A disruptive machine to enable mass production of composite parts

Project Information

SIRA

Grant agreement ID: 877040

DOI

10.3030/877040

Project closed

EC signature date 27 August 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 29 February 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

AEON-T COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIES SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SIRA (A disruptive machine to enable mass production of composite parts)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Composite materials have the potential of simplifying aerospace, automotive and consumer goods structures. For example, a metallic car body out of 200 parts can be reduced to only 10 composite elements. This leads to large investment & process costs reductions, boosting the competitiveness of these industries while providing them exceptional lightweight to improve fuel economy and to enhance the electric vehicle market by increasing their range. However, state of art manufacturing technologies are not suitable for a full scale industrialization. AEON-T´s machine is the key to make this possible.

The goal is to determine the best growing strategy in order to bring to the market the potential of AEON-T´s technology. One of the main impacts of implementing this machine is the ability to bring back the production of a number of composite parts (aircraft parts, consumer goods, automotive parts) that are today produced in indochina due to its high labour cost. The reduction of said direct labour cost is key to make the production in Europe profitable. In addition, the higher profitability of composite structures brought by AEON-T, contributes to increase the lightweight in industries such as automotive and aerospace, boosting the reduction of CO2 emissions in the transport sector.
To sum up, the work performed has been extremely important to refine the strategy of AEON-T in the market and has significantly increased the long-term feasibility of the company since new market opportunities adapted to its current resources have been detected.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

An intensive analysis of the state of art of composite parts manufacturing technologies has been performed.
New market opportunities have been detected, in particular, in the consumer goods sector, that shows a great opportunity to validate the SIRA machine and develop a sustainable growth of AEON-T. Altogether, three different target markets have been researched, with the focus of determining the best penetration opportunities for each sector depending on the strategy of the customers, their purchase behaviour and the trend of the global market: automotive, aerospace and consumer goods market.
From the data obtained in the market research, a strategic analysis has been performed, taking into account AEON-T current and future resources both material and financial. This analysis has resulted in a refined business plan contrasted with industry players that boosts the growth of the company.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

A wider range of applications for AEON-T´s technology have been detected, new market opportunities that improve the strategy of the company to achieve its main long-term goal: to become a worldwide reference supplier of composite parts manufacturing technology.
These new applications have been accompanied with the development of new test benches and concept proofs with successful results that have reduced the time-to-market of the technology. On these grounds, one of the potential impacts of SIRA machine, that is, the profitability increment of European factories over those located in countries with low labour cost, is expected to be achieved soon.

Carbon fiber preform made with SIRA machine