JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #69 - November/December 2011 - 4

point of view: expansion

Umeco Composites: focused on growth
JCM: What is your vision for your company? JCM: How is your company organised to grow? And what will be the booming sectors according to you?

interview
JONATHAN MABBITT, GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR UMECO COMPOSITES STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

Umeco Composites, an operating division of Umeco plc, had a successful, informative and truly educational corporate open day in Heanor, Derbyshire, UK on Friday 23 September. For JEC Composites Magazine, it was also an opportunity to ask a few questions to Jonathan Mabbitt, Group Managing director, Umeco Composites Structural Materials.

JEC Composites Magazine: What are your main sectors of activity? And what are the most unexpected applications Umeco Composites has encountered?

jec composites magazine / No69 November - December 2011 J.M. : We want to increase our profile rapidly and be seen as the global player that we are. Umeco is a world-class composites solutions provider, having grown organically and through acquisitions. We already have a wide range of products and are always looking at developing new ones. But we

JONATHAN MABBITT: Umeco is a composites solutions provider, not in a particular sector but across sectors. Our activities are dominated by aeronautics, wind energy, recreation, automotive, marine, large medical equipment and other industrial applications. Among the most unexpected applications we have met, I can mention: (1) composite bridges – here composites are

About Umeco

Umeco was first registered as a company in 1917 with the name University Motor and Engineering Company Limited, and it is an acronym of this title that is the source of the Umeco name. For many years, the Group traded as a motor vehicle distributor in the south of England, before acquiring various businesses involved in

really cost effective compared with concrete as they are far lighter and corrosion resistant; (2) the BlOOdHOUnd SSC experience: a project dedicated to setting a new world land speed record; and (3) the Virgin Galactic which will allow space travel at an “affordable” price.

We want to increase our profile rapidly and be seen as the global player that we are.

also want to stay focused on what we do best. We don’t intend to enter into fibre

the electrical and marine industries. Today, Umeco is an international provider of advanced composite materials, primarily to the aerospace and defence wind energy, recreation and automotive industries (see Figure 1). Its revenue from continuing operations for the year ended 31 March 2011 was £207.4 million, with 863 employees in manufacturing and distribution operations in the UK, Europe and the USA. Serving high-growth, global end-markets, Umeco is

production, for example. We already have contracts with key fibre suppliers and it doesn’t make sense for us to enter this market.

J.M. : Within Umeco, sales and marketing are organised by sectors. Our business leaders are not necessarily composite specialists but sector specialists. They know their market deeply and they benefit from the strong support of our composites specialists in the USA, in Europe and, recently, in China where we have many customers. We want to increase our manufacturing

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #69 - November/December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #69 - November/December 2011