JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #84 - October 2013 - 28

high-performance

the Perini Navi 60-m sloop is at the
cutting edge of superyacht carbon mast
and rigging design, incorporating a
70-m carbon mast and a full set of solid
carbon rigging cables. We have also
recently won the contract to supply torsional cables for the Volvo Ocean Race,
allowing Future Fibres to demonstrate
our capacity to produce a top-quality,
standardized product.
JCM: You have recently moved into the
aerospace, automotive and civil engineering sectors - have you set any specific
goals in these areas?

T. H. : Basically, we have two main

objectives for our non-marine business. Primarily, our R&D is focusing
on producing stronger, lighter cables
for cranes, F1 and the construction
industry that are capable of conforming
to the various requirements of each
sector.
Secondly, we are geared towards
educating these and other sectors into
"thinking composite", building closer
relationships with non-marine agencies
and working to develop new and innovative uses for our product range.

JCM: Have you already planned a rebalancing of your activities? Do you plan
to invest in this, or are your current
facilities and equipment adequate?

T. H. : The increased size and di-

mensions of many of the cables and
composite structures required by the
superyacht and civil engineering sectors have demanded new operational
protocols and we have responded by
investing heavily in new facilities and
infrastructure.
The Future Fibres manufacturing
facility has expanded to cater for everincreasing cable sizes, and our latest
installation comprises more than 4,000
m² of factory space dedicated to the
manufacture of large custom composite
parts. Four new production lines and
additional specialist equipment have
been installed to cater for the production of cables with a break strength of
up to 1,500 tons (TBC).
Additionally, we have reorganized our
internal administrative and management structures in order to facilitate
these changes and move the company forward in the most efficient and
productive manner. Our key strategic
goals are top-quality design, innovative
product development and cost-effective
manufacture, and in order to achieve
these goals we have recently added two
new roles to the leadership team.
Tim Meldrum, new Chief Design Officer (CDO), is now heading design and
project management across the whole
business group in order to lead the deli-

Fig. 6:Braiding process

very of excellence and innovation.
Luca Mezzo, who joined the senior
team as Chief Technology Officer
(CTO), comes from an aerospace background and brings with him a wealth
of experience in composite materials.
His role is to drive the development of
new composite materials in terms of
performance and functionality across
the full range of marine, aerospace, civil
engineering and automotive applications. Finally, our product research and
marketing teams are working hard to
understand the needs of each business
sector in order to provide our customers with the products and services
they require.
JCM: Would a partnership or other type
of agreement with another entity be feasible or even desirable to support your
development?

T. H. : Actually, our partnership with

Persico Spa, a world-leading supplier
of a range of moulding technologies, is
crucial to us. Together, we are developing a level of precision tooling that
will enable us to achieve the highest
standards of design and manufacture
within the industry. Persico Spa has
more than 40 years of experience in
specialist tooling for the highly demanding automotive, aerospace and marine
industries and will play an important
part in the delivery of future projects,
from our largest and most unusual
custom-built projects to our growing
involvement in the higher-volume and
standardized markets.

Fig. 4: Future Fibres solid carbon lateral rigging

Fig. 5:Future Fibres continuous wound fibre cables

28 jec composites magazine / No84 October 2013

JCM: More broadly, what challenges will
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #84 - October 2013

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