Composites Weekly

This week, I welcome Adam Harms to the show. Adam is the managing director at Ruhl Strategic Partners and one of the founders of Modulus, a new Social Community that is 100% dedicated to the Materials Industry.

This new platform will offer a more focused materials network experience away from LinkedIn that allows deeper engagement, and industry advancement.

Adam explains that one of the reasons for the developing Modulus was to cut through the networking noise and provide access to a more focused audience year-round within a dedicated community and connect with industry leaders, access curated content, and collaborate in focused industry groups. If you are a composites and advanced materials professional, and just want to stay better connected, you can join Modulus by visiting https://www.onmodulus.com.

This week I welcome Fadi Abro, the global director of transportation at Stratasys.

Stratasys provides complete polymer 3D printing solutions for every stage of the product life cycle, across design, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Fadi is responsible for leading the Automotive Vertical for Stratasys in North and South America. His focus is on providing 3D printing solutions to customers throughout this segment.

With the world increasingly turning to EV's for transportation, 3D printing has become an attractive solution for manufacturers.

Fadi will be discussing one of the key advantages their technology is offering to automotive manufacturing today, particularly the EV market - the ability to produce complex, custom parts quickly and cost-effectively. This can be useful for low-volume production runs or for creating one-off prototypes and new concept models.

You can learn more about Stratasys, particularly their focus in the automotive sector by visiting https://www.stratasys.com/en/industries-and-applications/3d-printing-industries/automotive.

This week Peter Hedger of Composite Applications Group and Anthony Vicari of Cleantech Group join me on the show to discuss the role of composite materials in the EV market.

On this episode, we'll have an in-depth discussion of the future of electric vehicles and battery technology and where the opportunities are with composite materials.

Peter is vice president of business development at Composite Applications Group, a company that has an extensive network of Composite technologies and materials and works to connect manufacturing companies to the necessary supply chain to bring their innovation dream into reality.

Anthony is a Consultant Manager at Cleantech Group. He has completed projects for global corporations across geographies and industries to understand the details, implications, and trends in emerging technologies, and to develop adoption and investment strategies, in order to grow their businesses while achieving their sustainability and emissions reduction goals.

This week I welcome Johanna Reiland on the show. Johanna is an engineer, innovation consultant, and circular economy expert based out of Barcelona, where she works for Bax & Company, a leading European sustainable innovation agency.

On this episode, Dr. Susan MacKay joins me to discuss her work at the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Her responsibilities include managing operations and R&D programs with a particular focus on Additive Manufacturing programs.

She has 25 years of experience in materials chemistry, product development, and manufacturing at both large corporations and early-stage companies.

Prior to joining UMaine, she was the founder and CEO of Cerahelix, Inc. where she led the commercialization of their ceramic nanofiltration technology based on a patented DNA ceramic nanotechnology coating.

We'll be discussing some of the ongoing research around bio-based materials in additive manufacturing as well as ASCC's BioHome3D - the first 3D-printed house made entirely with bio-based materials.

The BioHome3D was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Hub and Spoke program between the UMaine and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The 600-square-foot prototype featured 3D-printed floors, walls, and roof made of wood fibers and bio-resins. This house is fully recyclable and highly insulated with 100% wood insulation and customizable R-values.

Construction waste was nearly eliminated due to the precision of the printing process.

UMaine is a world leader in forest-derived cellulose nanofiber (CNF) technology, including nano- and micro-cellulose reinforced thermoplastic composites through its Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

You can learn more about the work by visiting https://umaine.edu/biomaterials.

On this episode, we'll be discussing the topic of employee retention in the composites industry.

Industry expert and technical trainer Andrew Pokelwaldt joins me for the 1st part of the show to discuss how some companies are incentivizing employees.

On the 2nd part of the show I interview Lisa Ryan, author of the book Thank You Very Much: Gratitude Strategies to Create a Workplace That ROCKS!