JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #42 - July/August 2008 - 21

HexMC® parts. What is more, it is a resolutely international outfit, with sites and customers all around the world. Another of Hexcel’s strengths is undoubtedly the opening of its satellite plants close to its Airbus customer at Stade in Germany and at Nantes in France, in order to offer proximity in response to its customer’s needs and guarantee satisfaction in terms of delivery and reactivity, while improving the quality of the products and increasing the efficiency and reliability of honeycomb for the US Army. This gave rise to the Hexcel Corporation, which at the time went by the name of California Reinforced Plastics. In 1949, they won the contract to manufacture the fuel cell support panels for the B-36 bomber. In 1950, California Reinforced Plastics began to produce aluminium honeycomb for aerospace applications – and this is still in use today. In 1954, California Reinforced Plastics changed its name to Hexcel Products. In 1969, Hexcel materials landed on the Moon with Apollo 11, with the feet of the lunar lander being made of honeycomb composite to absorb the energy of the moon landing. The following year, Concorde was to be fitted with Hexcel products. In 1971 the company began manufacturing skis. It became so famous for this activity on the US market that even today some Americans automatically associate the name Hexcel with skis. In 1981, Hexcel provided materials for the nose, doors and wings of the space shuttle Columbia. In 1986, it built a new factory in Arizona to service its involvement in the B-2 bomber programme. From ’93 to ’95, Hexcel’s situation forced it into restructuring in order to avoid bankruptcy. Yet this proved to be advantageous in the creation, from ’96 to ’98 in conjunction with Ciba Composites, Hercules Composites and some lines of the Fiberite product range, of a wide range of products that could enjoy the benefits of vertical integration and a worldwide geographical set-up. Since then, Hexcel has had notable successes in many sectors, its supply chain as a whole. JCM: Your sales in 2007 break down as 22, 25 and 53% for defence/space, industry (including wind energy) and commercial aviation respectively. How do you see this sectoral breakdown developing over the medium and long term? Will it be driven by your company’s desire to invest in one or more particular sectors or by the evolution of the markets? T.M.: It is true that, today, Hexcel has the aeronautical, space and defence particularly on the sports, civil aviation and wind energy markets, with innovative products and new production sites. markets in its sights, as well as the wind energy market. We are also developing products for certain selected industrial markets. This breakdown may well, of course, change over time as the markets evolve. Yet, for the time being, the growing demands of the aviation industry – with Airbus and Boeing developing aircraft using more and more composites (52% for the A350) – is driving our sales. Likewise, the wind energy market is set to show healthy growth to the tune of 20% per year over the years to come. new carbon fibre manufacturing plant at Illescas in Spain. Today Hexcel is America’s largest producer of carbon fibres, the largest weaver of reinforcement fabrics in the world, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of composite materials, such as honeycomb, prepregs, adhesive film and sandwich panels, and one of the world’s leading producers of composite structures and elements. In 2007, the company had a headcount of 4,000, with factories in 9 countries and a sales revenues of 1.2 billion dollars. It is a similar history to that of the creators of Hewlett-Packard: from modest premises to multinational. In 2008, Hexcel wears its 60 years well. To meet heavy demand and be as close as possible to its customers, the company has opened a prepreg production plant in Tianjin, China, for the wind energy market, and another in Nantes, France, for the aviation market. This summer, the Chinese factory will begin producing HexPly® epoxy prepregs close by its main local customers. The new factory in Nantes is already producing HexPly® M21 unidirectional prepregs, mainly for the neighbouring Airbus factory and its subcontractors. Hexcel had already opened a similar plant in Stade, Germany, in 2007. This type of prepreg is used, for example, in the central wing box of the A380 and A400M. Last but not least, the most recent investment news concerns the opening of a The first carbon fibres from Spain At the end of April, Hexcel officially opened its new carbon fibre production plant at Illescas, near Toledo in Spain (figure 1). Fig. 1: The new plant at Illescas, Spain It is the first factory of this type in Europe for the company, and the first ever carbon fibre production unit in Spain. The main customer for these HexTow® fibres is the nearby Airbus factory. This new factory is part of Hexcel’s 280 million-dollar investment programme to bring its carbon production capacities up to 7,000 tonnes per annum by the end of 2009 (figure 2). The factory will produce three types of intermediate modulus fibres (the most commonly-used in aeronautics), namely grades AS4, AS4C and IM7; in 12K tow, with the modulus of elasticity of each fibre between 231 and 276 GPa for a respective breaking stress of 4,400-4,650 MPa and 5,480-5,570 MPa. The factory building is 250 m long and is in close proximity to another Hexcel plant No42 July-August 2008 / JEC Composites Magazine

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #42 - July/August 2008

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