JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #85 - November/December 2013 - 12

Applications

large parts

Multiplast, from the ocean
to the stars
- Multiplast, from the ocean
to the stars ..................... p12
- Hi-tech composite
skateboards ................... p14
- When composite waste
becomes a new design
object ............................... p16
- Innovating and develo-ping new FRP materials
for growth ........................ p18
- Optimal penstock routing
with GRP pipe systems p20

The Multiplast shipyard is well
known by competitors in the
world's premier sailing events
for a good reason, which is that
any number of victories and
records have been achieved
on mono- and multihull boats
from the shipyard. Now Multiplast is using its expertise to
branch out into large, mostly
carbon parts for other industries - in particular aerospace.

M
Formulating
Success
www.axson.com

ultiplast was created in the early
1980s by Gilles Ollier, who was
pinning his hopes on the new composite technologies. The company started
out its development in the boat racing field,
thanks to the Gilles Ollier Design Team.
At the end of the 1990s, Multiplast began
diversifying into industrial parts with the
Tigre helicopter simulator spheres for Thalès
Training Simulation. In September 2009,
the company was taken over by Dominique
Dubois, the majority shareholder with 94%
of shares. Today in Vannes (France), Multiplast is capitalizing on its two complementary fields of expertise: large high-tech yachts,
and short- and medium-run production of
large industrial parts. Multiplast employs 75
people, with 60 of them working in production. Its total sales amount to €7 million, of
which industrial parts account for one-third
to one-half, depending on the year.

ment, with four engineers and the necessary means and skills for composite parts.
The department works with universities,
research centres, and the EMC² and Pôle
Mer competitive clusters.
Multiplast specializes in carbon parts
manufactured mostly using out-of-autoclave
prepregs. The company has three 1,500-m²
air-conditioned production halls under
controlled temperature and humidity. The
equipment includes a number of curing
ovens (in particular Europe's largest 200°C
class one), 23x8 meters spray cabine, 8x2,5
meters TPT® machine, cold storage rooms,
machining tools for master models, moulds
and finished parts, and a back-up generator
in case of power outage during part curing.
Access to the sea through 28-metre-wide
doors enables the removal of large boat parts
for sea transport.
For ultrasound non-destructive testing,
laser-tracker dimensional inspection (cf.
JEC Composites Magazine No. 84, p. 56),

Engineering and production
For more than 25 years, Multiplast has had
its own design and engineering depart-

12 jec composites magazine / No85 November - December 2013

Fig. 1: MOD 70 trimarans with floats and back
beams built at Multiplast

http://www.axson.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #85 - November/December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #85 - November/December 2013