The global composites market, valued at around €300 billion, is expanding steadily, driven by demand in aerospace, automotive, marine, energy, and sports sectors where advanced composites are sought after for their unique combination of high mechanical performance and low weight. Nevertheless, a consistent part of composite production is still addressed by means of manual processes, which are labor-intensive, require numerous separate operations, incur significant tooling and equipment costs, and heavily depend on skilled personnel. These methods are time-consuming, generate large amounts of waste, and often pose health and safety risks. Automated alternatives exist but remain limited by high acquisition costs, continued reliance on molds, and restricted ability to produce complex geometries.
In this context, Additive Manufacturing (AM) of composites emerges as a potential solution. However, currently available AM technologies mostly rely on costly feedstocks, operate at low deposition speeds, and are constrained to small build volumes and planar deposition strategies, determining a substantial gap between market needs and manufacturing capabilities.
The CFM4Industry project, promoted by Moi Composites, seeks to close this gap by industrializing two complementary innovations: Continuous Fiber Manufacturing (CFM®), a patented additive technology for thermoset-based continuous fiber reinforced composites, and Short Fiber Manufacturing (SFM®), a novel AM route for high-throughput production of thermosetting composite ancillaries. The MOI platform integrates robotics, digital design, and next-generation thermosetting resins to enable a mold-less, automated process for high-performance composite manufacturing with the aim to drastically reduce the number of operations required, expanding design freedom, shorten lead times, cut costs, and lower the environmental footprint of composite production.
By bringing composites manufacturing technologies to industrial maturity, the project will equip manufacturers and SMEs with a scalable, flexible solution for producing advanced composites and ancillaries, with the expectation of accelerating digitalization in manufacturing, opening new markets, strengthening competitiveness, and creating more sustainable, safer, and cost-efficient production pathways for high-performance materials.
