More than twenty 3D printers are working day and night. Hundreds of visors have already been produced and dispatched to hospitals close to the Airbus facilities in Spain. Airbus leverages a patented design to manufacture the visor frames, using PLA plastics. 

Overnight, we have gone from making aerospace concepts to medical equipment. This genuinely makes a difference in the fight against the pandemic and I couldn’t be prouder of our teams working day and night on this Airbus project.

Alvaro Jara, Head of Airbus Protospace, in Getafe, Madrid

Despite the pause of the majority of production at Airbus’ sites in Spain following the Royal Decree of 29 March, Airbus employees are allowed on site to continue with this essential activity. 

In addition, Airbus in Germany also joined the project. The Airbus Protospace Germany and the Airbus Composite Technology Centre (CTC) in Stade, together with the 3D-printing network named “Mobility goes Additive,” are now supporting this project in Spain, also coordinating the collection and transport of visors to the Madrid region. 

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The deal will see the combination of Montefibre’s large tow precursor and 4M Carbon’s production technology, which they say will create the world’s lowest-cost industrial-grade carbon fibre.

4M’s patented technology is claimed to reduce the initial investment of a carbon fibre manufacturing line by up to fifty per cent and ongoing operating cost savings by greater than thirty per cent, which will enable rapid growth of low-cost carbon fibre capacity. Montefibre’s ultra-large tow technology, with the full support of the Spanish government, significantly reduces carbon fibre precursor cost by exponentially increasing volume throughput.

This joint venture will make an important contribution to the competitiveness of American industry and its global leadership in composites. Alfonso Cirera, President of Montefibre Carbon

4M said they will continue to implement its strategy of acquiring synergistic downstream carbon fibre conversion companies to build enterprise and shareholder value. Montefibre will continue to increase its carbon fibre precursor production capacity with the support of the Spanish government.

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The new building has a total surface area of 4,500 m2 and is spread over three floors. With this new unit AIMPLAS will now be able to increase the number of research projects that are implemented every year, not least because of its new equipment. Another objective will be an easier transfer of the obtained know-how to the enterprises of the plastics industry in Valencia but also throughout Spain.

Currently, AIMPLAS is the only technology centre in Spain whose R&D activities are exclusively destined to plastic materials and their transformation processes. The company provide a high level specialised research team, the best functional equipment for the transformation of polymers and composites as well as a strong mission to transfer the generated R&D know-how for the improvement of the competitiveness in the plastics industry.

The research staff will be able to launch new projects related to high-value added plastic materials and innovative transformation processes as well as its use in new applications in knowledge-intensive sectors, for example, packaging, the aeronautics sector, the automotive industry, the construction sector and the medical field. More specifically, the team want to implement projects in relation with the development and improvement of renewable polymeric materials, nanocomposites, flame retardants as well as the improvement of their properties and processes. Moreover, we plan to develop new products, for example, active and intelligent packaging but also products based on recycled materials.

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Vestas will retrain 30 nacelles employees for work in the blade factory and hire an additional 8 people to work in the Italia sales, installation and services unit. Depending on market conditions an additional 60 employees could be recruited to work at the blades factory. Up to 30 nacelles employees could be hired in Vestas facilities in the UK, Spain, Denmark, or Germany, depending on the individuals’ professional qualifications and personnel requirements at these facilities.

Jean-Marc Lechêne, Vestas Chief Operating Officer said;

We are pleased to announce the launch of the V112-3.0 MW blade production line in Taranto and a related EUR 10 million investment. This will allow Vestas to bring our latest technology to the Taranto plant, which will benefit our customers, the entire supply chain and the local community through employment possibilities for the nacelles plant personnel.

The Ministry for Economic Development (MISE) via an official press release comments that the blades factory will be able to absorb part of the nacelles factory employees, and the company has expressed the will to offer an opportunity to the employees, through professional requalification. All in all, the agreement combines employee safeguards and strengthens Vestas’ production and market outlook.

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Protesa has its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, with facilities in Zaragoza, Spain; Pune, India and Jorf Lasfar, Morocco. The takeover is a major strategic addition to FPIG’s composite pipe business and adds considerably to its ability to service its clients particularly in the water, desalination, industrial and infrastructure sectors in Europe, North West Africa and Latin America as well as provide FPIG with its first manufacturing facility in India.

Fouad Makhzoumi, Chairman and CEO of Future Pipe Industries Group said;

This acquisition marks an important step in our strategy to diversify outside of our core market in the GCC, Protesa has been manufacturing GRP composite pipe systems for over 50 years and is one of the leaders in its field, with a strong network of clients across Europe, North Africa and globally. We are therefore very pleased to have been able to conclude this acquisition and are excited about the potential it brings to our growing group of companies, particularly as it significantly increases our ability to service our clients from a dedicated GRP facility in Europe.

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At a ceremony to mark the official opening, speeches were made by Hexcel President & COO, Nick Stanage, Rafael Gonzalez-Ripoll, Director General of Airbus Operations, Don Jose Maria Fraile, Mayor of Parla and Don Percival Manglano, Madrid Regional Minister for the Economy.

Commenting at the Ceremony Hexcel President & COO Nick Stanage said:

This expansion at Hexcel Parla is a continuation of our strategy of supporting our key customers by adding capacity so that we may provide timely state-of-the-art prepreg materials right to their points of use. We are very pleased to support the growth of our longtime partner Airbus and we wish to thank our customers, the local community and all those who have supported us in expanding our world class prepreg facility here in Spain.

At the Parla plant, Hexcel manufactures HexPly prepreg tape using Hexcel’s HexTow carbon fibre, Over 50% of the Airbus A350 XWB structure is made from composites, parts which including the wing and tail cone sections that are manufactured by the nearby Airbus Spain plant and other Airbus subcontractors in Europe.

Prepregs have been manufactured at the Parla plant for the last 23 years, with the first prepregs delivered to Airbus in 1989. Hexcel opened the first carbon fibre plant in Spain at Illescas, Toledo in May 2008. The new prepreg plant at Parla will convert this carbon fibre into the prepreg tape that is used for automated processing of composites.

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Powered by the latest BMW V8 engine which delivers 450 bhp and will get you to 60 in under 3 seconds with a top speed of 189 mph. The car weights in at just 989 kgs thanks to its composite body panels and space frame chassis. Aspid are set to start manufacturing in 2014 with no word on a price yet.

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Scott Bader Europe has recently made more investments to expand the gelcoats and adhesives capacity in their UK and French plants.

Two new mixers have been installed in Scott Bader’s UK and France plants to increase production capacity of Crystic gelcoats and Crestabond MMA structural adhesive ranges.


The new mixer in the Wollaston, UK plant is designed for the production of their Crestabond range of primerless methyl methacrylate structural adhesives, which were launched back in 2010.

In Amiens, France, an additional large volume gelcoat mixer has been installed. The new mixer has provided extra production capacity for the range of Crystic gelcoats produced on the site. Scott Bader France handles orders, not only from French gelcoat customers, but also from Spain, Germany and other parts of mainland Europe. The additional mixer has enabled the Amiens production team to reduce lead times.

This significant capital equipment investment of over €1M by Scott Bader in a difficult and uncertain trading climate is in response to both the growth in customer demand for their specialty Crystic products and a continued long term commitment by the Company to the composites industry. Malcolm Forsyth, Commercial Director of the European Composites Business, commented:

This major investment in additional state of the art mixing equipment for two of our key speciality product lines confirms our intention to be a major player in the European and global adhesives and gelcoat markets. It is great news for our customers, guaranteeing both the high product quality our customers rightly expect of Crystic products and the short lead time they need to confidently plan their production requirements cost effectively.

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