Company Information
CDI History
For over 60 years, Century Design, Inc. (CDI) has been known for its leading-edge composite machinery. It all began with providing tooling for the aerospace industry in 1959, and since then has included the introduction of several breakthrough machinery solutions. CDI developed the first carbon prepreg machine in 1960 and invented graphite golf shafts and fishing rods in 1972. Its proud history of providing leading-edge composite machinery has resulted in over 2,500 machines being installed, globally, and over 200 new companies being launched.
For CDI, 2019 marked the beginning of a new season of focus and composite machinery solutions. After analyzing the needs of the market, CDI realized that its latest technology provided a unique solution to some of the industry’s biggest needs. It was at this point that it invested significant resources into creating a new family of composite machines. CDI is now positioned to provide customers with the capability of producing their own proprietary prepreg materials that are immediately available and lower in cost, and that include towpreg and prepreg solutions that most of the market is still unaware of. The response has been enthusiastic.
Our Vision
To disrupt the composite processing world by providing proprietary machines with breakthrough technology, that help customers innovate, improve operating efficiencies, reduce costs, and grow with their needs.
Leadership
Keith McConnell
President & CEO of Century Design Inc. (CDI)
Keith McConnell is the President & CEO of Century Design Inc. (CDI). He spent 25 years working with composites in the aerospace industry – starting with materials and processing, moving into engineering, and finally becoming Group President. Eventually, Keith accomplished most of his career goals, and looked for a new challenge to utilize his full capabilities and experience to make a difference in the world. That’s when he found CDI, a company with a rich history of providing leading edge composite manufacturing machines. Here was an established company, in Keith’s space, offering an opportunity to take it to the next level of impact. He purchased CDI in February, 2011, and it has been an exciting, life-changing journey ever since.
Soon after purchasing CDI, Keith discovered that the machines could do more than they were being asked to do. In fact, with some research, development and lots of testing he discovered that they could solve some big problems in the industry. In 2019, Keith and his team finally put the finishing touches on their new technology. Now, CDI machines can provide flexibility in production run size, the ability to create and protect proprietary intellectual property, significantly lower hard costs, and .. as a wonderful bi-product, protect against future disruptions of supply lines .. like we all have experienced with the recent COVID pandemic. The reception from the market has been enthusiastic, and Keith is now starting to have the impact he has always wanted.
In-House Solutions for Small & Mid-Market Composite Manufacturers
CDI has designed a lab scale line for Towpreg and Prepreg that provides research and development users production accurate machines to ensure tighter, more consistent results, that generate faster, more accurate material and resin processing data, that is fully scalable to larger production lines.