A leader in industrial gases Sico

A LEADER IN

INDUSTRIAL GASES

Sico SpA is a producer, trader and distributor of technical gases, in liquid and compressed form, as well as a supplier of these at local level, through a pipeline. This Italian family company is the only one in its industry to have its own production capacity. Barbara Rossi spoke to co-owner Claudio Grigato.

Sico SpA, whose legal headquarters are is in Milan, but whose operative headquarters are in Saronno, near Varese, was established in the 1950s by Mr Grigato’s parents, operating in the field of compressed technical gases production and commercialisation. Over the years, due to the appearance of liquid gases on the scene, the company has also added these products to its range, and since 1970 it has been operating under the name of Sico SpA. Currently all of the company’s shares are owned by Mr Claudio Grigato and his brother Giovanni, the second generation of the founding family, and recently the third generation has also joined the company, bringing new passion and enthusiasm. Mr Grigato is particularly proud of the family dimension of his company which, with its success, proves that even in a sector such as his, where due to the presence of multinationals, investments are of particular significance, a family company can be in a prominent position. In fact, in terms of productive capacity, in its sector, the company ranks second in Europe and, with its portfolio of prestigious clients, it’s in an absolute leading position in Italy.

Sico has a daily liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon production capacity of 560 tonnes, when the European benchmark to maintain competitiveness is 300 daily tonnes. While the main range of products on offer is made up of base gases, these can also be mixed together or with external elements of noble gases, a task carried out by Sico’s own mixing laboratory. As well as oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, the company also supplies hydrogen, helium, xenon, krypton and carbon dioxide.

In addition to hosting the operative and administration offices, the Saronno site also houses the R&D department, staffed by engineers and chemists, the laboratory for the preparation of pure gases, a filling station for helium bottling and also serves as a secondary production site (an operative unit). The main production sites are situated in Cesano Maderno (Lombardy), home of the air fractioning and hydrogen production plant, and in Brescia, where acetylene is produced. Furthermore Sico is part of a consortium for the mineral extraction of carbon dioxide in Caprese Michelangelo, near the Tuscan town of Arezzo. Sico can also avail itself of its nine operative units which include not only those in Saronno, Montichiari (Brescia) and Cesano Maderno, but also in Bari (Apulia), Camposampiero (near Padua, Veneto), Camucia di Cortona (near Arezzo, Tuscany), Crevalcore (near Bologna, Emilia), Nettuno (Latina, Lazio), and Villastellone (Turin, Piedmont). Moreover the company owns a 51 per cent share in two subsidiaries,

Iron Gas, near the southern Italian town of Avellino, and Full Gas, based at Noventa di Piave, in the province of Venice, both of which operate in the field of technical, food, and cooling gases. 97 – 98 per cent of Sico’s products are distributed directly, either delivered by tankers in the case of liquid gases, or in bottles in the case of compressed gases, while the remaining part is distributed by a network of agents. In the case of compressed gases, the gases are first delivered to the local operative unit in liquid form, where they are converted into compressed form and tested for quality, before being supplied to customers in bottles. Alongside the traditional industrial sector, Sico also supplies industries, namely the laser, medical, and food sectors, where gas purity is vital. The company distributes its medical gases through an internal division called SicoVita, which also offers medical gas home care services.

In terms of new products, the company is very active in supplying gas for carbonating water distributed through roadside drinking water facilities, aimed at reducing the volume of bottled water consumed and therefore plastic packaging produced. In addition to this, despite the difficult phase that the market is undergoing, Sico is currently developing other technological applications for the chemical and metallurgic industry and for the environmental sector, such as air emission control and waste water treatment.

Running on steam

Sico has made important investments in different projects, such as the construction of a new facility near Treviso, which, both in terms of the area covered and of machinery, will be three times as large as the current Padua operative unit which it will replace. Important investments have also been made in the extension of the existing 15 km SaronnoCaronno Pertusella-Lainate-Origgio pipeline through which Sico distributes its products to chemical, ironworks, and metallurgic companies located in this area of Lombardy. Last, but not least, Sico is involved in a partnership with other local companies for the realisation of a co-generating plant in Cesano Maderno, which will supply all the energy used by Sico’s Cesano Maderno production plant (currently equal to the energy consumption of a town of 15,000 people), as well as producing steam, which will be used for carbon dioxide production.

Sico supplies several sectors, namely the historical and core chemical, pharmaceutical, and engineering industries, as well as companies from other fields, such as ironworks and food. Sico has total coverage of the Italian territory, with the exception of Sardinia, and also exports several of its products abroad, in particular argon and pure bottled gases, specifically to Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, and Egypt.

Future growth will be based around increasing sales in existing markets or the acquisition of new geographical ones, because, as Mr Grigato said, Sico is satisfied with its market penetration in Italy. The importance of increasing volumes is crucial for a company such as Sico, which in order to be able to carry on competing with multinationals, has to continuously further its technical potential. However future growth, as Mr Grigato stressed, will be solely of an organic nature, without involving acquisitions. n