CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/576646
OCTOBER 2015 12 CompositesWorld PERSPECTIVES & PROVOCATIONS » If you are a proponent of composites (and as a reader of this magazine, I assume you are), you have to be encouraged by all the developments underway and the growth potential of the industry. Examples abound: Te need for lighter weight automo- biles, to meet fuel economy and CO 2 emission targets, is stimu- lating innovation and investment across the globe in advanced composites. Clean energy sources, such as wind turbines, are becoming increasingly competitive with fossil fuels, and are creating enormous demand for resins, fberglass and carbon fber. Forecasts in these key applications call for double-digit growth for many years as composites become more ubiquitous. If the forecasts are accurate, there also will be a huge demand for trained composites technicians, manufacturing engineers and designers able to avoid the "black metal" approach to structural analysis. Where will we fnd the people to design the components and assemblies, run the manufacturing equipment, and repair the resulting parts when they are damaged? More than the need to add manufacturing capacity, it's concern about fnding talented people that keeps composites industry owners and senior managers awake at night. And the skills required today and in the future aren't the same as those that sufced 20 years ago, when buckets, brushes and manual chopper guns domi- nated fberglass shops, and hand layup dominated composite aircraft part making. With the advent of resin infusion and RTM for continuous glass fber (and many carbon fber) parts, and automated tape layup or fber placement for prepregs, today's (and tomorrow's) technicians and engineers require a higher level understanding to diagnose issues and keep production rates high. In July, CompositesWorld editor-in-chief Jef Sloan opined that the composites industry has too many "old" people and not enough "young" people to replace those retiring with many years of composites experience. As one of the "old" people with 30-plus years of experience — but not yet ready to retire — I think we run the risk of not having enough trained workers at all ages. Tere is no doubt we need to attract young people. Within professional societies, such as SPE and SAMPE, the average age continues to rise. Although we expend a lot of fnancial resources on scholarships and support of student activities, these don't trans- late to membership growth at the rate we need to see, let alone the industry's growth rate. One reason for the lack of attraction is that younger generations connect through social media rather than face-to-face, so we must think about our messaging — how do deliver our appeal more efectively using these new tools? Part of the message is that the composites industry is a high-tech industry, with an increasing reliance on modeling and simulation tools, and automated equipment for fabrication and assembly of composite structures. We also need to emphasize the sustainability aspects of composites: Our products, in fact (and despite the use of some, when cured, absolutely inert petroleum-based materials), reduce global warming and support green-energy solutions — the wind energy industry and fuel-cell technology, for example — concerns increasingly important to younger generations. Although many of our universities have done an excellent job with graduate-level degree programs focused on research in composites, we still need more schools to create curricula that mint manufacturing and design engineers with undergraduate degrees in composites, especially in the US. I am always impressed when I go to Europe, particularly Germany, where I see a lot of young engineers obtaining credit toward an advanced degree by working full time in a composites manufacturing environment, rather than in a research setting. Tis kind of real-world experi- ence today creates the manufacturing managers of tomorrow. Te initiatives we need aren't only for the young; retraining of workers in stagnant industries as composites technicians is also on the radar — not just for the companies that will employ them, but also for state economic development organizations, hoping to attract companies to take advantage of such talent. Te American Composites Manufacturing Assn. (Arlington, VA, US) has made a good start with its Certifed Composites Technician (CCT) program in the US, and this could be accelerated with help from workforce development eforts in each state and by focused composites insti- tutes, such as the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, TN, US). Similar eforts of which I am aware are underway in the UK, France and Germany. Engineers are trained to solve real-world problems, and the potential shortage of talent in the composites industry is just such a problem, seeking a solution. Collectively, industry, government and academia can — indeed, must — efectively address this issue to keep the composites industry on its upward trajectory. Is a composites technical talent shortage looming? We need more schools to create curricula that mint ... engineers with undergraduate degrees in composites. Dale Brosius is the chief commercialization ofcer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, TN, US), a US Department of Energy (DoE)- sponsored public/private partnership targeting high-volume composites applications in automotive, wind and other energy-related industries. He is also head of his own consulting company, which serves clients in the global composites industry. His career has included positions at US-based frms — Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI), Fiberite (Tempe, AZ) and successor Cytec Industries Inc. (Woodland Park, NJ) — as well as Bankstown Airport, NSW, Australia-based Quickstep Holdings. He has served as chair of the Society of Plastics Engineers' Composites and Thermoset Divisions. Brosius has a BS in chemical engineering from Texas A&M; University and an MBA.