A Proven Formula for Composites Industry Collaboration and Tech Advancement
Knoxville, TN (April 15, 2025) – IACMI is building on the momentum of Members Meetings which have brought together 4,500+ participants over nine years, with representation from all facets of the composites industry supply chain.
This summer, IACMI will host its 17th Members Meeting since being established 10 years ago. The event – June 24-26, 2025, in Dayton, Ohio – will convene top leaders in composites, manufacturing, and workforce development. This year’s theme: “A Decade of Innovation, IACMI’s Impact.”
The 250+ members expected to gather in Dayton, the birthplace of aviation, will once again seek and find what keeps them coming back to Convene, Connect and Catalyze. Members Meetings are a microcosm of all IACMI stands for and a welcoming forum for newcomers and long-time members.
IACMI 2.0: Relevant and Impactful
Additive manufacturing. Cryogenic hydrogen fuel storage. Workforce development. Sustainability. Production digital transformation. As IACMI approaches its second decade, these and other keys to advanced composites success will be front and center. “IACMI 2.0 will be even more relevant and impactful than IACMI 1.0,” said Chad Duty, IACMI CEO.
“We are in the midst of a digital revolution. There will be entirely new business processes. Digital simulation tools will support rapid first-time-right decision making vs. empirical processes. Hang on to your seatbelts!” That’s R. Byron Pipes, Ph.D., speaking at IACMI’s 2024 Members Meeting in Indianapolis. Pipes is a distinguished professor at Purdue University School of Materials Engineering and executive director of Purdue’s Composites Manufacturing Simulation Center (CMSC).
What Is IACMI 2.0?
Nearly a decade ago, IACMI was born of a U.S. government initiative to strengthen U.S. manufacturing. The top priority at that time: composite R&D for lightweighting care for better fuel efficiency. Now, there are new projects that reflect how the composites industry can play a major part in America’s next manufacturing chapter.
“With the advent of IACMI 2.0, there has been broadening of the aperture,” said Dan Beattie, director, Public Services, North America, Dassault Systèmes, a provider of simulation and digital twin technology. “That is going to be important to achieve broad-based energy goals. You have to take a whole-of-life approach, including not only manufacturing inputs but also the infrastructure serving manufacturing.”
One of the core objectives for IACMI 2.0 is making composites more affordable. Reducing costs and improving efficiency are essential for composites raw materials and parts production growth. The solution is part customer education, part manufacturing advances. The industry must simultaneously address misconceptions about composite cradle-to-grave costs and sustainability — and rapidly develop and prove radically new products and processes. No easy feats.
IACMI and its members are moving the needle. For example, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to reduce wind blade labor time by at least 20 percent from the current 2,400 hours/blade. Also, the Future Mobility/Vehicle Technology Working Group is exploring micro factories, which would be far less expensive to build than full-sized assembly lines. With a smaller, more affordable footprint, a micro factory could be designed to leverage composites to build cars from start to finish.
‘A Powerful Triangulation’
“IACMI brings together industry, universities and federal laboratories. That’s what is truly unique. It’s rarely all three. It is a powerful triangulation, which is extremely important,” said Joe Fox, Ph.D., president, FX Consulting LLC, who has attended every IACMI members meeting.
A Unique Trinity: Industry, Academia, National Laboratories What is it about IACMI Annual Members Meetings that differentiates them from other professional events? The predominant answer from 2024 meeting participants aligned with that of Dr. Fox — the triangle of stakeholders.
- Industry
- Academia
- Federal Laboratories
A cross-section of the 2024 attendees had this to say:
- “There is a fantastic collection of people. They are subject matter experts, they are leaders in the space, and they are engaged and excited to talk about the problems, the challenges and the opportunities that we all face.”— Adam Halsband, Managing Director, Forward Engineering North America
- “Are IACMI meetings unique? Absolutely. The broad membership of academia as well as manufacturing and materials suppliers and technical experts — it gives us an opportunity to engage with all types of people in the industry and look for opportunities to support them and for them to support us.” — Scott Farrisee, Vice President, Engineering, Polygon Company
- “My interest in IACMI is the cooperation between universities and the industry. These conversations are very important. Everybody has the same target and direction: to grow the composites field for the future. Advanced composites were invented only 50 years whereas steel has a much longer history of hundreds and thousands of years. We need time to achieve the full potential for composites.” — Yasuo Ueda, Global Business Consultant, Toray Engineering Co. Ltd.
Shared Costs: Putting Innovation within Reach IACMI’s tiered membership model makes IACMI benefits, including access to state-of-the-art equipment and the top U.S. composites minds, within reach for both small- and medium-sized (SME) and large organizations. For example, earlier in his career, Fox was charged with establishing Ashland Chemical’s composite business, later acquired by INEOS. He got involved with IACMI out of the gate. He describes a:
- Moderate financial commitment from Ashland
- Federal funding through IACMI
- Mutually beneficial collaboration with IACMI members
- Access to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) resources
- In-kind investment of personnel and raw materials by participating members
“If we’d attempted to do this project ourselves, it would have been prohibitively expensive and would take years,” Fox said. “But with these partners, we were able to develop a solution in a year. You are leveraging your own and others’ expertise, equipment and money for faster product development.”
‘The Secret Sauce’
“IACMI has really found the secret sauce to connect people and create workforces, partnerships and ventures between its members to promote composites use, increase sustainability and solve the issues we have today,” said Caio Lo Sardo, executive vice president, MITO Material Solutions, supplier of graphene-based polymer additives. “For us as a small company, it’s a great place to become part of the industry workforce and new materials developments.”
Right-Size Meeting for the Mission The IACMI members meeting attracts hundreds — not thousands or tens of thousands. This cultivates a collaborative setting in which to:
- Tackle key issues
- Make meaningful connections
- Learn about R&D, technologies and trends
Here is what more 2024 attendees had to say:
- “Because the IACMI members meetings are a bit smaller, that actually works to its advantage and favor because you can have very focused conversations with multiple industry partners from the full supply chain.” — David Morgan, Chief Strategy Officer, Carbon Rivers
- “It’s a more intimate setting, and you get to meet just about everybody. You get a lot of perspectives because there are people from different industries. There’s a good balance of theory and the practical.” — Ross Jones, Senior Plastics and Composites Engineer, Trane Technologies
- “Here you’re working with manufacturers and educators in the same room vs. being siloed. Oftentimes there are separate conferences, one attended by educators and another by manufacturers. The IACMI annual members meeting is different in that aspect.” — Carol Howerton, Workforce Development Director, Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center
- “The meetings bring together a smaller community, and they are more relaxed because everybody is trying to work toward a common goal. Even though there are people who generally would be competitors, here they focus together on advancing the industry and finding projects that benefit everyone. That’s what is beautiful about it.” — Hicham Ghossein, Ph.D., CEO, Endeavor Composites Inc.
- “What makes IACMI meetings somewhat unique are the efforts to collaborate and get people to talk with each other, interface and share ideas.” — Vern Benson, Technical Fellow, Composites Manufacturing, Northrop Grumman
Collaborating vs. Competing Members meeting participants described how they appreciated an atmosphere centered around a shared interest to drive the industry forward vs. a more closed-mouth competitive backdrop.
For example, in the IACMI working groups, oftentimes one participant will ask a question or pose a challenge, and five to 10 others will share ideas for solutions. “People aren’t trying to keep that close to their chest, so it feels very collaborative. If someone solves a problem, it’s a win for everybody,” said Mitch Rencheck, Ph.D., senior research engineer, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Dale Leftwich is business development manager, JR Automation, which makes composites industry equipment, from design to commissioning. He has attended every IACMI members meeting. “There are proven-out technologies coming from the different working groups,” he said. “Unlike some events, it’s truly advancing technology for not only for those who provide the technology but also the end users — the entire supply chain.”
Stephen Nolet, senior director, Innovation and Technology, TPI Composites Inc., is co-facilitator of the Energy Working Group. He shared this analogy. “We’re aligned along project areas, which brings a higher concentration of quality interactions. If you go to larger events, you still have quality interactions, but it’s a bit like a chemical process. It is diffusion controlled, and if you’re lucky to bounce into a quality connection, it’s great, and if you don’t, then you miss out. Here, it’s like we have added temperature to the reaction, and we get more interactions. It puts us closer together, and that’s because our interests are well aligned.”
Metals and Composites: Friends Not Foes
While composites compete at times with metals to be the material of choice, in many applications, the materials work together. Major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) want solutions. Airbus Americas, an IACMI premiere member, is focused on three primary objectives: rate, cost and sustainability. The commercial aerospace sector needs 40,000 new aircraft in the next 20 years. Airbus has embraced composites for components and aerostructures, but manufacturing rates are one-fifth those of metals. “It’s a big gap to close,” said Tim Gaur, senior manager, research and technology, Airbus Americas.
In a rousing speech, a Department of Defense presenter said U.S. manufacturers must “rethink how we make a traditional component.” This calls for solving problems across metals and composites, marrying both materials in hybrid structures. Solutions also will include 3-D printing of molds so that small batches of products, even units of one of two, can be made economically and efficiently. “Our adversaries are using newer platforms for manufacturing. Let’s keep R&D in the States vs. transferring it to China,” said Matt Draper, Ph.D., technical director of Metallurgy and Manufacturing for the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, Industrial Base Policy.
Both the metals and composites industries have an urgent need for skilled workers. To address this challenge, IACMI offers its own internships and hands-on training through workforce development programs. For example, there is the Metallurgical Engineering Trades, Apprenticeship & Learning (METAL) program. METAL aims to transform the U.S. metal manufacturing workforce with casting and forging training, reaching groups of all ages, from “K to gray.” Also, America’s Cutting Edge (ACE) seeks to restore the prominence of the U.S. machine tools sector through advances in training and technology. Both programs develop a skilled workforce benefiting both composites and metals businesses.
Draper emphasized that it was “time to make manufacturing cool again.” He described how METAL is engaging children before sixth grade with fun activities such as casting chocolate, and later offering online training and bootcamps for older students. “It’s all a win,” he said. “Metals and composites are not independent workflows.”
Catalyze: Maintaining Momentum
In the space of a few days, the 2024 IACMI meeting gave participants actionable ideas, important business connections and opportunities to be part of a revolution in materials science and manufacturing transformation. IACMI Members Meeting 2025 will be celebrating a decade of innovation in Dayton, Ohio June 24-26 with two of our key partners, the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and JobsOhio.
Ready to join us?