IBEX 365 News
Airtech Set to Celebrate 50 Years
What does Airtech offer the marine structure fabricator? Our stability, innovation, and manufacturing capabilities over nearly 50 years in the composites industry have earned us the reputation of being a solutions provider among our loyal customers. This is the Airtech Advantage.
Since the beginning, Airtech has been years ahead of its time, playing an integral role in pioneering innovations in the composites industry and producing incredible solutions for our customers. We’ve truly seen it all; beginning with metal bonding as one of our primary industries in the 70s – along with fiberglass and Kevlar – to the advanced composites of today utilizing modernized materials and services like carbon fiber and composite tooling.
The reliability of the service we provide and the quality of the materials we offer has defined us over the last half-century. Our very first vacuum bagging film (Wrightlon 7400), developed in 1973, is still among the most widely specified bagging materials in the world, providing excellent strength, elongation, and vacuum integrity under extremes of pressure and temperature. Our products and services have stood the test of time.
As the nature of the industry has evolved, so has Airtech. In our early years, we exclusively serviced the aerospace sector. Over time, we expanded our range of products and services, adapting to the needs and complexities of the wind energy, automotive, marine, construction, and additive manufacturing markets, positioning ourselves as a dynamic leader at the forefront of composite innovation today.
Airtech has a clear company mission; to provide our customers with a technical partner, not just a supplier. As a technical partner, we exhibit a consistent drive and urgency to problem-solve and take action. When we saw the need for reduced labor in composite part production, we invested our resources in custom kitting centers to convert roll stock into custom-sized vacuum bag materials ready to be used right out of the box. This service not only offers our customers a reduced labor and flow time for composite part lay-up, but also makes the quality of the part more consistent by reducing the possibility of operator error, minimizes waste, and increases productivity.
Recently, Airtech has invested heavily in large format 3D printing, including the completion of 60,000 sq-ft of new construction in Springfield, TN to house our “Center of Excellence” 3D printing. We have installed a twin facility in our Differdange, Luxembourg facility. Along with this capability we have a focused R&D program on material technology to expand the range of the possible for our customers. Initially focused on supporting our ‘Tooling of Tomorrow’ program (ToT), new resin formulations are increasingly being considered for production parts. See more details in our brochure, click here.
