Cevotec SAMBA Fiber Patch Placement Robotic Lamination

Cevotec is a Munich-based automation company founded in 2015 by Felix Michl, Dr. Neven Majic and Thorsten Groene as a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich. It commercializes Fiber Patch Placement (FPP), a technology invented at Airbus Innovation Works, to automate the lay-up of complex fiber composite parts that are still laid up by hand.

The SAMBA Series production systems combine a material feeding and cutting unit, one or more placement robots and a tool manipulator, programmed with the ARTIST STUDIO software and its Motion Artist CAM module. Systems place carbon fiber, glass fiber, adhesive films and other technical fibers as patches from 20 x 40 mm up to 200 x 300 mm onto 3D molds, using dry fiber or prepreg at 80 to 300 gsm. A SAMBA Step retrofit kit adds robotic lamination to existing robot cells. Customers are aerospace, UAV and pressure vessel manufacturers and research institutes.

• SAMBA Pro systems: modular cells with feeding and cutting unit, placement robots and tool manipulator.
• Flexible patch sizes: from 20 x 40 mm up to 200 x 300 mm for different part dimensions.
• Broad material range: dry fiber and prepreg carbon, glass, adhesive and copper mesh materials from major suppliers.
• ARTIST STUDIO software: CAM planning with Motion Artist for stamping, draping and forming strategies.
• SAMBA Step retrofit kit: adds robotic lamination to existing robot cells.
• cevoLab and services: application development, feasibility studies and engineering support.

Vietnamese suppliers of aircraft interior and structural parts in the aerospace supply chain could automate complex lay-up steps with a SAMBA cell. Drone makers and composite tank producers could use FPP to scale output with consistent quality, and universities or research institutes could set up pilot lines for composite process development.

Cevotec states that switching from conventional processes to Fiber Patch Placement saves 20% to 60% in cost and time. Manufacturers can automate geometrically complex parts that were too complex for AFP or ATL, control fiber orientation precisely for lighter designs, and get a repeatable, quality-controlled lay-up instead of variable manual work.

Demand for lightweight composite structures is rising in aircraft, UAVs and hydrogen pressure vessels, while skilled hand lay-up labor is scarce and costly. Asian manufacturers are investing in automated composite production, and Cevotec has added sales partners in Taiwan and South Korea in 2026 to serve this demand.

Founded in 2015 as a Technical University of Munich spin-off under the EXIST program; based in Munich, Germany. SAMBA and ARTIST STUDIO were first presented at JEC World 2017. Sales partners in Asia include Union Chemical (Taiwan, 2026) and KCompositeLab (South Korea, 2026); B.I.TEC (Japan) is a reference user.