Hitco Carbon Composites, a subsidiary of the German based SGL Group has staked its claim to become the industry’s leading composites manufacturer in aerospace.
“We look at ourselves as risk mitigation suppliers,” says Mark Kokosinski, senior VP, new business development. “Our goal is to become best in class. We’re very much a tier two supplier to the tier one manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki and Alenia.
“We believe that’s the right level for us and we look forward to increasing our client base. We’re here at Farnborough to underline our commitment to the sector and let everyone know about the great investments we’ve made.”
Hitco is midway through a three-year, $50 million investment programme at its California facilities. It recently purchased a Viper 6000 fibre placement system (AFP); two automated tape lay-up machines (ATL); and an automated Bertsche P5 milling machine to substantially increase its production capabilities.
Kokosinski adds this programme is beginning to deliver real results and will continue to do so as more OEMs use composites into their designs. “We’re in a great position – in April Boeing announced we were their Supplier of the Year 2007 – structures commodity category. That was incredible considering Boeing has 20,000 suppliers.
“However, we won’t rest on our laurels and will continue to improve and strive for excellence – mitigating risk for our customers.”
Tino Fritsch, PR manager of parent company SGL Group, says: “Our future is very much in the aerospace sector. We’ve not only invested a lot into automation to ensure we can continue to compete with markets such as China, India and Brazil, but we also want to always improve consistency and quality into our processes.”
Wiesbaden-based SGL has been awarded $9.5m by the Bavarian government to carry out R&D on high-tech carbon fibre materials for use in the aviation sector. “This is a precursor to providing new products. We’re the only fully integrated European carbon fibre business and this is a great opportunity for us to look more closely at how we can develop aerospace applications.”
Source: Flight International
