TenCate Advanced Composites North America has completed the relocation of its former Benicia California prepreg facility to a 65,000 square foot aerospace certified facility in Fairfield California. The new facility is only ten miles from the former site, which allows TenCate to maintain the original highly skilled work force.
The new facility consolidates three separate sites in Benicia to one common facility allowing greater efficiency and flow in manufacturing. Paul Draghi, Vice President of Manufacturing states: 'The Fairfield facility has been extensively upgraded with additional power, freezer storage for climate control of our composite laminates, Quality Control labs, and office space'.
Increased capacity
As reported earlier this year, the Fairfield location has received AS9100:2009 Rev C approval. The new facility complements TenCate's existing Morgan Hill facility providing customers with two sites for redundancy and additional capacity. As part of this new investment, CCS Composites - which is also a subsidiary of TenCate - has increased pressing capacity by 50%. Equipment additions include five-axis routing capability and 1,000 ton pressing capacity for large parts.
Highly skilled workforce
Joe Morris, President of TenCate's North American operations notes: 'Customers have been very impressed with the facility and the highly disciplined product validation methodology which allowed for streamlined customer approvals. The new facility is only ten miles from the Benicia site, which allows TenCate to maintain the original highly skilled work force which was an important goal for the relocation'.