Web Industries and Hexcel Sign Agreement

Published: April 05, 2012

MARLBOROUGH, MA | Web Industries, a provider of custom manufacturing and development services for flexible materials, and Hexcel Corp., Stamford, CT, a manufacturer of advanced composite materials, announce the signing of a long-term supply agreement under which Web Industries will convert Hexcel’s HexPly carbon fiber  prepreg into slit tape for aerospace programs, including the Airbus A350 XWB. As part of this agreement, Web will establish and operate a dedicated world-class slitting operation within Hexcel’s newly expanded prepreg facility in Stade, Germany.

Web Industries will use its proprietary PrecisonSlit carbon fiber slit tape technology and processes to convert the tape, which is used on Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) manufacturing lines to make many of the composite structures found on the latest aircraft programs. These prepregs require strict operational and environmental conditions, and co-locating the slit tape operation within Hexcel’s Stade plant will provide outstanding environmental control and quality assurance.

Construction on the Web Industries’ facility should be completed by May 2012, and commercial-scale production is expected to ramp up by December. The operation eventually will employ up to 70 people.