Development of a Composite Manufacturing Process for Fabrication of High Performance Paddles

高性能球拍代表了体育产业的利基市场之一。目前，这一市场由一家唯一的制造商主导，其产品在几十年内没有发生过巨大的变化。为了提高最终产品的质量，并使安大略成为该市场的全球参与者之一，安大略省的Rocky River Paddles公司计划与西方大学和弗劳恩霍夫项目中心合作，以确定一种能够生产双面A级表面轻质复合材料桨的制造途径，该桨涉及独特的材料配方，将通过大批量技术进行加工。如果成功的话，这种制造途径可以在相关组织之间开辟一个新的合作活动范围，然后为整个加拿大制造业带来有益的下游影响。

High performance paddles represent one of the niche markets of the sports industry. Presently, this market is dominated by a sole manufacturer whose products have not underwent dramatic changes in more than several decades. To improve the quality of the end product and establish Ontario as one of the world's players in this market, Rocky River Paddles - an Ontario-based company - plans to collaborate with Western University and Fraunhofer Project Center in order to identify a manufacturing avenue capable to generate double sided, Class A surface, lightweight composite paddles involving unique material recipes to be processed by means of high-volume technologies. If successful, this fabrication avenue could open up a new spectrum of collaboration activities between the involved organizations to be then followed by beneficial downstream effects for the entire Canadian manufacturing sector.