Our Work
An AS9100D-registered, HUBZONE-certified small business in the middle of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Creative Composites strives to advance the state of the art in composite materials and structures, keeping costs low & producing high-quality products.
Our approach to this has always been to provide analytical, engineering, development and fabrication capabilities to our customers and products, because successful implementation of composite materials and structures is so dependent on understanding the unique challenges that design and manufacturing with them present.
Our Growth
We started out in December of 1994 with a focus on design and engineering analysis of composite structures, using primarily Classical Lamination Theory augmented by the NISA II Finite Element Analysis package.
Our growth over the past 6 years has allowed us to expand our engineering operations to include the CREO (formerly Pro/ENGINEER) suite of CAD/CAM/CAE software, as well as offering large 5-axis waterjet cutting and 5-and 3-axis CNC machining services. Our materials evaluation capabilities currently consist of fiber volume and void content analysis.
While we currently engineer and manufacture structures utilizing composite systems, it is our intention to do this utilizing technologies developed in-house, such as resin systems & blends, fiber-resin interface tailoring and unique proprietary processing techniques.
Growing Opportunities
With this in mind, over the NEXT 6 years, our company will expand its materials development programs by adding more basic chemistry and material testing capability to include mechanical property characterization along with more extensive chemical analysis operations.
We hope you share our excitement in facing new challenges and finding solutions to industry/military/recreational problems using composite materials! If your organization is facing such a challenge, call us. We will provide you with a realistic, honest (we are not afraid to say that “metal is better for this application” if this is truly the case), and complete evaluation of your conditions and requirements.
OUR HISTORY
- 1994 – Company Founded in Washington, Michigan.
- 1995/96 – Performs detailed analysis, tooling design & fabricates full-scale section of hull for a composite spaceframe approach to the Composite Armored Vehicle. Simulated 6,000-mile durability testing results in no composite failures, proving the concept.
- 1996 – Creative Composites opens manufacturing facility in leased building in Manistique, Michigan.
- 1997 – Designs, engineers, tests and manufactures first ever composite front suspension for Arctic Cat snowmobiles. Win’s Arctic Cat’s 1st King of the Hill Mod III title, Jackson Hole Hillclimb championship.
- 1999 – Engineers, develops and manufactures injection-molded composite clutch arm, the lightest in existence, for Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
- 2000 – Creative Composites builds a new manufacturing facility on 20 acres of land in Rapid River, Michigan.
- 2005 – Installs large, dual cell 5-axis waterjet operations.
- 2006 – 3-axis CNC machining center comes on-line.
- 2009 – 5-axis CNC machining center installed – 120”x62”x36” travels.
- 2010 – Installed paint booth with oven bake cycle capable of 350°F, 5,700 square foot expansion of manufacturing facilities, ISO9001:2008 registration, Alodine process.
- 2012 – expand large press capacity to mold 100”x66” panels, AS9100 Registration.
- 2014 – Added 9′ volumetric laser scanning capacity, Ultrasonic Laminate Inspection Capability.
- 2018 - Added 36"x24" CNC Turning Capacity.
Industry Work
Whether it lives in the water, on land, or in the air, lifecycle cost is key to the success of a design; be it a vehicle, equipment, or other structure. Composites are instrumental in maximizing performance by reducing weight, increasing strength and stiffness, increasing chemical resistance, decreasing manufacturing costs, or all of the above. Creative Composites’ experience with some of the extremes that composites need to endure add value and insight by creating practical, cost-effective solutions to real-world problems.
