JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #100 - Special JEC Asia - October 2015 - 9

www.formax.com

Airbus officially opens
US manufacturing facility
The plant located in Mobile, Alabama,
which will assemble the family of A319s,
A320s and A321s, is officially open for
business, with a skilled team of more
than 250 Airbus manufacturing employees now at work on the first US-made
Airbus aircraft.
Airbus announced plans for the $600 million U.S. manufacturing facility in 2012,
and construction began at the Mobile
Aeroplex at Brookley the following year.
The first U.S.-made Airbus commercial aircraft - an A321 - is scheduled for delivery
next spring. By 2018, the facility will produce between 40 and 50 single-aisle aircraft
per year. Airbus' market forecast indicates
a demand over the next 20 years (from all
manufacturers) for some 4,700 single-aisle
aircraft in North America alone.
www.airbus.com

Acquisition

Solvay acquires
Cytec for US$5.5 billion
Solvay has entered into a definitive
merger agreement with U.S.-based
Cytec to acquire 100% of its share
capital for US$ 75.25 per share in cash.
Headquartered in New Jersey with 4,600
employees across the globe, Cytec generated

sales of US$2 billion. It sources almost half
of its sales from North America, nearly a
third from EMEA and the remainder from
Asia Pacific and Latin America. In the fastgrowing composite materials sector, which
represents two thirds of its sales, its principal
market is primary and secondary structures
for aircrafts. It is also developing new technological applications for composites in automotive. Through the acquisition of Cytec,
Solvay will gain critical scale and immediate
customer intimacy in aerospace. In the
automotive market, Solvay's strong positions
with original equipment manufacturers and
tier-one suppliers will help bolster Cytec's
growth. Cytec's composites businesses will
be integrated into Solvay's Advanced Materials operating segment.
www.solvay.com
GKN agrees to acquire Fokker
Technologies for €706 million
The acquisition of Fokker further enhances
GKN's position as a global supplier to the
aerospace industry. Fokker is a specialist
Tier 1 supplier to the commercial, military
and business jet markets. With almost 5,000
employees Fokker is headquartered in the
Netherlands and has operations in Europe,
North America and Asia. In the year ended
31 December 2014, Fokker generated
revenue of €758 million.
GKN is a UK headquartered global engineering group with over 50,000 people
working in the aerospace, automotive and
land systems markets. It has manufacturing
facilities in more than 30 countries. GKN
Aerospace is a global Tier 1 supplier of airframe and engine subassemblies, transparencies and fuel/flotation systems, with sales

in 2014 of 3.1 billion and a global workforce
of more than 12,000 employees.
Once the acquisition is completed, Fokker,
under the current leadership, will become a
new operating unit within GKN Aerospace.
Fokker's headquarters will remain in the
Netherlands and it will also continue with
its R&D and manufacturing facilities in the
Netherlands as well as with its partnerships
with the Dutch government and knowledge
institutes.
www.gkn.com
RUAG and ULA establish
a strategic partnership
US launch vehicle manufacturer
United Launch Alliance (ULA) and
RUAG announce a strategic cooperation in which RUAG will establish a US
composites production capability located
within ULA's Decatur factory. RUAG
already delivers carbon fibre structures for
ULA's Atlas launchers - the payload fairing
for the larger Atlas V-500 launcher as well
as the interstage adapter for the smaller Atlas V-400. RUAG currently produces these
structures in Switzerland at its Zurich and
Emmen locations. Beginning in 2018, the
structures are to be produced in Decatur,
where RUAG will also manufacture other
carbon fibre structures for the new Vulcan
launcher. RUAG will continue to manufacture the payload fairings for the European
Ariane and Vega rockets in Switzerland.

Partnership

Formax celebrates opening
of new innovation centre
The innovation center will develop
optimized multiaxial fabrics for the
automotive, aerospace, marine, sports and
industrial markets, and will also enable it
to pursue new business opportunities in
automated composites manufacture and
non-polymer applications. This facility
strengthens the company's commitment to
developing optimized multiaxial fabrics for
the automotive, aerospace, marine, sports
and industrial markets, and will also enable
it to pursue new business opportunities in
automated composites manufacture and
non-polymer applications. Located at the
company's UK headquarters, the Innovation Centre is Formax's latest investment
in its expanding Innovation Department,
which is tasked with developing new products and providing technical support to the
company's global customer base.

www.ruag.com

Strategic partnership
between Textechno and AMAC
Textechno, an operating designer and manufacturer of testing systems for fibres, yarns
and fabrics, plans to expand its worldwide
activities in the field of Advanced Materials
in cooperation with Dr. Michael Effing.
The demand for lightweight materials,
so-called composites with carbon, glass or
other reinforcements, is growing rapidly
across industries, especially in the automotive sector. With the objective to expand in
this global growth market, Textechno announces its strategic partnership with Dr.
Michael Effing and his company AMAC
GmbH. He will, with immediate effect,
support and advise Textechno with its
strategic sales and marketing activities.
www.textechno.com
www.amac-international.com

No100 October 2015 /

jec composites magazine 9

http://www.gkn.com http://www.formax.com http://www.solvay.com http://www.ruag.com http://www.airbus.com http://www.textechno.com http://www.amac-international.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #100 - Special JEC Asia - October 2015