JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #79 - March 2013 - 18

core materials

National Composites Center and
Airbus sign agreement for Dayton hub

n 24 October 2012, Airbus signed
an agreement to collaborate with the
National Composite Center and the
Dayton Development Coalition in order to
support aerospace businesses in Ohio by

interview
Lisa a. NoveLLi
PresideNt & Ceo
NatioNaL ComPosites CeNter

JEC Composites Magazine:
Can you summarize the purpose of the
NCC?

Lisa A. Novelli: The NCC was
created to provide solutions to industrial
players faced with composite processing issues. The centre is the entity
that bridges research technology and
commercial scale-up for industries.
JCM: How does the centre operate?

L. N. : The NCC provides over 15
commercial-scale composite materials
processing assets to work with industries on cost-effective solutions for composites processing. We offer services in
engineering, material evaluations and
processing, program management, business and material incubation, and focus
on networking entrepreneurs or new
technologies with private industry.
JCM: What are your strengths and

creating a centralized “hub” in Dayton. This
hub will help support materials manufacturing technology in Ohio. According to
Lisa A. Novelli, the President and CEO
of NCC, “Interest from the global leader
Airbus creates a significant encouragement
and support for the future of aerospace in
Ohio”. Senator Sherrod Brown, who worked
with Airbus to encourage business in Ohio,
weaknesses?

L. N. : Our weakness is that NCC is
not intended to do research by our charter guidelines. This makes it a little more
difficult to understand new chemistries
for certain applications. Our biggest
strength is our networking.
The NCC is adamant in ensuring that:
1) we do not compete with private
industry, and 2) we do not hire experts
or consultants for specific technology
projects. We have a very strong staff that
is well rounded across numerous industries and multiple processing methodologies for composites. If we do not have
the resources on hand, we reach out
within the network of academia, private
industry and government institutions
in order to utilize resources to solve
industry problems during commercial
scale-up.
JCM: What kind of challenges do you
need to face to keep moving forward?

L. N. : The NCC will always focus on
providing commercial support to industrial players. It is a difficult task to ensure
that we stay out front in being recognized as a commercialization resource.
Today we face challenges in competitiveness with institutions and universities
targeting grants aimed at commercialization. The NCC provides a unique

18 jec composites magazine / No79 March 2013

believes that this will create lots of jobs in
the aerospace industry in the future. David
Williams, Vice President of procurement at
Airbus Americas, announced that Airbus,
based in France, plans to double its economic spending in the US within the next 10
years. n
More information:
http://compositecenter.org

approach and structure as an alternative
to a training or academic environment
when focusing on commercialization
and we make continuous efforts to be
the leader in this arena.
JCM: Have you planned investments and
in what direction will you focus?

L. N. : We are investigating continued
expansion to our capital equipment base
in order to support industry players with
more processing and commercial scaleup options.
JCM: Do you focus on exports or concentrate on the U.S. market?

L. N. : The NCC is an entity that supports global needs in composites processing. We have successfully focused
on international interactions for over 10
years in recognition that composites are
a global commodity.
JCM: Are you planning agreements with
similar structures?

L. N. : Yes, but as always, our partnerships and collaborations are kept
very confidential.
JCM: What is your message to the market and to your potential partners?

L. N. : Think outside the box!

http://www.compositecenter.org

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #79 - March 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #79 - March 2013