Beehive State's Leadership in Advanced Composites Showcased at Utah Pavilion During SAMPE 2008

This week EDCUtah, the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) and 15 other Utah organizations will showcase the Beehive State's position as a leader in the advanced composites industry during the SAMPE 2008 symposium, May 18-22, in Long Beach, California.

This year's symposium of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) is being sponsored by SAMPE's Utah and Japan chapters. As the premier advanced composites show, SAMPE attracts business, military and higher educational institutions from across the globe, all of which are interested in the latest composites technology, applications and materials.

“With approximately 5,000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors, SAMPE 2008 will provide an excellent opportunity for Utah to demonstrate its world-class leadership in the advanced composite materials industry,” says EDCUtah President and CEO Jeff Edwards.

A veteran of the advanced composites industry since his work at Hercules in the 80s, Edwards is personally acquainted with many of the leading players in the industry and says Utah offers the ideal environment and infrastructure for composite-related businesses, because of its access to raw materials, engineering and manufacturing capability, highly educated workforce, sales expertise and broad supply chain. Furthermore, Utah's government, business and higher educational institutions are dedicated to the growth and development of this industry. In fact, six Utah colleges and universities offer specialized programs in the composites field.

The Utah Pavilion, which is spearheaded by a GOED/EDCUtah partnership and generously funded by ATK, will feature a large swath of the many Utah organizations working together to advance Utah's dynamic composites industry. Participants and sponsors include:

• Advanced Composites, Inc.
• Advanced Composites Solutions
• ATK
• Composite Solutions LLC
• Davis Applied Technology College
• Direct Controls, Inc.
• GOODE Ski Technologies
• Hill Air Force Base
• Hexcel
• MacLean Quality Composites
• Ogden Weber Applied Technology College
• Salt Lake Community College
• University of Utah
• USTAR
• Utah State University, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
• GOED
• EDCUtah

Click here for a synopsis of each of the 2008 Utah Pavilion participants.

“The participants in this year's Utah Pavilion are leveraging their leadership to create more business opportunities for the state's composites industry, promote Utah's expertise across the supply chain and recruit advanced composites companies to the state,” says Edwards. “Several of the essential technologies used today were developed in Utah 30 or more years ago, and many of the participants and exhibitors at the annual SAMPE symposiums are well aware of Utah's rich composites history.

Gary Harter, managing director of business creation for GOED, administers the Utah Composites Cluster Initiative. He says the growth of the Utah Pavilion speaks to the strength of Utah's leadership in the industry. What's more, many of the local, national and international leaders in SAMPE are from Utah.

“There is tremendous synergy within Utah's advanced composites community, which is being fostered by the collaboration of business, academia and government,” he says. The Advanced Composites Working Group, lead by Harter and assisted by Edwards, is comprised of senior members of the composites industry and academic and government leaders that gather often to address industry concerns and determine where government can add value. The group has identified three specific initiatives that are critical to keeping the industry healthy:

• An educated workforce
• Research and development
• Access to supplies of key materials and equipment

Harter says there are currently about 123 Utah companies active in one way or another with composites industry, which account for approximately 10,000 jobs and $650 million in wages, based upon figures from the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

In the 1960s Hercules Powder Company pioneered the use of early composite materials such as fiberglass and Kevlar in military missile programs. Hercules led the way in the use of carbon/graphite technology that makes up the core of today's advanced composites industry, and in the 1970s, built the first Utah facility to produce carbon fiber. Today, advanced composites are used in nearly every conceivable industry, including bicycles, medical x-ray equipment, automobiles, airplanes, skis and sports equipment, aerospace and military applications—anywhere there is a need for light weight and high strength materials.

For example, ATK uses carbon fiber in the construction of its rocket motors and aerospace parts, and the carbon/graphite water skis developed by Goode Ski Technologies, of Ogden, have won more national medals than all other brands combined. Edwards says two new Utah companies, Direct Controls, Inc. and Delta 7, are demonstrating that advanced composites have even broader applications. Direct Controls, Inc. has developed intricate, robotic manufacturing processes that are well suited for the manufacture of precision advanced composites parts, while Delta 7, using technology from BYU, has developed a composites-based bicycle frame that could revolutionize the bicycle industry.