Presentation: Composites Roadmapping Effort from the Consortium for Accelerated Innovation and Insertion of Advanced Composites (CAIIAC)

The overall vision of the Consortium for Accelerated Innovation and Insertion of Advanced Composites (CAIIAC, pronounced “KAYAK”) is to create an innovative domestic manufacturing ecosystem to significantly shorten the manufacturing development cycle time, and provide “right-the-first-time material yields” for broad-based composite processes. 

After months of work, the consortium decided to focus its efforts on Composite Joining and Repair (CJAR), since this market is highly underserved, but has significant growth momentum and a promising return-on-investment (ROI). The worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul market (MRO) is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8% reaching about $65 billion by the year 2020. In contrast, the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 composite aircraft MRO market is growing at a much faster rate, a CAGR of 17.9%, from $348 million to $1.81 billion by 2030. On average, the cost to repair a composite aircraft component is roughly one-third the cost of replacing the component. The speed of repairs is also important, as the average composite repair takes nearly 15 hours. Grounding an Airbus A350 for an entire day could cost over $1 million in lost revenue for the airline company (> $40 thousand per hour). 

Attend the session to hear more about the consortium and its work.

About Billyde Brown 

Dr. Billyde Brown is a Research Associate at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). His role is to create strong partnerships among industry, government, and academia in the area of manufacturing research, development, and deployment. His key focus is on facilitating the transition of R&D to commercial manufactured products for new startups, small businesses, and large companies; particularly in the fields of nanotechnology, advanced composites, and additive manufacturing. Dr. Brown has also recently supported the PIs of the NIST funded CAIIAC program by serving as an active program manager and primary point of contact to industry, government, and academic subject matter experts during the technology roadmapping process.  Further, he has recently assumed the role of Interim Program Director for Manufacturing Education Programs (MEdP) at GTMI.  Dr. Brown earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University (2004) and Duke University (2010), respectively.

About the GTMI Manufacturing Luncheon Seminars

Who: All students, industry partners, faculty and staff are invited. Registration is not required. A light lunch will be served. Free.

When/Where: Session begins at 12 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Room 114