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November 28, 2012
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The Lamborghini team building one of the 20 Sestos Elementos that will be released in 2013. (Quantum Composites photo.) QUANTUM LEAP: Composites Firm Gets Tax Abatement to Invest, Add Jobs
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Holy High Tech Materials, Batman!
Advanced materials replacing metal developed by a Bay City firm are going into such sexy products as an experimental Lamborghini auto and Callaway Golf composite drivers.
The firm, Quantum Composites Inc., started in the Midland industrial incubator nearly 30 years ago with about $650,000 in government grants, is reaching maturity in the Valley Center Technology Park in Bay City.
The Small Business Administration granted innovation research grants of $144,000 and $490,000 in 1983 and 1984 to Norman Strand of Howell, Michigan, and William I. Childs.
The application stated the investigators goal of developing a low cost tooling material and process for graphite and kevlar.
The grants, through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense, were aimed at creating a new tooling concept suited to the manufacture of components fabricated from modern polymers and composites.
Quantum Composites, Inc., the advanced composite division of The Composites Group located at 1310 South Valley Center Drive in Monitor Township, received unanimous support Monday night by the Monitor Township Board of Trustees.
Quantum Composites, Inc. was granted an 11-year, 50 percent abatement on personal and real property. This is associated with a capital investment plan designed to generate significant growth and job creation over the next five years, according to officials of the firm.
Wisdom Dzotsi, general manager of Quantum Composites, Inc. said that the investment of nearly $400,000 includes equipment to help customers understand how their products will perform in specific applications. The expansion will be create at least six new jobs within two years and will help the company meet new growth targets.
Quantum was purchased in 2010 by The Composites Group, an Ohio based composites collaborative dedicated to the conversion of metal products to reinforced thermoset composites which serves a wide range of fields including aerospace, defense, automotive, marine, construction, renewable energy and recreation industries.
Quantum Composites' AMC trademarked materials are used in Lamborghini & Callaway Golf Forged Composite applications.
An article in Composites Manufacturing magazine reports that Forged Composite is being used in Callaway Golf's new RAZAR Fit Driver.
The article also confirms that Lamborghini is using Forged Composite in their Sesto Elementos being built solely for track use. The production of these technology demonstrators utilizing Quantum Composites AMC® materials are based on Lamborghini's success in their monocoque/tub and suspension arms for the original Sesto Elemento concept car introduced at the 2010 Paris Auto Show.
The Callaway & Lamborghini partnership continues to develop Forged Composite applications for new Automotive & Sporting Goods products. Quantum Composites continues to refine and improve its AMC® materials technology to support these developments. The Composites Group, headquartered in North Kingsville, OH, offers capabilities from materials to prototyping through production and finishing. The firm has three locations:
Premix, North Kingsville, is the largest North American developer, formulator and manufacturer of thermoset compounds and custom-molded components.
Hadlock Plastics, Geneva, OH, offers multiple molding technologies as well as precision machining and complete finishing and complex assembly.
Quantum Composites of Bay City, MI, specializes in the development, formulation and manufacturing of high-performance Engineered Structural Composites (ESC).
Early last year investment firms Highlander Partners, L.P. and Capstone Capital Partners announced acquisition of Premix Inc and its subsidiary Quantum Composites Inc.
Premix, a North Kingsville, Ohio, based manufacturer of thermoset composite materials and custom-moulded components, was combined with another Highlander/Capstone company, Hadlock Plastics LLC of Geneva, Ohio, a custom moulder and finisher of engineered composite products.
The combined enterprise will offer customers a full range of engineering and manufacturing processes, from prototype through to production.
Hadlock Plastics President Terry Morgan was named to lead the combined company as CEO, and Premix Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tom Meola assumed an expanded role as COO for the new company.
The enterprise has 430 employees and a total manufacturing capacity of more than 500,000 square feet.
"The drive to replace traditional manufacturing materials such as metal and wood with superior-performing, corrosion-resistant, high-strength-to-weight ratio composites is creating new opportunities in a broad range of industries, including aerospace, alternative energy, medical, electrical, HVAC, transportation, defence, construction, and industrial equipment," says Morgan. "Our complementary skills, technologies and manufacturing processes will broaden and deepen our capabilities, positioning us to capitalize on this growing trend."
"The new company brings together seasoned engineering teams, experienced, dedicated employees, and a highly motivated sales force who will continue to serve their customers in diverse industries," adds Meola. "We are eager to build upon the strengths of these longstanding and well-regarded thermoset companies as we expand into more markets and in more areas of the world."
Premix's products include sheet moulding compound (SMC), bulk moulding compound (BMC) and thick moulding compound (TMC). The company also offers compression, injection and transfer moulding services to customers worldwide. Quantum Composites, Bay City, Michigan, USA, specialises in developing sheet moulding compounds and related services. Hadlock Plastics offers multiple composite molding technologies, including compression moulding, open moulding, resin transfer moulding (RTM) and RTM Light as well as machining, finishing and assembly services.
Highlander Partners is a Dallas-based private investment firm focusing on making investments in middle market businesses in targeted industries. Highlander Partners has established a strategic alliance with Capstone Capital Partners of Cleveland.
Last year The Composites Group announced it had developed and manufactured by Quantum Composites a new product that was extensively researched and evaluated through a strategic alliance with Lamborghini and Callaway in conjunction with the University of Washington.
"The result was an advanced, discontinuous carbon-fiber composite that easily flows and fills complex 3-D mold cavities -- meeting extremely high material performance criteria while dramatically lowering processing costs," said Matt Douglas, marketing manager of Quantum Composites.
This AMC, also referred to as a "Forged Composite," by Callaway and Lamborghini, includes turbostratic carbon fibers that enhance the material's superior strength and allow for a better power to weight ratio compared to metal alloys typically used by the automotive and recreation industries.
"This unique collaboration among high-performance companies also fast-tracked the new application and material development process," added Terry Morgan, chief executive officer of The Composites Group. "As a team, we engineered a material that replaced titanium and carbon fiber prepreg in a Callaway application and an alternate composite for Lamborghini. It proved to be a winning team that you might say is used to being driven to success."
"We're excited about the potential of this new carbon fiber reinforced material in high-performance applications, based on the proven success of these new applications," added Douglas. "We appreciate the confidence placed in us by Lamborghini and Callaway Golf and very much enjoyed working with them on these projects."
"Quantum Composites continues to strengthen their organization and workforce and will continue to align their capabilities to meet the needs of their customers," said Trevor Keyes, economic development specialist of Bay Future, Inc., a public-private partnership.
"They are a high-tech company with high standards of quality: quality that they will continue to bring to Monitor Township and Bay County in the years ahead," said Keyes, who has worked with Quantum Composites as part of Bay Future's retention program and helped to assist on the project.
To learn more about Quantum Composites please visit their webpage: www.quantumcomposites.com
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