JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #38 - January/February 2008 - 11

in partnership with JEC Composites E-letter AN INTERVIEW WITH DAMIEN JACQUINET PRESIDENT NIDA-CORE CORP. JEC Composites Magazine: What marketing rules have you applied in developing your company? DAMIEN JACQUINET: Nida-Core Corp.'s marketing department adheres to strict corporate policy of truth and integrity in advertising; we only make claims we can back up with case history from our extensive experience in the core materials industry. All marketing materials are designed with the end user in mind - to provide accurate, up to date engineering reference in informative, well organized manner. Nida-Core Corp.'s 1000 pages website, is widely regarded as one of the most complete information source for complementary to its own product range. The products Structiso and Structiform were renamed NidaFusion STO and STF after the acquisition of Structiso to facilitate their international development. NidaFusion STO’s fire-rated phenolic polyurethanes (PU) were especially interesting, as they were certified for the railway industry. Nida-Core Corp. continued to invest throughout 2005, until it was able to produce both lines in its Port Saint-Lucie plant. NidaFusion STO addresses the infusion market, while NidaFusion STF is appropriate for RTM and RTM Light. the specialized core materials industry. We strive to reinvent ourselves continuously, by offering industry leading initiatives and promotions to entice composite engineers and end users to design and manufacture products with our exclusive Rigid-Elastic Technology and related core materials from NidaCore Corp. JCM: In what direction would you like to take your company’s growth? DJ: We (obviously) strongly believe in the future of core materials in the composites industry. Our current growth rate, which looks impressive today, will not look exceptional 5 or 10 years from now, when compared to the numbers we plan to reach then. We are currently working on numerous developments, each of them potentially able to dwarf our current yearly turnover. The challenge is to get several of these range, this time to offer products for mould fabrication. More recently in early 2007, the company introduced NidaFoam PET foams for the wind-turbine, marine, railway, and land transportation industries. This product’s high temperature resistance (175°C) fulfils the strict requirement that is needed for entering the people transport market. This year, Nida-Core Corp. also introduced a compound that facilitates placing inserts in honeycomb and a low-index PU foam in a range of densities (30, 60 and 90 kg), for all segments. high volume challenges to soon materialize, while continuing to pay attention to the hundreds of smaller new projects. We need to continue listening to the customer, to the designer, to the enduser, so we keep providing them with the right solution to their needs. The industry we are in is so exciting that the major applications which will make the majority of our sales 10 years down the road may not even exist today ! So we need to keep re-inventing ourselves to be sure to be part of the next round of creation. If you are not ready to shoot yourself in the foot, somebody else may be ready to do so !! Keep bringing solutions, keep bringing talented individuals to work with us, keep listening to our customers, keep putting them first so they think of us in their developments: if we can continue to apply these basics while growing fast, we should be in good shape! objectives is to balance out its sales by market and by geographical area. For now, it is still quite dependent on its original market in the United States, which accounts for no less than 80% of its business, compared to 10% for Europe and 10% for the rest of the world. Even given this disproportion, Mr. Jacquinet is not afraid to announce his geographical objective, which is to adhere to what is projected for the composite industry in general, i.e. 1/3 Asia-Pacific Rim, 1/3 Americas, and 1/3 Europe. Over the medium term, Nida-Core Corp.’s sales in terms of user industries break down into 20% each for the marine, transport, building, industrial parts, and wind-turbine industries, reflecting the fact that Nida-Core Corp.’s objectives are more in phase with its range of products than with the natural market evolution. This objective is not settled and can change according to market opportunities. In a nutshell, Nida-Core Corp.’s current objectives turn around achieving a wide range of complementary products and a good distribution of its sales over the geographical regions and markets covered. These may be ambitious, but they should enable the company to continue to grow. More information www.nida-core.com Interesting prospects Structiso renamed NidaFusion STO In 2005, NidaFlow, a Nida-Core Corp. product made in China, was added. The company also developed Nidabond, a structural adhesive that went particularly well with the honeycombs already available. At the end of that year, Nida-Core Corp. entered into an agreement with Nord Composites, well-known for its high-quality premixed resins. Thanks to the contract, Nida-Core Corp. was able again to expand its The company’s success is not an isolated one, but it is of interest because of the strategic choices involved and of the entrepreneurial instincts of its founder and president. This is particularly important. If you are not a huge multinationale company, it is preferable to have a good feel for your market – in our case, the composite market – and also look elsewhere to see if certain products can’t find outlets in other markets. Nida-Core Corp. opted not only for a complementary range to be able to offer its customers solutions rather than just products, but also to steer clear of concentrating on a single market. One of the company’s medium-term No38 January - February 2008 / JEC Composites Magazine

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #38 - January/February 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #38 - January/February 2008