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April in Paris.

There’s nothing quite like it. But to the thousands of composites professionals who converge on the City of Lights each year, two industry events are numbered among the brightest — sources of enlightenment that, like their host city,  have endured the test of time. The Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering’s (SAMPE) European branch convenes its 31st installment of the SAMPE Europe International Conference (SEICO 10) on April 12 for a three-day run at Hotel Mercure, Paris Porte de Versailles Expo, Vanves. The next day, the 2010 edition of the JEC Composites Show, Europe’s largest and longest-lived composites trade exhibition, opens at the Paris Expo, in Porte de Versailles. As in years past, the JEC exhibition and SAMPE Europe conference schedules are staggered to permit SEICO attendees a full day on the JEC Show exhibition floor without missing any conference events.
SAMPE Europe Conference

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Keynote speaker Dr. Leslie Cohen, senior VP at HITCO Carbon Composites Inc. (Gardena, Calif.), will kick off SEICO 10 by chronicling his company’s journey “From Transformation to Automation.” Cohen will address both the challenges and rewards, particularly in regard to automation’s impact on affordability and performance.

SAMPE Europe‘s conference theme this year is “Improvements of Materials and Application Characteristics.” Toward that end, event organizers had assembled, at HPC press time, a slate of 98 paper presentations, which will be presented in 11 sessions. Among them will be five  subsessions devoted to an overview of, and a mid-course update on, the Advanced Low-Cost Aircraft Structures (ALCAS) program. The €101 million ($140 million USD) project, initiated in February 2005 and intended to run six years (through January 2011), is lead by Airbus (Toulouse, France) in cooperation with 60 other aerospace companies from the European Union, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Conference attendees will hear what’s been accomplished and the lessons learned thus far in progress toward the program goal of reducing the operating cost of European aircraft by 15 percent through the application of carbon fiber composites (see “SEICO 10 at a Glance”).

On Tuesday after lunch, the Out-of-autoclave Processing subsession highlights the resin transfer molded, one-piece rudder recently added to the Israel Aerospace Industries (Tel Aviv, Israel)-built Gulfstream G250 business jet. The Fatigue subsession that same afternoon will consider the subject of fatigue analysis for composite wind turbine rotor blades and subcomponents.

On Wednesday afternoon, keynote speaker Les Cohen will cochair a panel discussion entitled “The Automation Journey — the Digital String.” Eight automation specialists from leading transatlantic composites manufacturers will discuss the difficulties, practicalities and rewards of automating production processes. In the same time frame, during a special Education subsession, SAMPE Europe will honor winning presenters from the 2010 editions of the SAMPE Europe Students Conference and the JEC Environmental Students Conference.

All SEICO 10 attendees who present a badge for full three-day registration or a full one-day registration for April 12, are invited to attend the SEICO ’10 Conference Dinner and Award Ceremony that evening, from 7.30 to 10:30 p.m. On April 13 and14, free shuttle bus service will be provided between Hotel Mercure and the main entrance gate of the Paris Expo complex.

 

JEC Composites Paris

A short distance away, on the Paris Expo exhibition floor, JEC Show organizers expect participants this year from as many as 96 countries, and predict that up to 75 percent of its 2010 exhibitors will come from outside France. Europe’s second-largest base of composites manufacturing, Italy, is this year’s JEC “guest of honor.” A dedicated pavilion will be provided for exhibiting Italian companies, alongside 15 other international and national pavilions, including those set aside for exhibitors from China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, the U.S. and Belgium. Meanwhile, JEC’s Thematic Villages will underscore applications areas and specialties, such as Automotive, Aerospace, Marine, Rail Transport, Construction and Infrastructure, IT (software, design, prototyping), Process, and Natural Fibers/Biocomposites as well as the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ (SME) Discovery, Education & Skills exhibit.

JEC’s Conference is expected to attract 100 speakers and has, in the past, reportedly attracted 2,200 attendees. In 2010, the focus will be on composites manufacturing processes, engineered textiles, bio-materials and recycling. JEC’s End-User Forums will investigate topics in six categories: Automation, Automotive, Building & Construction, Civil Engineering, Ground Transport and Wind Energy.

For more information about SEICO 2010, contact SAMPE Europe Business Office (SEBO); E-mail: sebo@sampe-europe.org; Web site: www.sampe-europe.org.

For more information about JEC Composites Paris, contact the JEC Group; Tel.:  + 33 1 58 36 15 01; Fax: + 33 1 58 36 15 15; E-mail: visitors@jeccomposites.com; Web site: www.jeccomposites.com.