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Sigmatex
A Capital Investment Grant from the NWDA is helping one of the world's leading carbon fibre converters to pioneer new techniques in the Northwest.
Sigmatex, which was established in 1987 and now operates in both the UK and US, is a hi-tech weaving company. It specialises in converting raw carbon fibre material into fabric that is used in industries as diverse as aerospace, automotive, construction and leisure. Carbon fibre fabric has a huge range of applications and is popular as a metal replacement, being both stronger and lighter.
The £245,000 funding Sigmatex received will go towards state of the art equipment for the company's new factory in Runcorn, where it will produce fabric on a 3D weaving loom - the first of its kind to produce 3D fabrics from carbon fibre.
Jonathan Coleman is Sigmatex's finance manager. "Our managing director met with the NWDA to find out which grants were available when we were planning the building of our new factory. There weren't any major grants for the actual building, but we realised that the capital investment grant scheme was ideal for helping with the capital costs of the leading edge machinery to go inside the new factory," he explains.
The new weaving loom will allow Sigmatex to create 3D fabrics which can then be fused with resin to form solid structures.
"Nobody else is doing this with carbon fibre," says Mr Coleman. "The technique means that aeroplane components like brackets - traditionally made from metal for the superior strength of a single, moulded shape - can now be made with carbon fibre, which makes aircraft lighter and more fuel efficient. It's potentially a revolutionary technology. It opens up a whole new market."
Sigmatex received the first capital investment grant funding instalment of £145,000 in March 2008. The application process was robust and detailed, but Mr Coleman says it was worth it.
"The application process was quite involved, it necessitated a lot of data and meetings, but that's completely understandable - it had to be thorough," he says. "We're now applying for the second instalment. The grant has been pivotal to our development as a business. The new equipment has generated a great deal of interest from some very important customers, like Boeing and Airbus."
The company expects the new 3D weaving technology to generate significant business in the medium term, over the next two to three years, as an increasing amount of its production is moved onto this type of machine.
"I would certainly recommend that any business looking for
funding to help them expand and develop contact the NWDA,"
says Mr Coleman. "The grant funding has been instrumental to
our move into a new and potentially highly lucrative market."
