EDITOR’S CHOICE
BIG OPPORTUNITIES
FORMAPLEX
Lightweighting – a heavyweight opportunity for manufacturing
By Matt Sellens, sales director, Formaplex
Firmly established in the aerospace and
automotive industries, the principles of
lightweighting open up big opportunities for
the manufacturing sector at large. And for
engineers and designers looking to reduce
their carbon footprint and boost the bottom
line, those opportunities are just waiting to
be grasped.
Lightweighting is something we get asked
about - a lot. It’s not a new trend but rather
an evolution driven by the combination of
advanced materials and processes with the
drive for economy and reduction in CO2
emissions.
Put simply, the principle is that if you
need additional speed and efficiency,
add lightness. Proof that it works is
firmly established in the aerospace and
automotive industries with whom we’ve
been solutions providers for almost two
decades.
A McKinsey report, ‘Lightweight, heavy
impact’, looking at how carbon fibre and
6
PECM Issue 44
other lightweight materials will develop
across industries, forecasts significant
growth. While the lightweight materials
share is currently highest in aviation with
almost 80 per cent, automotive is predicted
to massively increase its share from 30 to
70 per cent by 2030.
Carbon fibre offers huge design scope.
Its cost gap to aluminium is also on track
to shrink significantly over the next two
decades, with forecasts based on the
automotive sector making carbon fibre parts
much closer in cost terms to comparable
aluminium parts.
The McKinsey report backs this up,
predicting that the industrialisation of
carbon fibre means that costs have the
potential to decrease by 70 per cent,
benefiting manufacturing in its broadest
sense. This all points to a continued move
towards the increased use of carbon
fibre as part of the drive towards greater
efficiency and lower carbon emissions. The
opportunities and benefits are ready and
waiting for designers and engineers across
all the sectors who are open to the next
generation of possibilities.
LIGHTWEIGHTING – SOME
SURPRISING OPPORTUNITIES
We are seeing particular scope in
the oil, gas, medical, space, defence
and renewables sectors, where the
leading players are recognising that
the lightweighting revolution leads to
a circle of improvements. It’s based on
the simple premise that any part of any
product that moves will reap the benefits
of lightweighting in sometimes less than
obvious areas.