Finally, a program was initiated in 1997 for bringing top industry consultants into our manufacturing facility to upgrade our manufacturing technology in selected areas. This program is continuing, and Composites USA is participating in a statewide effort to become independently certified as a World Class Manufacturing Co. |
