Quickstep’s Expansion into Commercial Markets
Sydney, 27 February 2019 – Quickstep Holdings Limited (ASX:QHL), the manufacturer of advanced carbon fibre composites, today provided a market update on the latest developments of its patented Qure process and the Quickstep Production System (QPS). The company is at the forefront of advanced composites manufacturing and technology development, with long-term supply relationships in place with a number of major defence and aerospace customers.
CEO and Managing Director, Mark Burgess said, “We are continuing to develop our state-of-the-art process technologies to support both current and future customer programs in the defence sector and to enter larger commercial markets.
Quickstep is continuing the development and commercialisation of its proprietary process technologies and the company’s patented Qure process provides customers with composite products made using a more cost-effective and faster rate alternative to traditional autoclave curing. Autoclaves are expensive capital equipment and use significant energy in the production process, with curing cycle times typically much slower than our Qure advanced curing process.
Quickstep’s R&D team is continuing to develop, industrialise and upgrade its patented Qure process to meet aerospace specifications, with an upgraded Qure cell now fully operational at the company’s Geelong facility in Victoria. Initial process testing of the upgraded Qure cell to aerospace specifications is providing very promising results compared to the traditional autoclave performance, including significant reduction in process time and pressure, and equivalent material / part performance.
Quickstep is also industrialising the Quickstep Production System (QPS), an advanced lean production system, which provides a complete material to finished part solution. QPS can be adapted to multiple markets and part applications and relies heavily on automation and co-botics. Both Qure and QPS are already being used on two production projects:
Micro-X Manufacturing Contract
Quickstep is manufacturing a carbon fibre chassis for a portable, ultra-lightweight X-ray device, developed and manufactured in Australia, by South Australian start-up company, Micro-X Pty Ltd. Low volume production of composite parts, using Qure and QPS has already commenced at Quickstep’s Geelong facility.
Lockelec Train Ramp
Quickstep has been engaged by Lockelec Innovation, a Victorian design and manufacturing company, to produce a carbon fibre train ramp for disabled passengers. This activity involves the manufacturing of carbon fibre ramps for wheelchair passenger access to trains. The Qure process and QPS are being be used for this manufacturing project. Manufacturing of these ramps will commence in H1 2019 at our Geelong facility.
The composite components being produced in both of these projects are similar in geometry and complexity to a number of other aerospace and automotive opportunities being pursued by Quickstep, and will be important in demonstrating the company’s advanced composites manufacturing capabilities to existing and new customers in these segments.
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