Hinckley composites supplier invests in cold storage to shorten UK tooling lead times
VAC Innovation has completed a dedicated freezer facility at its Hinckley, Leicestershire premises, allowing the company to hold UK stock of Toray AmberTool® HX56 composite tooling prepreg for the first time.
The Leicestershire company was appointed UK distributor for the material following a memorandum of understanding signed with Toray Advanced Composites at JEC World in April 2026. The first stock is now held at Hinckley and available for supply.
AmberTool® HX56 is produced at Toray Advanced Composites’ UK plant near Nottingham, roughly 40 miles from VAC Innovation’s site. UK-manufactured tooling prepregs are well established in the market, so the constraint for manufacturers has not been availability but lead times and minimum order quantities.
Holding stock at Hinckley allows the material to be released as required, with no minimum order quantity, so a tooling programme can draw what it needs when it needs it. Tooling prepreg is used to produce the moulds from which composite components are laid up, so lead times on tooling material feed directly into how quickly manufacturers can bring new parts into production. AmberTool® HX56 is a low temperature curing epoxy tooling prepreg. Its performance characteristics include:
- Excellent surface finish from autoclave curing
- Low initial cure temperature
- Maximum 180°C (356°F) tool end use temperature
- Excellent drape for complex shapes
VAC Innovation is holding the material in tile format rather than full rolls, which allows manufacturers to take the quantity a particular mould requires instead of a fixed pack size, and to return unused material to freezer storage between sessions. Stock is available without minimum order quantities, which suits smaller composite tooling projects such as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and drone manufacturing, and reduces the volume of material written off as waste.
VAC Innovation is ISO 9001 certified and part of the Guarniflon Composites Division. The freezer facility is the latest in a series of investments at the Hinckley site.
VAC Innovation’s Hinckley, Leicestershire facility, where UK stock of Toray AmberTool® HX56 tooling prepreg is now held.
Speak to VAC Innovation
If you need stock details, pricing, datasheets or technical support for Toray AmberTool® HX56, get in touch with the VAC Innovation team.
📩 Email: sales@vacinnovation.com
☎️ Call: +44 (0) 1858 882000
