The voice of UK industry

Welcome to my second editorial as Composites UK Chairman. Composites UK is the accredited trade association for the UK composites industry. Our mission is to enhance and promote the safe and effective use of composites, supporting the UK industry so that companies involved in this growing market can continue to grow and participate in the increasingly competitive world of global composite production and have a shared voice.

Following the association’s growth in recent years (members and staff) we cover the whole supply chain including manufacturers, material suppliers, ancillaries, consultancies, end users and research institutions across a wide range of applications and market sectors.

We continue to see a consistent growth in the UK composites industry with the dedicated publication to composites, Composites in Manufacturing (CiM) and of course the increasingly successful Composite Engineering Show (November 4-5 2015) at Hall 5 in the NEC, Birmingham playing a critical role in promoting UK capability.

The association goes from strength to strength and with a strong team in place, supported by a dedicated Board of Directors, is destined for another great and successful year ahead.

This year we have been developing three key initiatives to support our members and the wider industry:

● Hub database – UK capability database

● CAP scheme – setting national industry standards for competency and skills across manufacturing

● H&S online management system and self-audit tool

As outlined above we continue to grow with the Composites Engineering Show as Headline Industry Partner and due to growing demand we will be hosting our Annual Industry Awards Dinner at the Hilton Metropole hotel on the NEC complex on Wednesday 4th November. This year our awards cover eight areas from ‘Innovation’ through to ‘Employer of the Year’.

The standard and number of entries to the awards continues to increase and this year we are producing a shortlist of applicants with the winners being announced at the dinner itself.

We would love to hear any views or thoughts on Composites UK on our stand at Composites Engineering (E158), email us at info@compositesuk.co.uk or give us a call on +44(0)1442 275365.

Andrew Dugmore, Chairman – Composites UK https://compositesuk.co.uk