Which industries benefit most from switching to sandwich panels?

compoform · 04 Sep 2026

The industries that benefit most from switching to sandwich panels are commercial vehicle manufacturing and scaffolding and access equipment. In both sectors, the combination of low weight, high structural performance, and long service life directly translates into measurable financial gains: lower fuel costs, higher payload capacity, and fewer material replacement cycles. The questions below unpack why these industries lead adoption and what manufacturers in adjacent sectors should consider.

This article covers the broader sandwich panel market. Our range at Compoform is limited to PP honeycomb and PET foam cores for commercial vehicles and scaffolding.

What makes sandwich panels a better choice than steel or wood?

Sandwich panels outperform steel and wood because they deliver comparable or superior structural performance at a fraction of the weight. A glass-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic sandwich panel can replace a steel or plywood equivalent while reducing component weight by a significant margin, and unlike wood, composite panels do not rot, warp, or absorb moisture over time.

The structural logic behind a sandwich panel is straightforward. Two stiff, thin skins, typically glass-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic laminates, are bonded to a lightweight core, either PP honeycomb or PET foam. The skins carry tensile and compressive loads, while the core resists shear and keeps the skins separated, which is what gives the panel its bending stiffness. The result is a structure that behaves like a thick beam without the weight penalty of a solid material.

Wood fails in this comparison for several practical reasons. Plywood absorbs moisture, which leads to delamination and rot, particularly in truck floors and scaffolding boards that are regularly washed down or exposed to rain. Steel adds dead weight that directly reduces payload capacity or increases fuel consumption. Neither material is easily recycled at end of life in a way that satisfies current European regulatory requirements under the EU ELV Directive.

Thermoplastic sandwich panels, by contrast, are fully recyclable, dimensionally stable across a wide temperature range, and resistant to UV degradation. Wall panels with white PET-film surfaces, for example, carry over 22,000 hours of UV resistance, a performance level that painted steel or untreated wood cannot match without ongoing maintenance.

Which industries are switching to sandwich panels fastest?

Commercial vehicle manufacturing and scaffolding are the two sectors adopting sandwich panels at the fastest rate in Europe in 2026. Truck body builders, trailer manufacturers, and van body assemblers are replacing plywood floors and steel side walls with thermoplastic composite panels. Scaffolding and access equipment manufacturers are switching from timber planks to composite boards that meet EN 12811 load class requirements without the weight or maintenance burden of wood.

Commercial vehicles: truck bodies and trailers

In the commercial vehicle sector, the switch is being driven by a combination of payload economics and fleet electrification. Every kilogram saved in body structure is a kilogram that can carry revenue-generating cargo. For diesel fleets, that translates directly into payload efficiency. For electric trucks and vans, a growing share of European fleet procurement in 2026, the argument extends further: lighter body structures extend battery range per charge. Weight reduction is no longer just a payload argument; it is a range argument, and EV fleet buyers are asking about structural weight as a standard procurement question.

Trailer manufacturers are also responding to end-user pressure. Logistics operators and fleet managers increasingly specify composite materials in their procurement requirements, which pushes trailer and truck body builders to source panels that meet those specifications. This pull-through demand accelerates adoption across the supply chain.

Scaffolding and access equipment

In scaffolding, the driver is a combination of worker safety, handling efficiency, and total cost of ownership. Timber scaffold boards are heavy, prone to moisture damage, and require regular inspection and replacement. A composite scaffold board is lighter to handle, reducing manual handling risk, and significantly more durable. An 11mm thermoplastic composite scaffolding panel uses a directionally optimised 90-0-90 glass-fibre layup that maximises transverse strength, which is the dominant load direction when a plank is loaded across its width. That structural optimisation is not achievable with timber.

How much weight can composite sandwich panels save per vehicle or structure?

The weight saving from switching to composite sandwich panels depends on the specific application, panel thickness, and the material being replaced, so no single figure applies universally. That said, replacing a plywood or steel floor panel with a thermoplastic composite equivalent typically reduces component weight substantially, and across a full truck body or trailer, those savings accumulate across floors, walls, and roof panels.

For context: a 30mm PP honeycomb floor panel is self-supporting without an aluminium subframe. Eliminating the subframe removes both the weight of the subframe itself and a production step for the truck body builder, a compounding saving that affects both vehicle weight and assembly cost.

For electric vehicles, the weight argument carries additional force. Battery range in electric trucks is directly affected by total vehicle mass. A lighter body structure means more range per charge, or the ability to carry a heavier payload within the same range envelope. In 2026, this is a live procurement consideration for fleet operators transitioning to electric drivetrains, and it makes structural weight a specification-level question rather than a secondary concern.

What types of sandwich panel cores and skins are used across industries?

Across the sandwich panel market, the most common core materials are PP honeycomb, PET foam, and various other foam types. Skins are typically glass-fibre-reinforced thermoplastic laminates, though the number of plies, fibre orientation, and surface finish vary by application. The combination of core and skin determines the panel’s stiffness, strength, weight, and surface properties.

Within thermoplastic composite panels specifically, two core types dominate practical commercial and industrial applications:

PP honeycomb cores offer high compressive strength and excellent stiffness-to-weight ratio. They are well suited to floor panels and load-bearing applications where point loads and distributed loads must be resisted without deflection. PP honeycomb at 140 kg/m³ is used in floor panels where bending performance is the primary requirement.
PET foam cores (and oriented PP foam) offer more flexibility in density specification. PP foam is available across a range of densities, which allows the core stiffness and strength to be tuned for the specific load case, useful for wall panels, cladding, and applications where weight minimisation is the priority.

Skin architectures also vary. A cross-ply laminate, with fibres oriented at 0° and 90° in alternating layers, equalises mechanical properties in both directions, making the panel suitable for installation in either orientation without a preferred load direction. Multi-ply unidirectional skins concentrate strength along a specific axis, which is the approach used in scaffolding panels where the dominant load direction is known and fixed.

Surface finishes serve both functional and aesthetic purposes. A white PET-film surface provides a finished decorative appearance with controlled colour properties and UV resistance. A black anti-skid surface finish is used on floor panels where slip resistance is a safety requirement.

Are sandwich panels suitable for structural and load-bearing applications?

Yes, thermoplastic sandwich panels are suitable for structural and load-bearing applications, provided the panel configuration is correctly specified for the load case. The core material, density, thickness, and skin architecture all affect structural performance, and the right combination can meet demanding load requirements without additional substructure.

A concrete reference point: a 10.5mm Compoform panel achieved EN 12811 load class 4 with no support underneath. EN 12811 is the European standard for scaffolding and working platforms, and load class 4 represents a distributed load of 3.0 kN/m². Achieving that with an 11mm panel, the lightest product in the range, demonstrates that composite sandwich panels are not limited to light-duty or decorative applications.

For floor panels, the performance difference between configurations is significant. A 30mm PP honeycomb floor panel sustains an average maximum load of 5,647 N in the tested geometry, compared to 3,240 N for a 15mm variant of the same construction, based on Compoform’s own test data. Specifying the correct thickness and core density for the expected load is therefore not optional; it is the engineering decision that determines whether the panel performs as required.

Bending strength is assessed to ISO 14125, and tensile properties to EN ISO 527. These are the relevant European standards for structural composite panels, and any technical data sheet from a credible European manufacturer should reference them directly.

What should manufacturers consider when sourcing sandwich panels in Europe?

When sourcing sandwich panels in Europe, manufacturers should evaluate five factors: dimensional capability, material consistency, lead time reliability, post-sales technical support, and total cost of ownership over the component’s service life. Price per square metre is a starting point, not a decision criterion.

Dimensional capability matters because many European OEMs require panel sizes that are not available from standard stock. A truck body floor or trailer side wall often requires panels in lengths or widths that exceed what catalogue products offer. Sourcing from a manufacturer with a production line capable of panels up to 13,500mm × 2,950mm eliminates the need for joints, which are both a structural weak point and an assembly complication.

Material consistency is non-negotiable for serial production. A panel that performs correctly in a prototype but varies in skin thickness or core density across production batches creates quality control problems downstream. European manufacturers operating under documented quality systems and using qualified raw material suppliers offer a level of traceability that offshore alternatives typically cannot match.

Lead time reliability affects production planning. A missed panel delivery can halt a vehicle assembly line. Sourcing from a European manufacturer with production capacity in the Netherlands means shorter transit times, simpler logistics, and a supplier who operates in the same regulatory and commercial environment as the customer.

Total cost of ownership is where composite panels consistently outperform wood. Over a 15-year vehicle life, a composite floor eliminates two to three plywood replacement cycles. Once you account for panel cost, installation labour, and vehicle downtime during replacement, the composite is cheaper per year of service, even at a higher unit price. Thermoplastic composite panels last three to four times longer than plywood in heavy transport applications, based on industry experience with commercial vehicle fleets.

How Compoform Helps You Switch to Sandwich Panels

We work with truck body builders, trailer manufacturers, and scaffolding equipment producers across Europe to replace steel, wood, and heavier composite alternatives with thermoplastic sandwich panels engineered for their specific application. Here is what that looks like in practice:

Custom panel configuration: You specify the load requirements, installation constraints, and surface finish. We select the core material, density, skin architecture, and thickness to match, not the other way around.
Large-format production: Our 72-metre double belt press produces panels up to 13,500mm × 2,950mm × 150mm, which covers full trailer side walls and truck floors in a single panel without joints.
Application engineering support: Before production starts, we review your design, flag potential issues with panel integration or edge treatment, and optimise the configuration for your assembly process. Edge sealing and edge bending are available to protect the core from moisture and UV exposure, relevant for any panel that will be washed down regularly or exposed to weather.
European manufacturing and supply: All panels are manufactured at our facilities in Beek and Ospel, the Netherlands. That means consistent quality, short lead times, and a supplier who is reachable when you need technical support after delivery.
Long-term TCO argument: We can model the replacement cycle cost of your current floor or wall material against a composite alternative, so the procurement decision is based on total cost, not unit price.

If you are specifying panels for a truck body floor, trailer side wall, or scaffolding board application, the right starting point is a conversation about your load case and assembly process. Speak with our application engineers to review your current specification and identify where a thermoplastic sandwich panel delivers a measurable improvement.