RENENS, Switzerland — September 4, 2018 — NTPT™, a world leader in lightweight prepreg materials and process automation technologies, is delighted to announce the opening of new laboratory facilities and a 300 square meter cleanroom production area at its headquarters in Renens. This new development is a step forward in the long-term collaboration with GMV-Richard Mille, which includes the exclusive supply of lightweight Thin Ply™ materials and solutions to Richard Mille horology, jewellery and writing instrument designs, as announced in February this year. The two companies have worked together since 2013.
The production facility is a state-of-the-art cleanroom dedicated to the manufacture of Quartz and other non-carbon fibre materials. The new NTPT-designed prepreg line features among other things antistatic bars, a suction unit and a new creel system, to prevent contamination and to ensure optimum quality output. The new one cubic meter autoclave has a maximum pressure of 10 bars and maximum temperature of 260˚C. With the capacity to produce 7500km of fiber and more than 7 metric tons of Thin Ply composites annually, this new line is a significant development and investment for the company.
The R&D equipment has been upgraded to increase development capacity and to facilitate improved time to market for new GMV-Richard Mille designs, and includes: Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA), Viscometer, Microscopes, and an Instron mechanical bench test.
Whilst exclusive to GMV-RM for horology, jewellery and writing instrument applications, NTPT welcomes enquiries from companies with other applications that also require a high level of contamination-free composite material.
On site at NTPT, GMV-RM will establish a showroom of its products, where clients and others can see how these high quality, specialised composites are developed and produced.
The NTPT project team, plus executives from NTPT and GMV-Richard Mille, attended the official opening on June 28, 2018, including: Richard Mille, founder; Dominique Guenat, co-founder and CEO of Guenat SA Montres Valgine; Yves Mathys, director, GMV; Tim Malachard, marketing director, Richard Mille; Marie-France Aubry, finance director, GMV; Francois Mordasini and Gerard Gautier, founders, major shareholders and directors of NTPT; Sebastian Sebayang, CFO, NTPT; Ludovic Chichignoud, COO, NTPT™; and Olivier Thomassin, project manager and GMV-Richard Mille key account manager, NTPT.
“We were pleased to celebrate the opening of the new facilities with the team at GMV-RM,” says Ludovic Chichignoud. “This is an exciting step for NTPT and GMV-Richard Mille, and for our collaboration, and one which now enables us to develop advanced and highly complex composite solutions more quickly for the unique Richard Mille designs.”
Posted September 4, 2018
Source: NTPT™
