West Midlands Manufacturers Urged to Contribute to the Lightweighting Debate

May 21, 2012 - PRLog -- Staffordshire materials technology company Ceram is calling on West Midlands manufacturers to join forces in order to increase profits and reduce emissions.

Ceram made the call ahead of a brainstorming session aimed at finding new methods of ‘lightweighting’ – making a product lighter while maintaining its performance.

Lightweighting has been adopted by many manufacturers as a way of pushing up margins by reducing material and transport costs without compromising quality.

In addition, it can help firms meet environmental targets by reducing the carbon emissions related to distributing both material and finished product.

But Stoke-on-Trent specialist Ceram believes too few West Midlands firms are considering lightweighting – and it has arranged an event for companies to share experiences and discuss innovative ways of finding the optimum weights of products and materials.

Tony Kinsella, chief executive at Ceram, said: “We want this area to become renowned as a centre for lightweighting.

“There are different ways of reducing weight. It could be finding ways to use less of an existing material, for example, or it could involve using alternative materials or modifying the design criteria.

“But there are other approaches that can be taken, and we want West Midlands manufacturers to be able to take maximum advantage.

“We’ve organised a brainstorming session because we’re convinced that if manufacturers sit down with each other and share ideas and experiences we will be able to come up with really innovative ways of reducing weight and increasing profits.

“Specification and performance also needs to be at the heart of the debate, so in some ways it’s about ‘rightweighting’ rather than just lightweighting.

“We want our brainstorming event to be the catalyst for some really imaginative ideas about finding the optimum weight to maximise profits while maintaining performance – ideas that will help the region’s economy as a whole as well as individual companies.”

Ceram has completed lightweighting projects for customers in sectors including defence and aerospace. Its free “Breakfast Brainstorm” event is being held at its Stoke-on-Trent headquarters from 08.30 am on Friday, June 1.

It will be chaired by special guest Geoff Hollington. Mr Hollington is a design mentor to the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network and editor of Rightweight, a book exploring how to create products that are the perfect weight.

To register for the event, please visit www.ceram.com/lightweight

ENDS

Press release issued by David Johnson, Shepherd PR. For more information, or to arrange an interview, please email david@shepherd-pr.com or call 01335 368020.

About Ceram

Ceram is an independent, international materials technology company that focuses on innovation, sustainability and quality assurance of materials.

Headquartered in Staffordshire, UK, and with approved laboratories around the world, Ceram solves product and process challenges across a range of materials to help clients improve performance, comply with regulations and develop their sustainability performance in order to gain a competitive advantage and increase profitability.

Ceram operates in a wide variety of sectors around the world.