iCOMAT

iCOMAT is a composite manufacturer based in Gloucester, United Kingdom. It makes lightweight structures for the aerospace and automotive industries. The company says it invented a process called Rapid Tow Shearing, or RTS.

With RTS, carbon fibre is steered along curves instead of straight lines. The company says this lets fibres follow the load path of a part, which gives lighter and stronger parts. It claims parts can be up to 65 percent lighter and produced up to 10 times faster than with usual methods. It also says the process avoids wrinkles and gaps.

iCOMAT says it builds fully integrated factories for composite parts. The work runs from a roll of carbon fibre to a finished, painted and inspected product, including design and analysis. Customers start with design and prototyping, then move to low or mid volume production, and later to a dedicated production line installed near their site. The company says this line needs no upfront capital cost from the customer.

Factory 1 in Gloucester is its flexible hub. The site lists a 5,000 square foot ISO Class 7 clean room, two large autoclaves, CNC machining centres, metrology and forming equipment. Examples of large parts named on the site include fuselage frames and wing skins.

The website lists a phone number, +44 (0) 117 373 9192, and shows 29 open positions on its careers page.