C&F Automotive is part of the C&F group and employs 370 staff at the Collinstown site in Co. Westmeath. The company exports aluminium trim to Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) such as Volkswagen, Volvo, Daimler, Porsche, and Bentley.

CREST has a long collaborative relationship with C&F Automotive.

From an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership project, CREST and C&F Automotive developed a sol-gel coating technology called Dualion that was applied to the company’s aluminium trim to pass the Volkswagen TL182 performance standard. The Dualion technology was licensed to C&F Automotive and it was subsequently successfully tested by Volvo and Daimler.

In November 2012, the TL182 standard was revised with UV requirements and Dualion did not meet the full specification.

CREST and C&F staff reformulated the Dualion technology within the scope of the existing patent to meet the needs of C&F clients. Several variations were synthesised with a final preferred technology developed with sufficient scratch and UV resistance.

This version was approved by Volvo for Qualification Assessment. To achieve the qualification, full-size parts (length of 1.2-1.4 m) were required. This led to new equipment and large batch volumes.  Batch trials were blended by TE labs in Tullow, Co. Carlow,

Final trials for C&F with Volvo were held for securing contracts on their 2017 models. Daimler also accepted the technology and have incorporated the Dualion product from their 2016 models.

Testimonial

"This technology will keep 50 jobs in Ireland and will generate sales of €10-€20M p.a. at full production."

Mike Young
Business Development Manager, C&F Automotive