Archived General News - Pre-2007
New Vice President Sales and Marketing
As part of the expansion and development of the management team in Tulsa, ACG Inc is extremely pleased to be able to announce the appointment of John Price to the role of Vice President, Sales and Marketing with immediate effect. John joined the company in 2004 from Northern Fibreglass and since that time has made a substantial contribution to the management of sales in the NE region.
John will be office based in Tulsa and will in time relocate fully to the area. The company joins Adrian Potts, President of ACG Inc, in wishing John well in his promotion.
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
China Composites Exhibition
ACG again attended the China Composites Expo with Bernard Twist, Export Sales Manager, being present on the Shanghai Leadgo stand.
China Composites 2006 was larger and more professional than in previous years. The show venue was split over 2 floors and ACG shared the custom-built stand of Shanghai Leadgo-Tech with Aerovac Systémes France on the larger and busier of the two floors. Didier Gal and Mike Cooke were in attendance from ASF and Umeco respectively. The Shanghai Leadgo-Tech show stand followed last year's design very closely, but unusually, neither ACG nor ASF had individual entries in the exhibitor's catalogue and the only mention of our two companies was within the text accompanying the Leadgo entry. This will be addressed for 2007 when the Show moves to Beijing.
There was a significant increase in the number of overseas companies exhibiting and of the 207 companies exhibiting, 41% were from outside China - an increase of more than 100% on 2005.
China Composites is fast becoming a significant show for suppliers and customers in South East Asia.
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
ACG Opens £7m Composites Manufacturing Centre - September 2006
Brian McGowan, Chairman of Umeco plc, accompanied by Peter Chivers, UK Vice President of Airbus, have today (21st September 2006) officially opened Advanced Composites Group's (ACG) new composites manufacturing facility in Heanor, Derbyshire.
ACG, a subsidiary of Umeco Composites, has been based at its Heanor site for 28 years, manufacturing a range of advanced composite materials for use predominantly in the aerospace, motorsport, automotive and wind energy markets.
This new development represents a £7m investment in additional manufacturing and warehouse facilities as well as a new technology centre. The expansion involves the addition of over 30,000ft² to the existing facility, combined with major investments in new resin mixing and prepreg manufacturing equipment. It will increase the manufacturing capacity by approximately 80% and once fully utilised will create employment for an additional 50 people. The manufacturing operation has been designed to comply with the latest quality standards dictated by aerospace and automotive customers.
ACG has, since its foundation 31 years ago, based its success on technical innovation. The new technology centre provides world class facilities for its research and development engineers, enabling them to continue to develop, leading edge composite materials, providing value solutions to its customers worldwide.
Alan Moore, Managing Director of ACG said:
"The opening of this facility represents a major milestone for ACG and the culmination of a lot of hard work for all of our employees. We can now move into the next stage of ACG's development with cutting edge facilities allowing us to offer our customers a wider range of advanced composites."
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
New Office in Italy for ACG
As of today our Italian Sales office will be located at the new address below in Milan. Federico Pettenello is pleased to announce the move to the new premises, which are ideally located in one of Italy's major cities.
Please note that although the postal address, telephone and fax information is new, the email address for Federico remains the same.
New Address:
ACG Sales Office, Via Barbiera 32, 20153 Milano
Phone: +39 02 4891 3932 Fax: +39 02 4891 9821
Email Federico Pettenello: acgitalia@comm2000.it
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
'Quiet Revolution' Wind Turbine - July 2006
A compact, robust, elegant wind turbine that incorporates a display screen - sounds like a good pitch, right? Well it's not just good, it's real and it's coming to a roundabout, a street lamp, a building or any space near you.
The 'quietrevolution' wind turbine was designed and developed by XCO2 in conjunction with ACG's customer Aviation Enterprises Ltd. who was able to offer full aerodynamic design, composite engineering and manufacturing expertise.
ACG worked closely with AEL providing light weight oven curing VTM® prepregs tailored to the nearest % of resin and curing as low as 65°C. Keeping the weight of the blades to a minimum was critical due to centrifugal forces of up to 200 G. Spinning the blades at 300rpm in testing, the blades required virtually no balancing at all proving the consistency and accuracy that ACG prepregs offer the customer.
The rotating section is 5m high and 3.1m in diameter and is designed to withstand maximum wind speeds of 120mph. XCO2 claims the design performs more efficiently as it does not have to keep changing direction with the wind as a traditional turbine would, this decreases vibrations and cuts down on aerodynamic noise, all of which are very important for use in urban areas.
Further advantages are that the cylindrical structure with the vertical 'S' blades occupies less space than the average turbine, the structure is robust, and practically as well as aesthetically can integrate easily into the urban environment.
Rotation of the turbine drives the 6kw generator and can be mounted on either a 9m or 15m high tower or on a 3m mast on a roof.
The 'quietrevolution' turbine also comes in a display model, the first site for which will be in Bristol on a roundabout in the Temple Meads area. By embedding flashing LED's into the blades, clients will be able to use the turbine to promote eco friendly products and raise awareness of climate change. At the same time as generating renewable energy.
Please also visit www.quietrevolution.co.uk
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
ACG Acquires Aerodyne Advanced Composites - July 2006
ACG acquires Aerodyne Advanced Composites, supplier of advanced composites components for McLaren Automotive.
Advanced Composites Group, a subsidiary of Umeco plc's Composites Division, has announced the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Aerodyne Advanced Composites (Proprietary) Limited ("AAC") from Aerodyne Industries(Proprietary) Limited.
AAC, who will trade as Advanced Composites Group SA (Pty) Limited with immediate effect, are based in Cape Town, South Africa, employ around 130 staff and manufacture advanced composites component parts principally for McLaren Automotive.
AAC has a contract with McLaren Automotive in relation to the sole supply of specified component parts to the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren super sports car. The contract is for the lifetime of the SLR programme and will form part of a strategic relationship between McLaren Automotive and ACG from which further business is expected to materialise.
The AAC business is highly complementary to ACG's materials business which currently supplies McLaren Automotive and other high performance automotive and motorsport customers including Koenigsegg, Porsche and Formula 1 racing teams including Team McLaren Mercedes.
ACG's total initial investment in this project is estimated at around £1.5 million and conclusion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfactory completion of all related legal proceedings.
Clive Snowdon, Chief Executive of Umeco plc, commented: "The acquisition of AAC cements our relationship with McLaren Automotive and further underlines our position as a leading supplier of advanced composites solutions to the new genre of super-cars. AAC will sit alongside ACG's existing composites engineering business to provide a low cost base to help demonstrate the use of composites and their applicability within the mainstream automotive industry. Vehicle technology is demanding lighter weight more cost-efficient designs and we are now well positioned to support this growth area."
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
ACC Renamed to ACE - June 2006
ACC to ACE - What's in a Name? Quite a lot really!
The trading name of ACG's hardware division, Advanced Composite Components (ACC), has been in existence now for approaching 20 years, but things are about to change. In future ACC will become known as ACE (Advanced Composites Engineering). The reasons for the name change are simple, but quite significant for both ACG staff and ACG customers.
The two most important factors behind the move from ACC to ACE are organisational changes that see the Group's Applied Technologies and Design functions assimilated into what was the existing ACC structure. The inclusion of these two key customer support functions will mean an increased emphasis on the new ACE's ability to offer "turn-key" technology solutions to the Group's materials customer base, supporting a vast range of development programmes from design, through project management, to production.
The clear remit of ACE is to support, develop and promote Advanced Composite Group's novel materials and technologies across the globe - and to ensure the company's products are always employed to the optimum technical and commercial benefit of the customer.
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
ACG to Distribute Huntsman Materials - May 2006
Advanced Composites Group Ltd (ACG), a member of UMECO plc's Composites Division, and Huntsman Advanced Materials (Huntsman) signed a 5 year agreement in May 2006 naming ACG as Huntsman's major global distributor of epoxy based master model materials.
In the first phase of the collaboration, ACG has launched a new epoxy model modelling board, the ACG TB750, that has been specially moulded for them by Huntsman and was released to the market in June. The TB750, a derivative of Huntsman's well established BM5055 product, will be supplied to existing ACG specifications along with an extensive ancillaries range.
Commenting on the agreement, Alan Moore, Group Managing Director of ACG, said: "Both ACG and Huntsman are renowned for their product quality and innovation in composite tooling. This collaboration will allow both our companies to work more closely on future product development cementing our positions as world leaders in the field of composite tooling."
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
Added Strength And Support for Sales Team - March 2006
ACG is very pleased to announce that it has concluded agreements with two new representing companies in order to strengthen and support its overseas sales and marketing activities.
In New Zealand, ACG's technologies, products and services are now to be represented by Advanced Composite Technology Ltd. (ACT). This Auckland-based company will provide comprehensive technical and commercial support to all sectors of the New Zealand market for high performance composites and will also offer design and processing expertise as well as the full range of ACG prepreg materials and ancillary products. ACT's links with the UMECO group of companies is further strengthened by their agreement to also offer vacuum bag materials from Richmond Aircraft Products. For more information, please contact:
ADVANCED COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY LTD.
39 Vestey Drive
Mt. Wellington
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
PO Box 22800 Otahuhu
Telephone: +64 9 573 1976
Fax: +64 9 573 1973
Website: www.acom.co.nz (currently under construction)
Contact: Mr. Paul Hackett , Managing Director
Email: paul@acom.co.nz)
In Korea , agreement has been reached with Duly Corporation to represent ACG's high performance products and technologies. Duly Corporation was established in Seoul in 1990 and its principal business activity is the promotion of foreign manufacturers' products to the Korean aerospace, airline and rail markets. Duly Corporation prides itself on its excellent business relationships and ability to provide specialized experience to its customers and the new agreement to work with ACG products will complement perfectly their activities representing the range of vacuum bag consumables from Richmond Aircraft Products who are also a member of the UMECO group of companies. For information please contact:
DULY CORPORATION
#1514 LG Palace Building
165 - 8 Donggyo-Dong
Mapo-Gu
SEOUL
121-754 Korea
Tel No: +82 (0)2 322 1121
Fax No: +82 (0(2 322 1122
Website: www.dulykorea.com
Contacts:
Ki Sup Yun , General Manager
Email: duly01@kornet.net
Kah Kyung Lee, Asst. Manager
Email: duly03@kornet.net
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
Preview of JEC Composites Show - March 2006
The JEC Composites Show completed three successful days with yet another increase in exhibitors and visitors.
ACG joined Aerovac and Richmond Aircraft Products as members of UMECO Composites, one of the divisions of UMECO plc. UMECO's stand location for JEC 2006 was M16/M17 Hall 1. ACG has been exhibiting at JEC for many years and still regards this event as one of the main meeting places for all contributors to the whole of the composites industry, including all market industries.
ACG was pleased to include a Koenigsegg CCR show car from Koenigsegg Automotive AB - ACG's materials are used solely throughout the vehicle from complete monocoque structure to exterior skin. Other key projects were highlighted in the graphics on ACG's stand, the Virgin GlobalFlyer and the Aston Martin DB9 and the Alinghi boat defending the 32nd America's Cup title.
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
ACG To Create £7M Composites Manufacturing Centre - March 2006
In August 2005 Advanced Composites Group Ltd, a member of the Composites Division of UMECO plc, embarked on a major £7M expansion to create a new 'world class' composites Manufacturing and Technology Centre.
Since then the skyline around Heanor has changed considerably and the significance and scale of this investment is now very evident.
The expansion will see the addition of over 30,000ft² to the existing Heanor facility, combined with major investments in new resin mixing and prepreg manufacture equipment.
Completion of building work and commissioning of new equipment is scheduled for September 2006 when an Official Opening Day is planned.
Since its early days, ACG has relied heavily on the contribution of its R&D and Testing services to support the design and development of its prepreg materials. Without this facility it would not be possible to manufacture composites tailored to specific applications or to offer customers the back up data and technical support that can secure the success of a project.
The 'state-of-the-art' Technology Centre will house the Company's extensive technical support resource, incorporating resin formulation, testing, process engineering and structural design. This major investment, along with ACG's expanding workforce of over 350 staff worldwide, secures the Company's future growth plans and will ensure it remains one of the UK 's leaders in composites.
ACG customers have come to rely on a high level of service from ACG, short lead-times and rapid responses to technical queries are core to ACG's business philosophy. This investment allows ACG to continue to lead the market in quality of product, response times and customer service. Aerospace and Automotive markets will be major areas of growth for ACG over the next 5 to 10 years and it is developing this 'world class' manufacturing facility to meet the quality demands of these markets. ACG aims to offer quality and systems second to none in the composites industry.
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
Time and Temperature Deliveries To Europe - March 2006
During its 30 years of composite material manufacturing and development ACG has won a considerable market for its products in Europe.
Throughout this time the partner of choice for ACG has been, and remains, Berlin Project Limited (BPL) of Gloucestershire, UK. "Our prepreg materials are of high value," reports Geoff Peach, Logistics Manager at ACG, "but are also perishable in nature, insofar as their useful shelf lives are time and temperature sensitive."
To ensure the materials are delivered in the best possible condition BPL, in conjunction with and on behalf of ACG, operate two 13.5 tonne Mercedes Atego freezer vehicles which service the majority of ACG's European customers outside of the UK. Steve White, Managing Director of BPL states, "This partnership works extremely well and offers ACG a very reliable bespoke freezer delivery and collection service without the responsibility of maintaining or supporting the vehicles and operatives themselves." ACG are more than happy to agree that this is a job best left to the experts at BPL.
Berlin Project Ltd
Unit 5
The Runnings
Kingsditch Trading Estate
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL51 9NJ
Tel: 01242 541400
Contact: Steve White
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.