# ACMA and composites manufacturing: processes, standards and ERP realities > Source: https://netray.co/manufacturing/acma-composites-manufacturing-ecosystem > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Manufacturing Hubs ## Short answer The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is the US trade association for companies that make composite parts and supply the materials, equipment and services behind them. Its members range from open-mold fiberglass shops to aerospace prepreg fabricators, and the ERP problems are shaped by perishable materials, cure cycles and highly configured jobs. ## Kind association ## Country United States ## Area Composites manufacturing ## Intro The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is the US trade association for companies that make composite parts and supply the materials, equipment and services behind them. Its members range from open-mold fiberglass shops to aerospace prepreg fabricators, and the ERP problems are shaped by perishable materials, cure cycles and highly configured jobs. ## Industries ### Aerospace and defense composites **Detail:** Carbon fiber prepreg layup, autoclave and out-of-autoclave cure, bonded assemblies and honeycomb sandwich panels for airframe structures, nacelles, interiors and defense hardware, usually under AS9100 and customer-specific process specifications. ### Marine and recreational products **Detail:** Open-mold and closed-mold fiberglass hulls, decks and components made with gelcoat, polyester or vinyl ester resin, with infusion and vacuum bagging increasingly used for larger and lighter structures. ### Infrastructure, construction and corrosion products **Detail:** Pultruded profiles, fiberglass reinforced plastic tanks, pipe and grating, and filament wound vessels used in chemical, water and wastewater service. ### Transportation and wind energy **Detail:** Sheet molding compound and compression molded parts for trucks and buses, plus large infused or prepreg structures such as wind blade components and tooling. ## Ecosystem ### American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) **Type:** association **Note:** Trade association headquartered in the Arlington, Virginia area that advocates for, trains and connects composites manufacturers and suppliers. ### Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX) **Type:** trade show **Note:** Annual composites and advanced materials conference and exhibition produced by ACMA together with SAMPE. ### Certified Composites Technician (CCT) program **Type:** training and certification **Note:** ACMA program that offers technician-level training and certification for composites manufacturing skills. ### Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) **Type:** Manufacturing USA institute **Note:** Public-private institute focused on advancing composites manufacturing technology, based in Knoxville, Tennessee. ### National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), Wichita State University **Type:** university lab **Note:** Hosts the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP), which qualifies composite material systems for aerospace use. ### Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility **Type:** national laboratory **Note:** US Department of Energy facility that works with industry on advanced manufacturing including carbon fiber and composites. ### CMH-17 (Composite Materials Handbook) **Type:** standard body **Note:** Industry-government handbook for composite material properties and design practice, widely referenced in aerospace. ### ASTM Committee D30 on Composite Materials **Type:** standard body **Note:** Develops test methods and specifications for composite materials. ## Requirements - AS9100 and ISO 9001 quality systems - NADCAP accreditation for composites and nondestructive testing at aerospace suppliers - Customer process specifications and qualified material lists for prepreg and resin systems - EPA NESHAP for reinforced plastics composites production (40 CFR Part 63, Subpart WWWW) on styrene emissions - OSHA workplace exposure limits and ventilation controls for styrene and other resin chemistry - ITAR and EAR export controls for defense and aerospace parts ## Sections ### What composites shops make and for whom **Body:** Composites work spans very different businesses under one name. A marine shop running open-mold fiberglass looks nothing like an aerospace cell laying up carbon prepreg, yet both manage resin, reinforcement, molds and cure. Most are job shops or build-to-print suppliers with many part numbers, modest volumes and customer-owned or shared tooling. That mix means the ERP has to support configured materials, tooling as a tracked asset, and routings where cure and cool-down matter as much as labor. ### Quoting and estimating realities **Body:** Composite quotes depend on ply count, material yield, scrap from nesting and trimming, mold or tool cost amortization, cure cycle time and inspection scope. Prepreg is expensive and perishable, so material waste is a margin driver and a poor yield assumption can erase profit on a short run. Estimators often build quotes in spreadsheets from past jobs. Searching those past jobs by similar layup, tool and part geometry is a good fit for retrieval over your own historical quotes, as long as a person confirms the final number. **Bullets:** - Ply and kit yield, including offcut and trim loss - Tool build, repair and per-part tool wear - Autoclave or oven loading and cure cycle occupancy - NDT, trim and secondary bonding labor ### Materials, traceability and ERP fit **Body:** Prepreg and many resins have shelf life, freezer storage conditions and out-time limits, so lot traceability, expiry dates and out-time tracking are core needs. Aerospace customers expect each part to trace to material lot, cure record and inspection results. Shops commonly run JobBOSS, E2, Global Shop Solutions, Epicor Kinetic, Infor SyteLine/CloudSuite Industrial, DELMIAworks or Plex, often supplemented by spreadsheets or a separate quality system for cure records. Confirm lot and expiry handling in your edition before relying on it. ### Compliance and data handling **Body:** Aerospace and defense composites work can carry ITAR or CUI obligations, and customer specifications are often proprietary. That is a common reason shops cannot send drawings and process documents to a public cloud AI service. A private deployment on the shop's own hardware keeps documents inside the boundary the customer already approved. Your compliance officer, not the tool, decides whether a given setup meets your obligations. ### Where private AI on ERP helps, and where it does not **Body:** AI helps with questions across the ERP and document pile: which lots of a prepreg are near expiry, which jobs on a tool ran over standard, or what the customer process spec says about a repair. Read-only natural-language access to ERP data and retrieval over specs and cure records are realistic first projects. It does not replace process engineering or NADCAP-controlled procedures, and it should never change cure parameters or approve material dispositions. If a vendor's built-in reports already answer the question, use those first. ## Faq ### What does ACMA do for composites manufacturers? **Answer:** ACMA is the main US trade association for the composites industry. It runs the CAMX event with SAMPE, offers technician certification through its Certified Composites Technician program, publishes industry resources and advocates on regulatory and trade issues affecting members. ### What ERP do composites shops use? **Answer:** It varies with size and sector. Small and mid-size shops often use JobBOSS, E2 or Global Shop Solutions, while larger aerospace suppliers may run Epicor, Infor, DELMIAworks, Plex or SAP. The key checks are lot and expiry tracking, out-time handling and tooling as a tracked asset. ### How do composites shops track prepreg shelf life and out-time? **Answer:** Most track receipt date, lot, freezer location, expiry and accumulated out-time per roll, either in the ERP lot controls or in a dedicated log. Aerospace customers expect that record to tie to each part. The weak point is usually manual out-time entry, so scanning at the freezer door helps. ### Can private AI help with composites quoting? **Answer:** It can find similar past jobs, pull actual yield and cycle data from the ERP and draft a quote summary for an estimator to review. It should not set price on its own, and results are only as good as the cost data your ERP actually holds. ## Search terms ACMA composites, American Composites Manufacturers Association, composites manufacturing ERP, prepreg shelf life tracking ERP, composites shop quoting software, CAMX composites expo, Certified Composites Technician, composites manufacturing standards --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json