The Innovative Composites Summit (I.C.S.), a program of strategic, technical and end-user conferences, will be presented in conjunction with the JEC Americas Composites Show & Conferences at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, October 2-4, 2013. I.C.S. will showcase the vision, expertise and insights of top business and technology leaders from the global composites industry. The program is designed to help attendees understand macro trends affecting industry sectors including aeronautics and automotive, materials such as carbon, thermoplastics and biocomposites, and cutting-edge processing and design approaches.
"JEC Americas is a collaboration among many stakeholders," said Frédérique Mutel, president and CEO, JEC Group. "I.C.S. will feature speakers from America's composite associations, universities, research centers and companies, including the University of California, MPACT Corporation, Johns Manville, Agilent Technologies, MSC Software and Composites Innovation Centre. In addition, multinational companies well established in North America, such as Chomarat, Siemens, SABIC, Daimler AG and CarboTech, will be represented. Working together, we are committed to providing an outstanding program for the composite industry as a whole, and for participants from the Americas and many global locations."
The I.C.S. conference will highlight the viewpoints of those who are breaking new ground in the composites industry. Top thinkers from business, technology and government will share their insights in:
Design & Processing Forums
Productivity & Robotization session: Increasing productivity while maintaining the same level of quality, whether in the materials or the processes, is the main challenge here. From on-line quality control to post-machining, rework and repair, automation is the key to mass production in the composite materials industry. Because of the high-level quality demanded by applications sectors such as aeronautics and automotive, automated production has faced many challenges. Biocomposites session: Global manufacturers in many sectors are generating a growing market pull for composite materials that can be used to create lighter, stronger products with reduced costs and energy consumption. The presenters in this session represent key components of this global movement to deliver the potential of biocomposites to the industry.
Application Sector Forums
Automotive session: Composite materials have been used in the automotive industry since the 1930s. This is easily explained by the unique solutions they bring: fuel efficiency by reducing the weight of the whole vehicle, improving safety and crash worthiness and strengthening of various parts. Aeronautics session: In the aircraft industry, composite materials have been more and more widely used. Indeed, they offer the possibility to overcome obstacles that have been encountered when using individual materials. The key improvement they provide is structural strength comparable to metallic parts but at a lighter weight.
Materials Forums
Carbon session: Carbon fibers have long been specifically used in high-quality but restrained industries, due to their elevated manufacturing cost. However, their unsurpassed strength-to-weight ratio has made carbon fibers highly necessary in application sectors such as automotive and aeronautics. Thermoplastics session: Over the last few decades, thermoplastic composites have gained market share and importance. The unique properties of thermoplastic composites, such as toughness and impact resistance, along with recyclability have created a lot of new opportunities.
The I.C.S. will also include a program of more than 100 presentations:
A large Education & Skills Village bringing together universities, industry organizations, academic groups, market associations and scientific centers. Further, given Boston's global reputation as a center of higher education and technology development, JEC is granting students a 50 percent discount to attend the sixth I.C.S. conference, and complimentary access to the entire JEC Americas Exhibit A presentation of an automation process chain A live demo of large-series reinforced thermoplastics parts manufacturing A poster session Three days of technical sales presentations
