Explore the Partners

The Austrian Institute of technology- AIT is Austria's largest non-university research institute and acts as a R&D service provider in the field of application-oriented research and technology development. The LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen GmbH is owned 100% and part of AIT and is active in R&D for light metals and light weight structures.

Role in the Project

Project Coordinator (WP 8 leader); thermoforming technology on a laboratory scale and tooling development; integration of metal parts into composite structures; business cases and live cycle analysis

Main contact person

Marianne Hoerlesberger
E-Mail: marianne.hoerlesberger@ait.ac.at
Web: www.ait.ac.at

Xedera is a small company for mechatronics and research, technology and innovation consulting. The thematic focus is in manufacturing technology, with specialization in mechatronics and robotics, intelligent systems and micro- and nanotechnologies. Xedera’s founder Dr. Almansa has more than 15 years experience in industrial research and European cooperative projects.

Role in the project

Exploitation and dissemination manager; main responsibility for internal and external communication (WP 7 leader); impact study on 3D-LightTrans versus alternative thermoplastic and thermoset based technologies.

Main contact person

Ana Almansa
E-Mail: aam@xedera.eu
Web: www.xedera.eu

Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.A. (CRF) was founded in 1976 as the Fiat Group’s major source of expertise in innovation, research and development. CRF plays an active role in the technological growth of the Fiat Group, its partners and the community in areas such as vehicles and components, new materials and relative technologies, and many others. CRF has 800 highly-trained professionals and holds more than 2000 patents.

Role in the project

End user from the automotive industry; specification, design and test of demonstrator; contribution to numerical simulation and life cycle analysis.

Main contact person

Stefano Menegazzi
E-Mail: stefano.menegazzi@crf.it
Web: www.crf.it

For more than 30 years, Coatema Coating Machinery has delivered machinery and know-how to meet the most challenging needs of the coating and laminating industry (more than 100 complete plants installed world-wide) in high tech areas as composite materials, functional textiles and many others. Coatema has 2000 m² floor space and 20 machine platforms in research and development centers in Europe, the United States and Asia.

Role in the project

Theoretical and practical work in coating and laminating aspects enabling 3D pre-forms fixation.

Main contact person

Klaus Crone
E-Mail: kcrone@coatema.de
Web: www.coatema.de

Federal-Mogul Systems Protection designs and commercializes protection products. Their core processes are textile based and cover functional applications (electrical, mechanical, thermal and many others) mainly for transportation (automotive, aerospace, railways) but also defence, appliances, industrial and other markets.

Role in the project

Potential user of the technology to design and manufacture parts for the OEs; thermoforming (WP 4 leader); involvement in demonstration and dissemination.

Main contact person

Benoit Laurent
E-Mail: benoit.laurent@federalmogul.com
Web: www.federal-mogul.com

The Centre for Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) at the Ghent University (UGent) combines the broad expertise in Materials Science available in 13 departments. The main departments involved in this project are the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanics of Materials and Structures research group (MMS) and the Department of Textiles

Role in the project

Meso-scale modelling and simulation (WP 1 leader), including test of modeling and simulation tools and validation with demonstrators; physico-chemical interface design.

Main contact persons:

Paul Kiekens
E-Mail: paul.kiekens@Ugent.be
Web: www.ugent.be

Grado Zero Espace is an Italian Research, Consulting and Prototyping SME which, after years of job in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and top companies of various sectors, has developed own knowledge in transferring technological materials and know-how from the research sphere to the industry domain. Based in Montelupo, near Florence, GZE Engineering integrates knowledge in the mechanical, aerospace, electronic and robotics fields.

Role in the project

Process chain simulation comparing and evaluating the global performance of the manufacturing process with different architectures; shifting of the manufacturing process from lab scale to industrial scale production

Main contact person

Matteo Piccini
E-Mail: matteo.piccini@gzespace.com
Web: www.gzespace.com

The Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology at Technische Universität Dresden is the oldest educational facility of this branch in Germany and has a long standing and excellent tradition. With about 90 full-time employees, ITM has a broad spectrum of competencies including the design and construction of textile machinery, process development, product innovation and material and process modelling for Technical Textiles.

Role in the project

Overall process development of multilayered and multishell woven fabrics (WP 3 Leader), simulation of drapability and structure stabilisation by defining local fixation areas.

Main contact person

Monireh Fazeli
E-Mail: Monireh.Fazeli_Zoghalchali@tu-dresden.de
Web: tu-dresden.de/mw/itm

LEITAT is a Technological Center providing services to the industrial sector, adding technological value not only to the products, but to their processing as well. They are specialised in production technologies and develop R+D activities in the areas of materials sciences, environment, biotechnologies and renewable energies.

Role in the project

Characterization and testing for validation of materials; analysis and verification of new properties of materials. Neste Technical Report compared with currently used materials according to the final application.

Main contact person

Ciro Avolio
E-Mail: cavolio@leitat.org
Web: www.leitat.org

Germany largest weaving machine manufacturer and one of the most important producers of weaving machines worldwide. Founded in 1950, it exports about 87%, almost 40% to the industrial countries in the EU. Dornier hast about 1000 employees and subsidiaries in USA, China, Turkey, India

Role in the project

Modification and development of weaving machinery under industrial conditions.

Main contact person

Siegfried Sachs
E-Mail: siegfried.sachs@lindauerdornier.com
Web: www.lindauerdornier.com

Regional textiles cluster body / trade association for the Northwest of England.

Role in the project

Creation and management of Industrial Advisory Board; new supply chain concepts; value chain identification and qualification.

Main contact person

Steve Kay
E-Mail: steve.kay@nwtexnet.co.uk
Web: www.nwtexnet.co.uk

Glasseide Oschatz is a manufacturer of glass fibre and the different derivated products, such as single and multi end roving, woven fabric, multiaxial fabrics, and complex reinforcements, applied as reinforcement plastics in sectors such as transportation, building construction, consumer goods, sport and others.The new non typical product MultiFibre consists of hybrid yarn made by glass fibre and thermoplastic fibre (e.g. polyamide or polypropylene).

Role in the project

Production of hybrid yarn in the required compositions in short production time and with sufficient reproducibility.

Main contact person

Karsten Kittler
E-Mail: k.kittler@glasseide-oschatz.de
Web: www.pd-fibreglass.com

Michel Van de Wiele NV (VdW) develops, builds, assembles and installs carpet and velvet weaving machines. These machines can weave high-grade carpets and the finest velvets since more than 125 years, in weaving mills all over the world. The Van de Wiele group has a total of about 2200 employees, of which about 600 in VdW company, with a total turnover of € 400 Million, (of which € 185 Milion for VdW).

Role in the project

Development of advanced industrial equipment for 3D-reinforcement textile pre-forms with customized multifunctional structure, eliminating several processing steps in the production of complex 3D-textile constructions.

Main contact person

Dominique Maes
E-Mail: dominique.maes@vandewiele.be
Web: www.vandewiele.com

ONERA is a public, scientific and technical establishment with about 2000 employees performing research in the field of aerospace and facilitating its application in the industry, including also non-aerospace sectors. The Composite Materials and Structures Department covers among others modelling of composite materials (manufacturing process and mechanics), characterisation of structures and health monitoring techniques.

Role in the project

Modelling and simulation of the products and of their properties and performance; contribution to demonstrators

Main contact person

Martin Hirsekorn
E-Mail: martin.hirsekorn@onera.fr
Web: www.onera.fr

Bentley Motors Ltd is a manufacturer of high quality and high performance automotive vehicles. In 2006, Bentley Motors celebrates 60 years of production at its famous Crewe factory, a flourishing, state-of-the-art site, fusing the latest technology with time-honoured craftsmanship and tradition. Bentley has sought to utilise the advantages of composite materials for structural solutions to reduce weight and increase form and profile flexibility.

Role in the project

End user; providing component geometry and design data for a candidate component, manufacture of composite parts from the preforms provided by the project; test and assessment of the resulting structures.

Main contact person

Lee Bateup
E-Mail: lee.bateup@bentley.co.uk
Web: www.bentleymotors.com

Initially founded as the State Research Institute for Materials and Technologies in Prague in 1947, in 1994 it was transformed into joint-stock company SVÚM a.s. working on the full-cost basis with no direct state financial support. SVUM has now about 50 employees. The fundamental activities are: materials research (metals, composites, plastics) and testing in accredited laboratories

Role in the project

Material, subcomponent and component testing for validation and optimizion of the development and manufacture process.

Main contact person

Ivo Cerny
E-Mail: Ivo.Cerny@seznam.cz
Web: www.svum.cz

PROMAUT S.L. (Automatització de Processos i Mediambient S.L.) is an engineering firm specialised in the automation, control and supervision of processes with more than 15 years of experience developing project for the automotive, aeronautics, train, and renewable energy sectors. PROMAUT is leader in Spain and has a depth experience in the installation, programming and optimization of robotic cells.

Role in the project

Automated, robotized solution to the complex process of draping of the fabric onto the draping tool; development of adequate tools and automated procedures for the handling, transport and feeding of the pre-forms in the different forms and at different stages.

Main contact person

Joan Matutano
E-Mail: jmatutano@promaut.com
Web: www.promaut.com

University of Orleans is a French pluridisciplinary university with near 15000 thousands students. The team “Mechanics of Heterogeneous Materials” within the PRISME Institute is working on numerical simulation in mechanics linked to experimental tests, and concern among others mechanical characterization of fibrous reinforcements and manufacturing processes of composites.

Role in the project

Contribution to modeling and simulation.

Main contact person

Gilles Hivet
E-Mail: gilles.hivet@univ-orleans.fr
Web: www.univ-orleans.fr/prisme