Next week is the first ever “National Composites Week.” Across the country our industry will take time to showcase the facets of composite materials technology and celebrate how it is being used to continually improve the world we live in. Composites are still considered somewhat new when you compare it to traditional materials like wood, steel and concrete. To that end, education has been a stalwart companion to our sales and marketing efforts. Next week will be a nice way to step back from the labor of sales efforts and look at the landscape to see the breadth of composite applications.
At Composite Advantage, our vision is to help bring about the day when fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials enjoy the same acceptance in construction applications as steel, concrete and wood. This is why we started Composite Advantage and it is what drives our innovations and efforts to create the scope of products we have. During National Composites Week, we will highlight our infrastructure products and illustrate how FRP material has helped our customers. Our super-sized products and their scenic locations have given us some impressive photos and case studies to share.
To help kick off next week’s event we recently hosted our congressman, Mike Turner, for a tour of Composite Advantage. It was his first visit to our new facility in west Dayton which is not far from where he grew up prior to being mayor of Dayton. We discussed our concerns about workforce and legislation with him and his staff. From the business side, the need is urgent for a long term federal transportation bill with the funding DOTs and agencies need to plan and execute critical infrastructure improvements. We asked for support for legislation to support innovative materials and fund NIST as a clearing house for composite data that could aid federal and state agencies.
The fun part of the tour was showing Congressman Turner and his staff our manufacturing facility, world-class infusion technology and the large infrastructure products that we supply across North America. They had the opportunity to see pedestrian bridge decks, pilings for fender protection, Navy submarine bumpers, tunnel supports, and shipping containers up close and personal.
Look for cool photos in our social media next week.
If you'd like to learn more about how FRP stacks up against concrete check out our ebook: "Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) vs Concrete."
