Posted June 10, 2015

 

No time for summertime blues around here. Too busy. I’m in between gigs, so I wanted to take a few moments to remind you again just how cool, exciting, wonderful (name your adjective) this textile industry is. Last week, the TechTextil North America (TTNA) and JEC Americas co-located trade shows in Houston exceeded many expectations – including mine. I certainly wasn’t expecting “Atlanta” traffic – TTNA takes place there every other year, of course – but it wasn’t really the attendance of which I was enamored. It was the depth and breadth of innovations on display, along with the anxiousness of exhibitors to show their wares and the level of eagerness by visitors to check ’em out.

 

I spent most of three days on the show floor and couldn’t get to every booth, thanks in part to the fact that two sister-sector shows were running concurrently. And that’s a good thing. Certainly, plenty of synergies and complementary technologies are present on the textile side and the composites area, so marrying TTNA and JEC in the U.S. was a good move.

 

In fact, a handful of companies who grew up, in part at least, in the textile arena were of interest on both colored carpets – blue (TTNA) and red (JEC). McCoy Machinery, a well-known, 51-year-old textile equipment supplier based in Monroe, N.C., actually exhibited at JEC Americas but saw many interested visitors from both sides, according to President Dan McCoy. The company, conveniently situated near the dividing line of the two shows, offers on the composites side a creel for pre-preg and laminations, as well as direct weaving equipment for carbon or glass – along with its usual textile stuff. This was actually McCoy’s third composite show as it seeks to boost its presence and awareness in that area.

 

Though not on the TechTextil side, I certainly wasn’t expecting to see a Ferrari racecar, a military-style drone or a 3-D printed car at any show related to a textile sector – but I did at JEC Americas. Rapid Composites displayed three drones, actually, highlighting its amphibious, waterproof tri-copter that can fire bullets or paint balls. The drone is manufactured with composite materials throughout its airframe, and its fuselage can be molded in less than 10 minutes. Pretty cool.

 

Staubli, meanwhile, had on display in its booth a Ferrari F450 containing about 30 of its connectors and other composite materials made from the company’s equipment. The car, owned by the Risi race team of Houston, competed on various circuits in 2011. Sweet.

 

Also on show was the 3-D printed Shelby Cobra, an all-electric vehicle capable of rapid acceleration with zero emissions. The vehicle, which featured 20 percent carbon woven fibers, was created by the Department of Defense’s Manufacturing Demonstration Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Wow.

 

Beyond such innovations, though, I was most impressed by the lively atmosphere, the upbeat attitude and the optimism you could sense just from walking around – something that didn’t seem present as recently as four years ago at one of these shows. These are indeed thrilling times for this industry.

 

I’ve yet to catch my breath, but maybe sometime – over the summertime. Maybe. I’m next headed to the annual meeting of the Southern Textile Association and the Joint Fiber Buyers and can’t wait to see some of you and report back to all of you from home base.

 

Things are just heating up, really.