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Posted by Scott Reeve on Apr 3, 2019

CW staff visit

Our Plant Tour with CompositesWorld

We’ve had several milestones recently. Last year we bought a 300,000 sq. ft. industrial space near downtown Dayton to house our growing product line. In 2018 we joined Creative Composites Group, a subsidiary of Hill and Smith Holdings PLC. The move gave us access to resources for growth and opened the door to a larger sales network.

On March 31 we had another red-letter day—one that helped us expand the world of composites.   A group of five people from Gardner Business Media in Cincinnati traveled to our facility. The publisher serves the heart of manufacturing in North America with a stable full of trade magazines focusing on metalworking, plastics and composites, automotive and finishing. Of course we’re most familiar with CompositesWorld having worked with the magazine’s staff for nearly two decades.  So the visit felt like a get together with friends who know a lot of the same people.

Gardner Intelligence’s Jan Schafer, Director of Market Research, Mike Shirk, Market Research Associate and Will Thackery, Data Visualization Specialist, along with CompositesWorld Senior Editor Scott Francis and Assistant Editor Hannah Mason spent a couple hours touring our manufacturing space. They had the opportunity to see firsthand our infusion technology, and how we make very large parts into different products. We also tried to give them an understanding of why and when FRP works in infrastructure applications; and how it fits in other markets.

I found out that some of the staff work in research and development. In addition to investigating information searches for customers, they conduct surveys to gain valuable reader feedback. Sometimes it can be difficult to grasp the spectrum of composite products that are out there when you primarily work in an office. I haven’t seen them all.

 The products that seemed to generate the most interest were our waterfront protection items. Staff also asked questions about our prefabricated products, and how quickly we’re able to install really large items like FRP bridges, camels and piles. The cost savings we can offer in these areas was also of interest.

Gardner Business Media scheduled the visit in part because the company wanted to educate some of its newer staff members about composite processes. Scott Francis told our communications specialist he was interested in CA’s perspective on developments in composites in infrastructure. I was asked to give my perspective on the progress and status of the Imagine Act

It was exciting to me to be able to show cool projects and talk about state of the art infrastructure practices to the people who write about these topics every day.  The visit also gave me the chance to listen to people’s questions, gauge their interest and make a note to communicate more about the market spaces and products that captured their attention.

Scott asked me about how I feel about education in our industry. I think that a key part of my job is to educate others about what we do. To champion FRP and get people fired up about its advantages. The visit from our friends at CompositesWorld is another important step. You tend to talk about things with more passion when you have seen them first hand!

Check out CompositesWorld’s blog and get Scott Francis’ view on the time spent with us. 

Would you like to know how Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) stacks up to concrete? Download our Ebook here.

Scott Reeve

AboutScott Reeve

Scott does Business Development for Creative Composites Group. For over 35 years, he has developed new applications using FRP composites; especially in the infrastructure sector. In 2005, he founded Composite Advantage, which is now part of CCG.

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