New production line for Lineat Composites with Nigel Walker as Technical adviser

Photos: Lineat Composites / James Cropper



 “At the end of this year, we are going to have our first technology under the name of AFFT for aligned formable fibre technology”. Gary Owen, CEO of Lineat Composites, a company specialised in automated fibre alignment process based in Wales, UK, is about to take his business to the next level. “Our aligned fibre tapes are advanced uni-directional pre-preg tapes made with highly aligned short fibres. The highly aligned fibre architecture mimics virgin continuous fibre material and can reach similar performance as equivalent continuous fibre materials, whilst adding unique moulding and draping characteristics,” he explains.

Capable of delivering up to 250,000 square metres of material per year, this first production machine will be followed by additional capacity in 2026, demonstrating Lineat’s ambition to industrialise and scale its technology.

An expert at the helm

To navigate the complexities of ramping up a novel process, Lineat Composites has turned to one of the UK’s most respected figures in the nonwoven and advanced fibre industry: Nigel Walker, now appointed as Technical adviser.

“Nigel is able to help us hopefully overcome those obstacles and also to improve the process for the next iteration,” says Gary Owen. “We are in the process of designing and building our first low volume production machine which will be ready at the end of this year and Nigel will be involved with working with the team to develop that process.”

For Walker, the link is clear: “I had a lot of discussion with the team there. I have been on-site twice so far. The priority is to offer advice on the process where the process has some similarities with the processes which are familiar to me. In particular, the Lineat process uses a water-based dispersion of fibre, which is something that I have developed and refined throughout my career.”

While the materials are different, the technical principle — wet laid fibre dispersion — is familiar territory for Walker, whose background equips him to advise on process refinement, production line design and scaling challenges.

Four decades in advanced fibres

Nigel Walker’s career began in the early 1980s at the company that would become James Cropper Advanced Materials, where he was tasked with developing innovative products from carbon fibre.

“I started to work for the company which became Technical Fibre Products Limited, and is now James Cropper Advanced Materials, over 40 years ago from a background in paper making. In 1983, I was given the task of trying to make a paper-like product from carbon fibre,” Walker recalls. “We started on a lab bench in 1983 using standard lab procedures. Then tried to expand a little bit from there by using pilot facilities in the University of Manchester.”

That pioneering pilot line evolved rapidly: “By 1986, the company was convinced that there was some future in the project. And so they formed a subsidiary company, which was called Technical Fibre Products at the time.” As Technical Lead and later Technical and Production Manager, Walker oversaw both technical development and operational implementation.

During the 1990s, Walker spearheaded growth into composites markets for fuel cells and aerospace: “My first visit to a JEC exhibition in Paris was in 1994, and our first stand was in 1995. The company has exhibited at JEC every year since then,” he remembers.

Promoted to Director of Technology in 2005, Walker’s team expanded to 10, while company headcount rose to 120. New lines were installed in 1988 ,1995 and 2015 to meet surging demand — especially in the fuel cell and aerospace markets.

“The business continued to grow and by 2015 the lines were running at 110% capacity,” Walker explains. Despite COVID delays, the company commissioned its fourth production line in 2021. Walker stepped down as Director of Technology in July 2024 after over 40 years but, as he says, “I wished to maintain some contact, particularly with the composites business. Having devoted forty years of my life to it, I was not intending to walk away completely.” As Lineat’s CEO puts it, “Whether we build processes or we are continually developing our process, I don’t think there’s going to be a cut-off date where we say goodbye [to Nigel]. I think there’s always going to be that relationship.”

With decades of insight and unique know-how, Nigel Walker’s arrival signals Lineat’s determination to master the art — and science — of aligned short-fibre composites.

Lineat Composites, from academic research to industrial scale

Founded in November 2020 as a spin-out from the Bristol Composites Institute at the University of Bristol, Lineat aims to revolutionise how short-fibre composites are manufactured.

“The premise of the company was to commercialise a process developed at the University of Bristol,” says Gary Owen. “We developed, designed and built our R&D line which we have at our facility in South Wales now and we’re always coming up against obstacles… that’s where Nigel fits in extremely well with our current engineering and R&D team.”

The company’s patented AFFT process aligns short fibres into tapes that rival continuous fibre performance, unlocking both recycling opportunities and novel applications. Initial projects, including the Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance, positioned Lineat Composites in sectors such as sports equipment — where sustainability and high performance intersect.

Today, the company employs 12 people and is on track to move from pilot to full industrial production within the next 18 months.