Composites UK, the official trade association for the UK composites industry, is celebrating a successful first year of its ever-growing supply chain database and planning its next steps.

The Hub database was founded by Composites UK alongside the National Composites Centre, in conjunction with the Composites Leadership Forum as a response to the UK Composites Strategy and the BIS Manufacturing and Skills policy.

Hub database

The Hub acts to promote companies in the UK composites supply chain via basic profile listings, directing business opportunities to them. Also, when completing their profiles, companies are asked for more detailed information, which is kept private. This in the long-term will feed into the generation of accurate UK composite industry statistics informing key strategic decisions for the industry.

Many companies are already seeing the benefit of using and being listed on the Hub, which is open to both Composites UK members and non-members free-of-charge.

The next steps for the database is to create mapping software to be offered via a subscription service. Users will be able to access powerful information on key markets and company positions within given locations. The launch of this will take place in the last quarter of 2016.

Dynamically growing market

“Composites is a relatively new, dynamically growing and – in particular – diverse market,” Iain Fergusson, Sales Executive with Fillworth UK. “Our company was one of the early entrants, supplying specialised mixing equipment suitable for processing such raw materials, and we have been able to get in touch with some of the multi-nationals involved in the aerospace supply chain.”

“In communication terms it has been markedly more difficult to make contact with other UK based players in this market, until we became aware of the Composites UK database – and the trouble the Association has gone to in order to make it user-friendly by means of the Hub’s search filters,” Iain explained.

“This represents how trade associations should work. For the sake of market transparency we feel that all companies within the composites supply chain should, in their own interests, utilise the technical facilities to make their situation and requirements apparent.”

Composites UK

Composites UK is the official trade association for the UK composites industry. The association acts to encourage continuous growth and development of the industry, promoting the best-practice use of composites materials.

Its role is to bring companies throughout the supply chain together creating partnerships, as-well-as creating a unified voice to drive the industry forward.

www.compositesuk.co.uk