Bluestar Fibres

BluestarFibres Limited is a manufacturer of Acrylic fibres for industrial and speciality end uses based in Grimsby, NE Lincolnshire. The business focus is in two areas: Carbon Fibre Precursor and Speciality Textile Fibres. Carbon Fibre is processed into flame retardant and insulating materials, carbon­carbon composite aircraft brakes as well.


as other Carbon Fibre applications. It is used in continuous and chopped form to produce low weight, high strength composites for a wide variety of end uses ranging from portable electronic equipment to high performance bicycles and sports equipment to wind turbine blades and oil rig risers. The Speciality Textile product range includes the Amicor family of Anti­ bacterial and Anti­fungal fibres, the Outlast range which utilizes Phase Change Material to regulate body temperature and the Super White range of high colour purity textile fibres.


Manufacturing is a continuous process involving several interconnected stages leading to a high degree of complexity and interaction. As with all manufacturing processes there is a need to understand which are the Key Process parameters in order to focus on these for both controlling the process to meet the stringent requirements of Aerospace and Medical end users and also for developing the process to break in to new, more demanding markets.


"Following our introduction to the concept of Data Mining and Multivariate Analysis we were aware of the potential benefits to a process as complex as ours but we were concerned about the suitability for a continuous process. By working closely with AJM, they were able to manipulate data from a large number of databases and produce a Parallel Co­ordinate Visualization with a timescale. 


Subsequent analysis including Principal Component Analysis has yielded valuable information about Key Process Parameters and has also shown where data that is difficult and expensive to collect is adding little or no value. We are looking forward to continuing to work with AJM to further develop the package and are now considering including Customer Data also."


Neil Barker, Fibres Worldwide Ltd