Advanced Lightweight Preform Automation 2

A consortium led by a car manufacturer is developing automated methods to produce lightweight composite parts more cheaply. Carbon-fibre composites are strong and light, making them ideal for improving fuel efficiency and performance in vehicles. But they remain expensive to use in mass production, partly because manufacturing processes waste material and rely on slow, labour-intensive steps. This project targets the preform stage—where layers of dry fibre are shaped before resin is injected—by automating the process and cutting material waste. If successful, the technologies could lower the cost of resin transfer moulded composite components enough to make them practical for high-volume car manufacturing. The same approach could also benefit other industries that use composites, including wind energy, sporting goods, and aerospace. Cheaper, lighter parts would mean more efficient vehicles and longer-lasting turbine blades, without requiring fundamental changes to existing supply chains. The project is applied engineering, not fundamental science, and its primary goal is cost reduction for a specific manufacturing step.