For specialist and low-volume manufacturers, carbon fibre throughput is rarely a branding story. It is a capacity, quality and scrap-cost story. That is why McLaren Automotive’s Automated Rapid Tape (ART) programme — and Cygnet Texkimp’s move to industrialise and exclusively licence it — matters to procurement teams watching UK composites capability.
According to Cygnet Texkimp and coverage from Composites UK and CompositesWorld, ART began as a McLaren in-house innovation concept aimed at producing high-quality, composites-intensive parts at a commercially viable rate. McLaren commissioned the Cheshire fibre-handling specialist to turn that concept into a production-scale machine after both companies took part in the UK ASCEND programme. A prototype high-rate deposition unit is installed at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC), and the process is already integrated into McLaren manufacturing for structural and highly loaded aerodynamic components on current programmes, including the McLaren W1 Ultimate Supercar.
What ART actually changes on the shop floor
Public descriptions of ART focus on dry composite tape laid at high speed — up to about 2.5 m/s — with fibre placement that can tailor load paths and stiffness. Cygnet Texkimp states that up to 95% of the dry tape feedstock used to layer a component ends up in the finished part, cutting the scrap that typically accumulates from unreworkable off-cuts. For buyers, that is not a marketing percentage: it is a direct lever on material yield, scrap accounting and the true landed cost of aerospace-grade carbon structures in low-volume series.
The process is also described as highly automated and digitised, with handling and real-time monitoring intended to keep part-to-part consistency high enough to reduce test frequency. In an LVHV environment — where every tub, aero panel or structural insert is both critical path and expensive — fewer NDT loops and more repeatable fibre architecture are procurement-relevant process capabilities, not R&D curiosities.
Who builds the machine — and who can buy the capability
The commercial hinge is the exclusive licensing agreement between McLaren and Cygnet Texkimp. That deal allows Cygnet to market ART to other industries including aerospace, space, defence, wind energy and industrial markets, while McLaren retains the in-plant benefit of a process designed around supercar-grade composites. A second industrial-specification ART machine was reported as being built at Cygnet’s Innovation Centre in Cheshire for installation at MCTC (targeted for late 2025 in company announcements), expanding McLaren’s deposition capacity. Separately, Cygnet planned a full-scale demonstration machine at its own centre for customer trials from early 2026 — a signal that the machine builder, not only the OEM, is becoming the channel for wider access.
For procurement leads at other specialist OEMs or Tier 1s, the questions to put on the RFQ or capability visit list are concrete:
- Who owns the process IP versus the machine design, and what is licensed versus in-house only?
- What deposition rate, scrap/yield assumptions and NDT regime are validated on production parts, not coupons?
- Where does tape feedstock come from (dry tape vs prepreg), and how dual-sourced is that supply?
- What is the lead time and support model if Cygnet is the machine builder of record?
- How does ART sit alongside hand lay-up, AFP/ATL and RTM cells already on the bill of process?
Procurement takeaway for specialist low-volume programmes
ART does not turn a hypercar monocoque line into a gigafactory. It does show how a UK supercar OEM and a specialist machine builder can convert a rate-and-scrap problem into a licensed process platform. Buyers mapping composites capacity for 2026–2028 programmes should treat Cygnet Texkimp as a named process-equipment and tape-system counterparty, and treat McLaren’s MCTC deployment as a live reference for high-rate deposition on complex LVHV structures — with the usual caveats that published rates need line-of-sight validation before they enter a sourcing scorecard.
Sources: Cygnet Texkimp (29 Oct 2025), Composites UK, CompositesWorld. Autotrayce Editorial analysis for specialist procurement readers.
