Woonsocket, R.I.-based engineered woven fabrics developer and manufacturer T.E.A.M. Inc. has acquired certain assets including equipment and some raw material of Elite Carbon Fabrics LLC, a Vacaville, Calif.-based weaver of carbon-fiber fabrics for recreation, automotive, industrial and personal aesthetics applications. The company also is leasing the former Elite manufacturing facility, which going forward will operate under the name Textile Engineering and Manufacturing (T.E.A.M.) - West Coast Division, and has hired Elite Co-founder Andrew Hickson to handle day-to-day operations in Vacaville.

"T.E.A.M. has been evaluating ways to better support and expand our customer base in key markets, including the West Coast, for some time now," said Steve Clarke, the company's co-founder and president. "This transaction not only increases our manufacturing capacity, but will also provide T.E.A.M. with a local facility to support an expanding West Coast customer base."

"The West Coast operation will initially focus on high quality 2-D woven fabric roll goods and provide a distribution point for other T.E.A.M. products," added Jerry Moore, co-founder and vice president.

T.E.A.M. is an ISO-9001- and AS9100C-certified manufacturer of 2-D fabrics and tapes, 3-D fabrics and billets, and net shape engineered preforms used in resin transfer molding (RTM), infusion and ceramic Matrix composite (CMC) applications. "With the addition of Elite's manufacturing capabilities, T.E.A.M. now has overall 2-D weaving capacity in excess of 800,000 yards annually and is better positioned to support the composites marketplace nationwide," Clarke said.

July 31, 2012