Press Releases

Lightweight Composite Monorail – December 2007

San Diego Composites, Inc. (SDC) has successfully developed a lightweight composite monorail for public transportation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Program Manager Dan Jacobson participated at the CDR in Kuala Lumpur, followed by Manufacturing Manager Josh Jones participation in Malaysia to direct the prototype fabrication. SDC's customers are Morin Research & Development Corp (MRDC), and Malaysian-owned Company Sync R&D (SRD). The work was performed by the team under contract to Scomi Engineering Bhd, one of only three suppliers of urban monorail systems in the world. Jacobson indicates that a key to the programs success included SDC's ability to work rapidly through conceptual and detailed design and analysis as well as prototype fabrication with close interaction with the customer to ensure quality and meet all requirements.

The future production lines are being marketed around both Asia and the Middle East.

Recent press releases (links below) report that Scomi Engineering Bhd is participating in bids and proposal in countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangledesh, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, South Korea, as well as Malaysia to offer its next generation monorail called Scomi Urban Transit Rail Application (Sutra).

News Story - www.thestar.com
News Story - biz.thestar.com.my

SDCs' responsibilities included conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design of the composite monorail body as well as: Material selection and material property characterization testing
Systems integration of internally mounted components
Finite element analyses of the integrated body-to-chassis assembly
Design and analyses of all joints
Fabrication process development

The fabrication effort for the first prototype started in April, 2007 in Malaysia, with a SDC staff manufacturing engineer on site to participate during lay-up, cure, and joining. The composite monorail body was joined to the chassis assembly and built into a full working prototype demonstrator, rolled out in August, 2007.

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