Heanor, UK, April 13, 2017 ---Solvay is proud to be part of a consortium partnership with Bentley and Penso, that has been awarded a multi-million pound grant by the UK government Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) for the Flexible Lightweight Architecture for Volume Applications (FLAVA) automotive project.
FLAVA will develop the composite design, material and manufacturing technologies required to implement a modular, multi-material Body-In-White structure suited for large production volume.
The project, through the manufacture of composite intensive vehicle prototypes, will demonstrate the technical and commercial solutions required to meet emission legislation with design flexibility, structural integration, lightweighting, vehicle assembly and logistics simplification.
This will demonstrate the capability of a composite supply chain to offer manufacturing processes that meet Automotive OEM quality, serial production rate and total cost of ownership requirements in standard OEM production facilities.
Alex Aucken, UK Automotive Director, at Solvay Composite Materials said “we are honoured to have been awarded this grant by the UK Government, and through this project we look forward to further develop our composite technologies portfolio to translate these technologies to the high-volume automotive market”.
Solvay is a multi-specialty chemical company, committed to developing chemistry that addresses key societal challenges. Solvay innovates and partners with customers in diverse global end markets. Its products and solutions are used in planes, cars, smart and medical devices, batteries, in mineral and oil extraction, among many other applications promoting sustainability. Its lightweighting materials enhance cleaner mobility, its formulations optimize the use of resources and its performance chemicals improve air and water quality. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 27,000 employees in 58 countries. Net sales were € 10.9 billion in 2016, with 90% from activities where Solvay ranks among the world’s top 3 leaders. Solvay SA (SOLB.BE) is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLB.BR) and in the United States its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a level-1 ADR program.
