Motive Industries President to give keynote at 2011 SPE ACCE.
Press Release Summary:
Return of the Small Automaker, to be delivered by Nathan Armstrong at 2011 SPE® Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition (ACCE), will explain how small automakers have same tools as their larger counterparts but more freedom and flexibility to demonstrate applications in technology. Specific advances include CAD software; rapid prototyping machines capable of printing useable parts; CNC mills with up to 6 axes; room temperature-moldable plastics; and high-strength composites.
Original Press Release:
Motive Industries President, Nathan Armstrong to Give Keynote at SPE® Automotive Composites Conference
Canadian Composite-Bodied EV Designer to Discuss Return of the Small Automaker at September Conference
TROY (DETROIT), MICH. - The first confirmed keynote speaker for the 2011 SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) - held September 13-15, 2011 at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy, Mich., U.S.A. - will be Nathan Armstrong, president and director of Motive Industries Inc. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada, www.motiveind.com/) speaking on a topic near and dear to the heart of his company: Return of the Small Automaker. Motive, which has significant experience providing vehicle design, engineering, and prototyping for composite-bodied electric vehicles (EVs), announced last fall that it would be producing prototypes of an all-Canadian content, biocomposites-intensive EV named the Kestrel (http://www.motiveind.com/FD-Kestrel.html) by targeted for commercial introduction in 2012.
According to Armstrong, over the last decade, the pace of technology has advanced in all fields of design and manufacturing at an unparalleled pace thanks to a number of useful tools that have come into common usage. These include highly advanced computer-aided design (CAD), rapid prototyping machines capable of printing useable parts; computer numeric controlled (CNC) mills with up to six axis that allow nearly any shape imaginable to be cut; plastics that can be molded at room temperature using silicone molds; composite materials that have unimaginable strength properties; and the knowledge and experience needed to combine all these elements into what he calls 'the second industrial revolution.'
"The impact this has had on industry is unquestionably enabling the largest shift in influence ever seen," explains Armstrong. "The small guys now have the same tools as the big guys, but often with more freedom and flexibility to demonstrate applications in technology that the large companies cannot. This means that fresh innovation and ideas are coming from the bottom up, not from the top down. If we combine this freedom of design with the access to advanced materials, such as fibrereinforced plastics, the possibility of the small automaker re-emerges. By using composites and plastics, tooling costs to produce such vehicles drop drastically and the performance can be accurately determined before any production begins. Also, with the dramatic increase in strength and durability that composites bring vs. metals, the safety level of these vehicles can be increased, eliminating any fears over liability."
Nathan James Armstrong has over 16 years of transportation design engineering experience in both the aerospace and automotive sectors. Prior to founding Motive in 2004, Armstrong worked for Boeing and Arrowhead Products on the International Space Station, Delta Rockets, and Joint Strike Fighter programs. In 1996, Nathan moved from aerospace to automotive engineering working for Metalcrafters and Aria Group in Southern California as vice-president-Engineering where he managed the design and construction of a vast array of vehicle projects including over 30 production vehicles, over 200 concept vehicles, and close to 1,000 clay models, interior models, and scale models. Moving himself and the company to Calgary in 2006, Armstrong has become a mainstay of local tech talks and advisory presentations to large companies. These include presentations at the ENMAX Leadership Forum where he gave a one-hour lecture on Electric Vehicles and Smart Grid Technology, the Alberta Clean Tech Forum, the Haskayne School of Business, the Edmonton Division of the American Society of Material Engineers (ASME), and the Canadian Prairies Group of Chartered Engineers, where he gathered the largest audience in the group's history.
Armstrong is also a member of the Lethbridge Technology Commercialization Centre Pilot Advisory Panel, and holds the position of 'Advisor for Advanced Manufacturing' with the Alberta Space Program. He also co-founded Project Eve, a nationwide Canadian consortium of technology companies, research centers, technical schools, and universities all coming together to combine technologies and resources to develop Canada's own line of advanced transportation technology and production-level electric vehicles. Additionally, Armstrong co-founded the SuperDesigner Project with the Alberta Association of Colleges and Technical Institutes (AACTI) to promote the use of advanced design and engineering tools in colleges throughout the province. He also has taught Automotive Engineering at the prestigious Art Center in Pasadena and has taught Design for Manufacturing at the Alberta College of Art and Design.
Motive Industries has recently been recognized as an Outstanding Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) honoree in the field of Technology Futures. The date and time of Armstrong's SPE ACCE keynote address have not yet been set.
Held annually in suburban Detroit, the SPE ACCE typically draws 400+ speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees from 14 countries on five continents and provides an environment dedicated solely to discussion and networking about advances in transportation composites. Its global appeal is evident in the diversity of exhibitors, speakers, and attendees who come to the conference from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia / Pacific as well as North America and who represent transportation OEMs -- traditional automotive and light truck, as well as agriculture, truck & bus, heavy truck, and aviation - and tier suppliers; composite materials, processing equipment, additives, and reinforcement suppliers; trade associations, consultants, university and government labs; media; and investment bankers. The show is sponsored jointly by the SPE Automotive and Composites Divisions.
The mission of SPE is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics. SPE's Automotive and Composites Divisions work to advance plastics and plastic-based composites technologies worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. Both divisions are dedicated to educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic-based composite developments, including materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design and testing, and application development.
For more information about the SPE Automotive Composites Conference, visit the Automotive Division's website at speautomotive.com/comp.htm, or the Composites' Division website at compositeshelp.com, or contact the group at +1.248.244.8993, or write SPE Automotive Division, 1800 Crooks Road, Suite A, Troy, MI 48084, USA. For more information on the Society of Plastics Engineers or other SPE events, visit the SPE website at www.4spe.org, or call +1.203.775.0471.
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