ACMA’s Composites Growth Initiative Staff led a group of ACMA member companies from the Pultrusion Industry Council on November 5th to give a mini–Composites Technology Day with educational presentations to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) at its test facility in Richburg, SC. IBHS members are the leading insurance providers for buildings. ACMA members thoroughly impressed the insurance company representatives from the Residential Committee to learn about composites performance in severe climate exposure such as hurricanes and tornadoes, along with performance in fire and impact that composites deliver. The outcome from this education will result in future collaboration between composites and the insurance industry, in both residential and commercial building construction, and potentially standards development and testing of composites products. Member company presentations delivered on demonstrating how composites perform in a variety of applications and showcasing emerging technologies that would impact the building industry.
Over the past 10 years, the Composites Growth Initiative has conducted over 10+ Composites Technology Days events with target OEMs to educate the engineers and designers about why composites should be selected for their applications. These Tech Days have targeted automotive, aerospace, and defense OEMs, but this event was focused on the insurance industry. It is expected this will be the first of many meetings with the insurance industry to influence how things could be built using composites to address the challenges of destruction resulting from major climate events.