Cost of energy is the number one competitive driver within the wind energy industry. A high output is achieved through reliable and effective wind turbines.
Nacelles and spinners are a necessity to protect the rotor hub, drive train and control system and the requirements are constantly getting tougher – particularly taking the turbines offshore to the hostile marine environment.
The general cost out focus in the industry in pursuit of reduced cost of energy has resulted in sourcing primarily from low-cost countries. The products are traditionally manufactured in open mould processes by hand lamination or spray-up methods – both recognized and widespread production methods for composite components with a relatively limited initial capital investment.
However, the increasing technical and environmental pressure continues to increasing customer requirements and is driving customers in search of high quality alternatives to sourcing of open moulded products in low cost countries.
The customers demand is centred around a holistic mindset with focus on:
- Improved product quality and consistency
- Improved productivity
- Reduced logistic cost
- Reduced labour cost
- Reduced VOC emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds).
With the close moulding principles implemented by New Composites the emphasis has shifted from being dependant on a highly skilled workforce in order to achieve quality parts and reliability in the manufacturing process to having the technology and procedures to ensure that consistency and reliability are the inevitable outcomes of the process with minimum dependency on the human factor.
In other words - introduce a process that substitutes the unreliability of humans with an industrialised and reliable process!
In order to be successful, capital investment is required to establish local manufacturing units with an industrialised closed moulding layout. However, the capital investment can be more than offset by savings in:
- Reduced transportation cost
- Reduced inventory levels
- Reduced labour cost
- Increased productivity
- Increased utilization of factory space.
The overall conclusion is lower unit cost and better customer satisfaction.
