JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014 - 40

formulation

Innovation comes from
more than just molecules

Innovation does not consist only in incorporating new molecules
into the formulation; this is only one aspect. Innovative thinking
also incorporates a new way of working.

Jason Willis, Marketing,
Aerospace and high performance materials
Philippe Christou,
Head of European technical support
Huntsman Advanced Materials

rawing an analogy between prepregs
and house bricks can give an insight
as to why the identification of the
right partners and the use of collaborative working along the entire value chain
are essential for quickly finding the right
prepreg solution.
Within this prepreg value chain, the role of
specialty components partners is key.
There are three main ways in which a
specialty components partner serves the
prepreg market to support innovation:
1) Constructing building blocks
2) Managing change
3) Providing focus
Without a proper balance of these three
main elements, the ability of a specialty
components partner to provide innovation
in the prepreg market could be greatly
compromised.

Constructing building blocks
One obvious role is to provide building
blocks that prepreggers can use to create
their product. Specialty components partners synthesise, customize and optimise.
Synthesis occurs when base materials like
sand and water are used to make a brick
- or a building block - which is used by

a builder to create a house for a family.
Blocks are customised for use in various
performance-driven markets. They also
optimise processes via time or temperatures.
Effective innovation from new building
blocks can be successfully achieved, either
via in-house development or collaboratively, providing the right approach is taken.

Risk and change management

needed to create the right product.
Prepreggers are like the builders of the
basic house structure who rely on the quality and consistency of the bricks they use.
Like prepreggers, builders do not want to
receive bricks that are regular and robust
one day and oddly shaped or crumbling
apart the next. This would require them to
waste a lot of resources looking backwards
and worrying about construction materials, rather than looking forward and focusing on building a solid house. Without the
proper mitigation supports in place, the
forces of change threaten the stability of
the value chain's offering to the market.
If these systems and services are undervalued, the resources needed to maintain
them are at risk of being reduced or even

A credible specialty components partner
needs to have well-established risk and
change management processes in order to
mitigate the effects of three main sources
of change: regulatory bans and restrictions,
raw material variability in regards to supply
and quality, and supply chain - in other
words, "on-time-infull" delivery.
One of the foundations for driving
innovation is finding
the right partners with
the right systems to
deliver the appropriate
solution. From the
OEM, to the prepregger, to the specialty
component partner,
sufficient resources
Construct building blocks: Advanced chemistries raising performance
and investment are

40 jec composites magazine / No86 January - February 2014

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014