CFK-Valley Stade
The CFK Valley Stade e.V. association is a unique competence network for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (or CFRP for short) in Europe. Roughly 100 German and international companies and research facilities are organized within the network. AIRBUS Operations GmbH alone, which is among the most experienced entities processing CFRP components worldwide, contributes 30 years of experience to the competence network. The concentration of expert knowledge encompassing the complete value creation chain - from training to research, development and production all the way to recycling - is unique throughout Europe in this form and thus a model for other networks. Corporate and research partners use their membership with CFK Valley Stade e.V. to jointly drive innovation. New members can access an established network and benefit from the massive competence available.
The CFK Valley Stade campus, which is the new study and training center, is located in the Ottenbeck area of the city, in the immediate vicinity of the technology center, which houses e.g. the CFK Valley e.V.. The approx. 3,000 sq.m. premises comprise an auditorium for roughly 140 students, numerous other seminar rooms and laboratories with state of the art equipment, office space, and meeting rooms for professors and lecturers as well as an in-house dining hall. More than seventy companies from all over Europe that work with carbon fiber composites have settled at this key technology site. The Stade Airbus plant produces a variety of components here, including the vertical tail plane for the A380. From research and development to production and to recycling, all steps within the CFRP process chain are focused in one place.
Airbus Operations GmbH has been manufacturing components made from carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) at the Stade site for 25 years. The Stade plant specializes in the manufacturing and further development of the CFRP technology for aerospace applications, both within the Airbus family and the EADS group. The focal point activities lie with the processing of CFRP within the scope of the aircraft component production. In particular, the 2000 employees at the Airbus plant at Stade produce vertical tail planes made from CFRP for all Airbus aircraft. The components are among the largest composite structures for commercial aircraft worldwide. The history of the Stade Airbus site began in 1959 as an external branch office for assembly work for the Hamburg plant.
