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By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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Plasan Carbon Composites bringing advanced materials production to Walker

Plasan Carbon Composites has manufactured carbon fiber components for sports cars like the Dodge Viper ACR, shown here, and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. The company hopes to expand its capabilities and drive down costs with a new manufacturing plant in Walker. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

WEST MICHIGAN — Plasan Carbon Composites’ recent decision to locate a production facility in Walker may be a sign that advanced materials will be making their way into growing numbers of vehicles in the future.

Plasan, a leading supplier of carbon fiber solutions to the automotive industry and a subsidiary of Israeli defense company Plasan Sasa, will use the new manufacturing facility in Walker to support future mid-to high-volume base model programs for the North American automotive industry.

The new facility represents the commercialization of Plasan’s innovative carbon fiber processing technology, building on the investment announced in December 2010 of a customer development center in Wixom that houses its first scale-up press for the new technology, which is now operational. The Walker facility represents more than $18 million in capital investment, and will create 202 new jobs over the next three years.

Carbon fiber composites have historically found use in high-end luxury automobiles and the aerospace industry, where product runs are in the hundreds or thousands. Plasan has developed new carbon fiber processing technology to allow for production of between 30,000 and 50,000 vehicles, with the goal of reaching 100,000 vehicles in the future.

“This new facility represents the next phase of Plasan Carbon Composites’ commitment to the automotive industry,” James Staargaard, President of Plasan Carbon Composites, said in a statement. “We are grateful to the state of Michigan for their support of this technology and true job growth initiative.”

George Bosnjak, business development manager for The Right Place Inc., said discussions began in December with an initial meeting with Plasan. Working with the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Michigan Works!, and the city of Walker, Bosnjak was able to put together a package of incentives and training that attracted Plasan and helped it get closer to its customers in Detroit.

“They liked that we provided a cohesive plan from A to Z with all the partners stepping up at the right time. I would be hard pressed to say that one thing was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back on this,” Bosnjak told MiBiz. “If the city didn’t step up with a good package, if we didn’t have a workforce that was used to doing this type of work, if we didn’t have a proven track record of companies that have been successful, it wouldn’t have happened. It was a myriad of things over a 7-month process that fell into place.”

Tracy Schneiter, VP of financial analysis and forecasting at IRN Inc., said Plasan’s move into West Michigan comes as the auto industry is in a period of flux, with new powertrains in development and new materials poised to gain wider acceptance.

“From the automotive industry’s perspective, it has been evolving for the last 100 years, but we are seeing rapid transformation in terms of product development. It seems slow, but it is happening at lightning speed,” Schneiter told MiBiz. “The Plasan emergence is interesting in that they’re using a technology and material we’ve been using for years. Their claim to fame is whether or not they can make it in volumes.”

Jim Gillette, senior consultant at research firm IHS Automotive, said regulations will eventually drive more exotic and lightweight materials into the supply chain.

“What’s really stimulated this is that every time oil prices go up, automakers go nuts.

In the mid 1990s, there was a temporary lull in oil prices and manufacturers didn’t care about fuel efficiency,” Gillette told MiBiz. “The 35-36 mpg standard is stringent, but there are technologies on the horizon that will allow that to be met.”

Both agree that the push for new materials in automobiles will be driven at the OE level. Companies such as BMW have built a reputation for incorporating innovative products into their vehicles and have generated some of the healthiest margins in per-vehicle sales as a result. BMW, for example, announced plans last year to open its own carbon fiber manufacturing plant in central Washington. Others automakers, like Chrysler, have not been in a position to invest in advanced materials or products.

Gillette argues that this incremental approach to innovation has allowed companies to adjust to the new trends, such as the light-weighting and the electrification of vehicles, without the chaos that erupts out of disruptive innovation where existing businesses find themselves quickly without a market.

“My expectation is that you will see a whole new set of players in the market with batteries and rush to fuel cells. The danger here, like in the early auto industry, is that we had 100 automakers or more in the early 20th century and many didn’t make it through the Great Depression,” Gillette said. “There is a lot of investment coming down the pike in Michigan that is likely going to fail, but we have to understand that there is no safe route to getting there.”