Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Cellbond

Awards entrant Cellbond Composites Ltd is part of a lively and growing group of companies with genuine international reach. NEW ENTRY

Cellbond

Awards entrant Cellbond Composites Ltd is part of a lively and growing group of companies with genuine international reach.

The Huntingdon company began trading in 1988.

Founder Mike Ashmead was keen to utilise the extensive knowledge and expertise in composite panel engineering he had accumulated over the years, but he wanted to work in a way that was fresh and challenging.

Having grown disillusioned working for companies getting used to saying ‘no we can’t build that’ or ‘I’m afraid we only manufacture this,’ he decided it was time to say ‘yes, we can’.

Cellbond began producing vacuum panels using the composite honeycomb technology that Mike was familiar with. Before long, his inquisitive nature and thirst for new challenges saw him begin to manufacture a range of products, such as the crash test barrier, where he saw the demand wasn’t being satisfied as well as it potentially could be. Surrounding himself with staff with knowledge and expertise, Cellbond’s product portfolio began to grow.

The vision has brought handsome dividends. Cellbond is represented in four countries worldwide across three different continents.

The cosmopolitan, multi-national workforce possesses a vast wealth of experience enabling Cellbond to forge and maintain personal and prosperous relationships with customers.

Cellbond Composites has performed an important role in pioneering the use of deformable crash test barriers for vehicle safety testing. Having introduced the calibration of honeycomb technology into the barriers, the procedure is now the standard employed by the industry.

Cellbond has also been at the forefront of energy absorption in other areas of the automotive industry, producing a series of energy absorbing products for companies such as BMW and Saab.

Its many years of experience and technical expertise have made Cellbond internationally recognised experts in all aspects of energy absorption in segments such as automotive, rail, naval and energy production.

As well as energy absorbers it also produces custom-made vacuum panels synonymous with high engineering quality and design.

But the innovation doesn’t stop there: “If a request is made and we feel we have the capability to fulfil it, whatever the industry we will undertake it,” says Dr Ashmead.

Cellbond’s expertise also embraces:-

• Flat Panels – Light, flat materials with structural integrity, suitable for use in any industry

• Structural – Lightweight, high-strength modules for use in the rail and aerospace industries

• Vacuum Panels – for use with all types of printing machines.

In addition Cellbond produces a number of architectural products, designed to meet current demands for affordable, flexible and innovative architectural solutions for a wide range of leisure, commercial and domestic applications.

Its cosmopolitan, multinational workforce has experience with high-profile clients providing architectural and design solutions for Foster & Partners, Richard Rogers, The Royal Academy of Arts, Squire & Partners, Bovis Lend Lease, John Lewis Partnership and fashion designers such as Hamish Morrow.