Rockwood Composites, the composites components manufacturer, has announced it will quadruple its capacity in the next five years. This includes increasing its factory floor space from 5,000 to over 30,000 square feet, which will be supported by a commensurate increase in sales and recruiting more highly skilled engineers.

This growth has already started with the recent relocation to a new, bigger factory in Paignton. Rockwood has also invested in new machinery, such as a Hexagon Absolute Arm, which has been instrumental in developing novel business class seats for aircraft, and a HURCO CNC. The growth is also being provided with last month’s opening of a Moroccan subsidiary, which will have a footprint of 2,000m2, specifically for the aerospace industry.

The company is a specialist in design for manufacture and offers long run, small volume production runs. It has already built a solid reputation in aerospace and defence and is expanding into automotive and leisure. For example it is manufacturing cycle frames for two leading bike producers, and these will be demonstrated at the show. 

Its design engineers, who understand both materials properties and tooling, will be on hand at the show to explain how to effectively design for efficient manufacture. Look out for them as they cycle around. The company is currently recruiting similar highly skilled engineers. 

Mark Crouchen, Rockwood Composite’s managing director, said: “Our customers want more of our design skills and manufacturing capability, and this demand is coming from new industries as well as existing markets. This is a pivotal time for the company as we have moved to much bigger premises and just last month opened our Moroccan subsidiary. 

“We are planning for huge growth and myself and my team are relishing the challenges that our customers will bring, whether that is producing seats for an aeroplane, developing struts able to withstand the largest temperature range you can imagine, designing a manufacturing process for a rotor or manufacturing a hockey stick or ice skate – it doesn’t matter, we will turn our experience and expertise and deliver efficient and effective solutions in composites manufacture.” 

You can find out more about Rockwood Composites by talking to the team at stand V120 at the show and for background visit www.rockwoodcomposites.com.