#146 Saxony Interview during JEC World 2024 with STFI
21.10.2024 15 min Staffel 5 Episode 103
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
Ever wondered how you can get the JEC Group innovation award as a sporting goods manufacturer?
This is exactly what I spoke about with Jörg Kaufmann during JEC World 2024.
His statement about his Silbaerg GmbH snowboard "it is the first serial product using the anisotropic coupling effects in a serial product. We started in 2011, one that is pure brand new award with this technology. And since then we are in the premium market with a very special product and a little bit more than the average price for these products and for being available also for other customers. We started to bring glass fibers also into the market.
And nowadays natural fibers are very interesting. We also want to reduce the CO2 footprint of our carbon snowboards and therefore we make a non-woven out of the cutting waste of our carbon snowboards together with the Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI). And this carbon non-woven is used in the snowboards compared with hemp fibers...: I think we have a the very important and innovative things that nowadays are important to composite technology.FF
First of all, our anisotropic based technology, this is something not a lot other companies have in a serial product. Then we use the dry fiber placement for placing the hemp fibers and these hemp fibers grew up in Saxony, 50 km away from Chemnitz. So I was there at the harvesting of the hemp... And then we have the recycled carbon fibers. So we are circular economy because we use the waste of our dry fiber placement, carbon fiber production for this non-woven. And we have also a bio based resin.
So I think it is a lot of things that are nowadays very important. And I think the combination was the thing why we won the award."
If you have a prototype that you believe deserves to be awarded by the jury hurry up and send your application to JEC for its 2025 round of awards.
Join also our discussions with Christopher Albe and Johannes Leis, both from the STFI about the composites ecosystem and circular Saxony with it's locations in Chemnitz, Dresden and Freiberg.
With this podcast episode we have covered over a dozen interviews from JEC World 2024 and are heading right after KOMPOZYT-EXPO® to JEC Forum DACH in Stuttgart on 22/23 Oct 2024.
Remember also that the next stop of JEC FORUM DACH will be Saxony in 2025. Dresden to be precise.
But before we gather in Dresden, let's meet in Paris at JEC World in March 2025, JEC Forum Italy in June 2025 and JEC Forum Central Europe in September 2025.
For now we are looking forward to interview in Stuttgart
Kerry Lyons of Base Materials
Dominik Riescher of sensXPERT - Optimizing Plastics Manufacturing
Eric Pierrejean of JEC Group
and more.
Let our team know, if you have solutions that we can bring into spotlight and join our vision of CREATING SUSTAINABLE VALUE with our mission critical format
This is exactly what I spoke about with Jörg Kaufmann during JEC World 2024.
His statement about his Silbaerg GmbH snowboard "it is the first serial product using the anisotropic coupling effects in a serial product. We started in 2011, one that is pure brand new award with this technology. And since then we are in the premium market with a very special product and a little bit more than the average price for these products and for being available also for other customers. We started to bring glass fibers also into the market.
And nowadays natural fibers are very interesting. We also want to reduce the CO2 footprint of our carbon snowboards and therefore we make a non-woven out of the cutting waste of our carbon snowboards together with the Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI). And this carbon non-woven is used in the snowboards compared with hemp fibers...: I think we have a the very important and innovative things that nowadays are important to composite technology.FF
First of all, our anisotropic based technology, this is something not a lot other companies have in a serial product. Then we use the dry fiber placement for placing the hemp fibers and these hemp fibers grew up in Saxony, 50 km away from Chemnitz. So I was there at the harvesting of the hemp... And then we have the recycled carbon fibers. So we are circular economy because we use the waste of our dry fiber placement, carbon fiber production for this non-woven. And we have also a bio based resin.
So I think it is a lot of things that are nowadays very important. And I think the combination was the thing why we won the award."
If you have a prototype that you believe deserves to be awarded by the jury hurry up and send your application to JEC for its 2025 round of awards.
Join also our discussions with Christopher Albe and Johannes Leis, both from the STFI about the composites ecosystem and circular Saxony with it's locations in Chemnitz, Dresden and Freiberg.
With this podcast episode we have covered over a dozen interviews from JEC World 2024 and are heading right after KOMPOZYT-EXPO® to JEC Forum DACH in Stuttgart on 22/23 Oct 2024.
Remember also that the next stop of JEC FORUM DACH will be Saxony in 2025. Dresden to be precise.
But before we gather in Dresden, let's meet in Paris at JEC World in March 2025, JEC Forum Italy in June 2025 and JEC Forum Central Europe in September 2025.
For now we are looking forward to interview in Stuttgart
Kerry Lyons of Base Materials
Dominik Riescher of sensXPERT - Optimizing Plastics Manufacturing
Eric Pierrejean of JEC Group
and more.
Let our team know, if you have solutions that we can bring into spotlight and join our vision of CREATING SUSTAINABLE VALUE with our mission critical format
Transkript
So we are nearing our second day
at JEC world 2024,
and I'm at the German Pavilion,
the Saxony Pavilion,
and at that pavilion
there is a Saxony Textile Institute
that I would like
to talk to, because textiles
is, of course, an important
reinforcement factor of composites.
My first interview partner
now is Christopher Albe.
I will call him Chris for now,
and Chris will explain us a bit
about the ecosystem of Saxony
in conjunction with composites.
My name is Christopher Albe.
I'm a research associate at STFI
It's called
the Saxony Textile Research Institute.
We are located in Chemnitz
and it's in the eastern part of of Germany
and south of Saxony.
And the goal or gate to Iron Mountain,
Our main focus is to show the reuse
of high performance materials.
In the case of lightweight materials,
especially carbon fibers.
What can we do with these materials
to increase the lifecycle
of these materials and to provide
the best ecological use
of these materials?
-In terms of the country,
the federal country of Germany, Saxony,
what makes Saxony so important in.
I just wanted to say what makes Saxony
so sexy for composites industry?
Saxony has a big history
and textile industry.
It was called Manchester
of Germany a long time ago.
It was a big industry
and it changes over the years
to a lightweight construction.
We have a big impact and research
institutes in Chemnitz in Dresden,
but also Freiberg
and other cities in Saxony.
There's a big knowledge
that is what we can provide and research,
and also the companies
which are located for aerospace,
automotive, especially Volkswagen
and Zwickau.
So talking about composites,
you have manufacturers in Saxony as well,
and one of them is a snowboard producer,
which we will introduce you
in a few moments
regarding the composite skills
and the composites manufacturing.
Is there a special industry
that comes to your mind with Saxony.
-At the moment?
It's all kind of industry,
a main focus perhaps.
Aerospace, yes,
but a lot of companies come to us
and they say we have the cutting waste
out of the production.
What can we do with it? And we say, okay,
our strategy is nonwovens.
We keep it defined, fiber length
that shows better properties
in the composite.
And that's the way we are working a step
between first lifecycle
and perhaps between injection
molding materials
where we cut the fibers under 1 or 2mm
and we are working with 50mm.
-Recycling is a great keyword
because you've got your colleague
here, Johannes Leis,
whom I will take now next into the picture
and we will talk
about recycling and textiles.
So now we got Johannes Leis here,
and we are now moving from composites
to the integral part,
which is textiles.
And as you guys know, I'm a textile guy.
In the past I've we've converted
over 5000 tonnes of fibreglass,
which is quite a number
for a textile company, though.
What is the speciality of Saxony
in terms of textiles?
Saxony has the strength.
-Like some other regions as well,
but we are quite diverse.
We have a very flexible,
very innovative companies.
We have lots of research
institutes, university.
So we have a huge variety of institutions
of players that are into textiles,
into circularity,
and that want to bring their strengths
to the table.
Let's walk through
the textile production process.
Vollstufige Produktion we don't need.
let's take just normal fabrics,
woven fabric
from the design of the fabric,
the construction of the fabric
to the use of the fabric
and to the end of the life,
the recycling of the fabric.
Can you walk us through what steps
and milestones are covered in Saxony
We have companies there,
business license spinning, yarn spinning.
We have companies that are very well
or very good in fabric formation,
so they can do the fabric forming.
We knit nonwoven.
We have companies
that still produce products and companies
that are still alive
because they are very innovative,
they are very flexible,
and they can adapt quite well
to the market
and to what their customers need.
And once this fabric is formed,
this process doesn't doesn't end.
Of course, functionalization is a part,
product development is a part.
And then even the collection
of the textile waste,
the sorting of the textile waste
all the way up to the recycling
and then the providing
secondary materials.
So you can find all of that in Saxony.
And all of that is, of course, important
for a circular economy.
Textile production.
I mean, with a small investment,
you can enter into textile production
right buy a Dornier loom
and then you start producing.
Many people think like this, right?
But what do you think?
And what is the one thing
you would people want to consider
when entering
into textiles for composites.
I think it's okay to know and to see
that there are experts out there.
There are people out there
with lots of experience,
and it's it's no shame to
to get them aboard.
We ourselves from STFI,
we believe a lot in collaboration,
in cooperation.
And I think that's what we actually need
because the challenges
in producing textiles,
but also in recycling textiles
and also in shifts
that we need for a circular economy,
those challenges are complex
and it's not fair
to expect, and it's not easy to deliver
to solve the problems
that challenges by yourself.
It's nothing wrong with searching
and looking for collaboration.
And you should start with that.
-A great call to action.
Thank you so much for your introduction, Johannes
to the Saxony textile industry.
And now we would like to talk
about this nice snowboard.
Actually, when I hear of Saxony,
not always skiing and snowboarding
comes to my mind. But you have some places
where you can snowboard, right?
We have some places
where we can go snowboarding.
I think Jörg would be the perfect one
to talk about that.
I just want to add that we of course,
as I said,
we believe in, in collaboration.
So we are part of network programs.
We are part of network project.
We start them ourselves,
we happily join them,
and we are part of circular Saxony.
We are part of many, many research
projects where it's all
about bringing people together.
That's what we are here
for as well at the JEC 2024.
-So then we get Jörg now on the stage
and talk to him about this nice snowboard.
So community now
we got Dr Jörg Kaufmann here
and he's the producer of a snowboard.
And although we don't have Saxony
first in our mind
when it comes to snowboarding,
where would you recommend you
like to snowboard? In Saxony.
-The first I heard there it often
that the people don't think
that we have some ski resorts in Saxony,
but we have a lot
and the main one is in Oberwiesenthal.
Yes, it is a quite good place also nearby in
Czech Republic,
although on the other side of the border
we have Klinovec (Keilberg).
This is the biggest ski resort
in Czech Republic.
Oh, really? So
we have really a lot of snow.
And also in nowadays two days
we can go there snowboarding.
This is one hour away from Chemnitz.
-So snowfall in your region
is still there, because in our region,
the Fichtelgebirge is very, very low.
The artificial snowfall is there.
So the nature around is less
during the years. The last two years
were really not so good,
but the artificial one is there
and it's good enough
for having half a day fun besides office.
-So after we've clarified where
to go for snowboarding now of course
we need a snowboard
and Jörg has a very nice one here.
I like the color and the best is
it has even one and JEC Innovation Award.
It was even this year, right? Yeah.
This year. Yeah.
-So you've been to the celebration
and we will talk about this, because I see
also some bio fibers incorporated.
But before we go into the textiles
and the fibers
tell us about the specialty.
What is the design?
Why do you need to use composites
in a snowboard?
Yes. we use some titanal inside
in snowboards not so much.
We use we started with carbon composites
in our snowboards
because to be honest, I think
it is the first serial product
using the anisotropic coupling effects
in a serial product.
We started in 2011, one that is pure brand
new award with this technology.
And since then
we are in the premium market
with a very special product
and a little bit more
than the average price for,
for these products
and for being available also
for other customers.
We started to bring glass fibers
also into the market.
And nowadays natural fibers
are very interesting.
We also want to reduce the CO2 footprint
of our carbon snowboards
and therefore we make a non-woven
out of the cutting waste
of our carbon snowboards
together with the STFI.
And this carbon non-woven is used
in the snowboards
compared with hemp fibers.
-Is this your brand?
Yes, silbaerg is the brand.
-It looks like a Danish name or.
Yeah, it's Danish,
but it's also this ae combination
was also used
in former days in old German.
And silver in English
stands for the mining in our Erzgebirge,
because in the 15th century
we had a really strong economic power
with silver mining.
And this is the relations
or the Silver Mountains silverbaerg
and the ae
also a little bit representing our layup.
The plan is to drop a coupling.
So there is a story behind the brand name.
-So you've put some nostalgia
in a very futuristic
latest new snowboard technology, right?
Well done, Thanks.
-This is how communication,
branding should work,
dear people, get your culture inside.
So tell us
about the innovative part of this.
Why did the JEC Jury decide?
Because it's an independent jury of course
it's not the JEC JEgroup.
It's the jury, which Alan Banks
from Composite UK,
for example, was part of.
Why did they decide
to award this solution?
To be honest, I have no idea.
I have no idea,
because they didn't tell us
this was the list of all.
These were the points
you get for the award.
But I think it is the combination
of the things we have inside.
During the nomination,
we saw the other finalists,
the two one, a hockey stick.
Very innovative.
And also a very good bicycle rim
from Scott.
But to be honest, I was really scared
as I show up here at the show.
And so the other products
that also are participated
at the competition. So this really I think
we did a lot things right.
So let me reframe the question.
What do you think
was the innovative character
that convinced them?
I think we have
very important and innovative things
that nowadays are important
to composite technology.
First of all,
our anisotropic based technology,
this is something
not a lot other companies
have in a serial product.
Then we use the dry fiber placement
for placing the hemp fibers
and these hemp fibers grew up in Saxony,
50km away from Chemnitz.
So I was there at the harvesting
of the hemp.
So it is also the great taste,
but you can't use it
because it's the female plant.
And then we have
the recycled carbon fibers.
So we are circular economy,
because we use the waste
of our dry fiber placement,
carbon fiber production
for this non-woven.
And we have also a bio based resin.
So I think it is a lot of things
that are nowadays very important.
And I think the combination was the thing
why we won the award.
So you mentioned circular economy
and Johannes
spoke about the circular Saxony.
What is it?
Is it an association
or is it an initiative of Saxony,
the federal state?
-No, it is a non-profit organization
based on an e.V. in Chemnitz.
And they are starting their to grow up
the circular economy in Saxony.
But also there are other partners
allowed out from Saxony in Germany.
we are trying to bring projects
in the field of circular
to making prototypes.
Also, this snowboard is one prototype
in this initiative
for showing what we can do,
the non-woven made of our waste
and also the green parts.
This is the thing we are doing
and then thinking
about in Saxony currently.
How much of your thoughts
are going into the coating of this part?
Because I see the coating
has some wavy feel to it.
Is that by purpose I guess, right?
No. Or is it because of the hemp?
No. The structure here is a prototype.
And the prototypes are made
with wet lamination and vacuum curring.
And then we get this a little bit
different structure.
But this is a manufacturing process.
But this is by design
and I like the design.
Yeah, I know I heard it very often.
-I would buy the prototype.
This is based on the vacuum
curing protest community.
You see I will talk even
about the prototypes
and the technology demonstrators
so that you know that these things
are not just put in a tool
and then they come out.
There's always a technical demonstrator
first, then a prototype,
and then they have to be verified
on the field
before they reach to the customer,
to the consumer.
Jörg, thank you so much
for being here on our #composite360ontour.
Thank you so much. Goodbye.