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Over the years customers have definitely been frustrated with the availability of Katech carbon fiber parts and trust me, nobody has been more frustrated than me. We have a great product, but we just can't get it made fast enough. Our carbon fiber supplier has constantly struggled with manpower issues and pre-preg carbon fiber supply or quality. Sometimes it would get a little better and I would think we could finally get ahead, only to have it go bad again a little later. Early in 2015, still experiencing manpower issues, it was compounded by supply issues. We were getting dry pre-preg and pre-preg with pulled weave. We are so particular about the cosmetic appearance of our carbon we were scrapping most of what was coming out of the molds. Then things got worse and we couldn't even get material. We went for months with no material. Something had to be done so after seven years with our carbon fiber shop I called it quits and pulled our molds.
We now have a new carbon fiber shop located right here in Michigan just a 10 minute drive from Katech. I'm able to spend a lot more time at the carbon fiber shop setting priorities and understanding what's really going on. The process and material has been completely changed. We are no longer using pre-preg carbon fiber. It was a decision that I didn't want to make, but it is more available and it suits the masses more than it suits me and other weight nuts like my good buddy Jim Hall. Pre-preg carbon fiber has the resin pre-impregnated into the material and is activated with heat. There is a minimal amount of resin in the material which makes it extremely light. The downside is it's not quite as glossy as it seems the Corvette market demands. Since it uses the minimal amount of resin possible, if you get really close you can see areas in the weave that have microscopic pinholes. This is it's nature, but many customers didn't want that. I think over the years the supply of the pre-preg had degraded and we were getting more and more that we had to scrap because it was too much. We had some very smooth molds, especially the new ones for the C7 so it had a decent amount of gloss. Another downside to that material is you can't clear coat it. The material absorbs clear and it's like painting a screen door. You have to keep adding clear and sanding to get the fish eyes out. So, in light of all this we have changed the material to resin infusion. Carbon fiber material is laid into the mold and resin is injected into it, permeating the entire weave and pressing up against the edge of the mold, leaving a nice smooth surface that you can sand. Since we can sand it smooth, we can easily add a clear coat. The parts are heavier than our old pre-preg parts, but they are a lot more showy. The clear coat also has a UV blocker in in to keep the carbon looking good.
So, over the past few months the new carbon fiber shop has been ramping up each mold and getting into the swing of production. They have finished some jobs that were ahead of us and now they have just about every employee working on Katech parts. We have been digging out of a deep backorder hole and delivering parts to customers that have been extremely patient. One at a time parts have been going back into in-stock status on our website. We even anticipate some of our dealers like West Coast Corvette, Scoggin Dickey, and MTI Racing (to name a few) to begin stocking some of these parts.
The carbon fiber shop has agreed to deliver the parts at the same cost we were paying before, even though they are investing more time in the clear coat. At the beginning of the year we will re-evaluate all pricing to see if there needs to be a price increase on some, or if we can cut the price on others to increase volume.
We are proud to have these made not only in the USA, but right here in Michigan. We can't compete on price with vendors getting parts from China and Mexico, but we can offer a quality USA-made product that is not the most expensive either. And now with the super glossy clearcoat I think it's just what the market wants. Below are some photos of some of the new resin infusion process and the clear coat.
Whats the price going to be on the rear diffuser? Wish ya'll was local so I could see if the finished product matches my other cf parts as far as how light/dark the finish is.
Whats the price going to be on the rear diffuser? Wish ya'll was local so I could see if the finished product matches my other cf parts as far as how light/dark the finish is.
11-24-2015, 09:33 AM
Katech Carbon Fiber Shop News
