JULY 2016
38 CompositesWorld
PLANT TOUR
detect damage." Carbures is exploring the use of braided preforms
for the wheel application, with braid supplied by Munich Compos-
ites GmbH (Ottobrunn, Germany). Other customers, he says, could
include huge Tier 1 Faurecia (Nanterre, France), for auto seats.
Growth and expansion
So what's the takeaway from seeing this Tier 2 in action? Despite
the sleep deprivation caused by the torrid pace of work at all three
facilities, everyone CW met seemed up to the challenge of growing a
Spain-based, global composites company. Indeed, the future looks
bright: 2015 was the company's best year ever in terms of total parts
and revenue for the Aerospace business — 39,322 parts and €16.6
million (US$18.75 million). Te company also, in 2015, formalized
a loan from Black Toro Capital (Barcelona, Spain) for expansion,
and added Domingo Ureña, former chairman of Airbus Spain, to
its executive committee. Under the leadership of Rafael Contreras,
president and co-founder, and Roberto Rey, CEO, Carbures has a
strong business plan geared for continued growth.
heated by the delivery system before being injected together with
hardener. Injection takes about 15 seconds. After a press cycle of
about 4-5 minutes, the press releases and the tool is shuttled out
for robotic part retrieval. Te large needle gripper can handle a
wide range of cut fabric
sizes. And, in contrast
to many workcells,
the press's operating
machinery is located in
a pit beneath the cell,
saving considerable
foor space.
Neuhäusler says the
part demonstrated for
CW is a test for auto-
motive wheel rims,
part of a composite
wheel program in
collaboration with
2elle-engineering
(Trebaseleghe, Italy)
for unnamed sports
car models. Wheels
will be all-composite, or have a carbon/epoxy rim with aluminum
hub and spokes — a better design in his opinion: "Tere has never
been a homologated carbon wheel yet, because it's impossible to
Sara Black is CW's technical editor and has served
on the CW staf for 19 years.
sara@compositesworld.com
Read this article online |
short.compositesworld.com/Carbures
Read more about CW's previous visit to
Airbus Illescas in "The Plane in Spain" |
short.compositesworld.com/pKyHuGSj
For more on the history of Carbures,
see the CW Blog |
short.compositesworld.com/Carbures2
See videos of several of Carbures' plants |
short.compositesworld.com/CarburesV1
See a video that shows the Jerez and El
Burgo de Osma facilities |
short.compositesworld.com/CarburesV2
For more information on El Burgo
de Osma in Spain |
short.compositesworld.com/CarburesEB