JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #133 - March/April 2020 - 12

NEWS aerospace

Growth of thermoplastic composites
The GIFAS (French aerospace industries association) thermoplastic
composite sector is made up of 60 companies, representing exhaustively
the French aeronautics sector, both in terms of the size of the companies
and their distribution across French territory. JEC Composites Magazine
met the members of the steering committee to understand the challenges
of thermoplastic composites in aerospace.

place from June 21 to 27,
2021.

reated in 1908, the
French aerospace industries
association
(GIFAS) is a professional
union that brings together
nearly 400 companies - from
the prime contractors and
system builders to SMEs.
Its members constitute a coherent, united and dynamic
high-tech sector specializing
in the study, development,
production, marketing and
maintenance of all aeronautical and space, civil and military programs and equipment, as well as defence and
of security.
GIFAS represents a profession whose 2018 turnover is € 65.4 billion - with
85% of consolidated export
turnover - directly employs
195,000 people and spends
11% of its turnover each year
on Research & Development
business.
Every two years, GIFAS organizes the Paris-Le Bourget
International Exhibition of
Aeronautics and Space, the
first global event of its kind.
The 54th Salon will take

The thermoplastic
composites sector
and its challenges
The GIFAS thermoplastic
composites sector is made
up of major contractors, tier
1, tier 2 suppliers and the entire supply chain (parts, materials, machines, tools, software).
Note that SMEs are very active and represent 50% of
these players. The work of
the sector irrigates many
SME subcontractors of industrialists in the sector,
whose activities are not directly linked to thermoplastics. Finally, the sector also
relies on research institutes
(IRT Jules Verne in Nantes,
IRT ST-Exupéry in Toulouse
and Bordeaux, IRT M2P in
Metz) and technical centres
(Technocentre Airbus in
Nantes).
The challenge is to develop
a competitive French industry, so that it takes a significant share of this market
with high growth potential
in France and abroad.
The objective is to align the

Air intake ©Airbus S.A.S. 2017, Photo by Sylvain Bonniol

members of the industry
(subcontractors and SMEs)
with the needs of manufacturers and allow them to mature by targeting technological barriers. It's a real
win-win approach.
To succeed in this mission, the GIFAS Industrial
Committee has set up a
working group, the work
of which is supervised by
a Steering Committee, ensuring the effective link
between the Contractors and
the subcontractors, on the as
technical and industrial aspects.
The GIFAS thermoplastic sector has made it pos-

jec composites magazine / N°133 March - April 2020

sible to launch collaborative projects in the
«Materials», «Means» and
«Implementation» fields.
For this, projects are set up in
two channels, in partnership
with IRT (Institute for
Technological Research) or
only between manufacturers.
The sector makes it possible
to align the players around
a common roadmap. It ensures the technological maturity of the supply chain
thanks to collaborative projects. Its objective is to give
access to promising markets
to all players.
Thus, the French sector will
be competitive to access the
world market.

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #133 - March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #133 - March/April 2020