Quality, sustainability, partnership SOL

they are not interested. It’s been family owned for over 100 years and we want to keep it family owned for another 100,” says Mr Monn.

“So we are not dressing the company up for someone to come along and buy it. Our decision-making is thinking long term and how we can be in business for another 100 years.”

BOGE’s location in one of the most industrialised areas in Germany ensures an excellent skills base. And the company’s reputation as an exceptionally good employer – winning awards from the town council for being a family-friendly employer – is a result of an employer/employee mutual loyalty and sense of cohesion.

“During the significant downturn at the end of 2008, one of our competitors was cutting back and cutting its head count. But we didn’t get rid of a single employee. We had people painting and doing similar jobs until the business picked up.

“We are a family business, not a hire and fire business. We believe in our people, and in return we get loyalty and good commitment from our employees.

“We believe in fairness and even-handedness in our dealings with our employees and our customers and partners. We have common goals that all our employees strive towards, and this is one of the best points about being a family-owned business – flexibility and adaptability. We can move very quickly and we can make decisions quickly.”

BOGE – simply the best

Germany remains BOGE’s biggest market, followed by the UK, China, North America and the Far East, but over the next four years BOGE expects exports to account for most of an anticipated 40 per cent growth. In 1995 exports accounted for just a quarter of output; by 2015 this is likely to rise to two-thirds.

And with 200 plus employed outside Germany, new daughter companies are opened yearly in all BOGE’s major operational markets, offering inventory and technical support for its customers.

“We know that in our business the salesman will sell the first piece of equipment to a customer, but we know it’s the way we look after that customer that will sell the second, third and fourth.

“One of our biggest principles is responsibility. We believe that when a person buys a compressor from us, they should buy peace of mind and not have to worry about their manufacturing going down all the time.”

And the company founded 105 years ago has unveiled a new slogan – BOGE: “Best of German Engineering.” n

QUALITY, SUSTAINABILITY, PARTNERSHIP

Diversification and a willingness to not only be a supplier but a true solution provider are the factors at the basis of the success of SOL, and this is now reflected in the new visual image of the company, as SOL’s marketing manager, Mr Beccalli, tells Barbara Rossi.

SOL has a history of more than 80 years, having started its business in Livorno (Leghorn) in 1927, although the headquarters were and still are in Monza, near Milan. At first it was supplying a range of technical gases – albeit in a more limited version than it currently does – to shipyards for their welding activities, hence its beginnings in a harbour town such as Livorno. In the 1950s, operations expanded to the supply of technical gases to the steel sector. The range on offer expanded over the years, as did the number of industrial sectors supplied. The two most important milestones in the history of the company were the diversification towards medical gases and homecare and the internationalisation process (the latter started in the 1980s and reached full bloom in recent years).

Today, the core business of the company is the production, distribution and commercialisation of technical and medical gases, alongside which, thanks to a dedicated team, SOL also researches, designs, constructs and manages production plants at its own premises, as well as at on-site production units located at its clients’ works. The current range of gases is composed of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, acetylene, nitrous oxide, helium and gas mixtures, as well as refrigerating, medicinal, special and high purity gases. While this is the specialism of SOL as a company, the diversification process carried out over time has resulted in the SOL Group also including other entities. First of all, there is Vivisol, the specialist in homecare services, which distributes medical gases and services for home therapy as the core of its activity. While together SOL and Vivisol generate more than 95 per cent of the group’s turnover, there are also another

two companies: Biotechsol and Hydrosol, respectively operating in the biotechnology and renewable energy fields.

“The main industries to which we supply our products are manufacturing in general (with a particular focus on metal fabrication), oil & gas, chemical and pharmaceutical, food, environment, and healthcare. Sol is specialised in each of these sectors, and holds all industry specific certifications, including ISO9000 (since 1994) and OHSAS (for several years). For the last two years SOL has also published a sustainability report,” Mr Beccalli explains.

He adds, “There is a continuous product evolution in terms of the increased certified quality of our offer, concerning production and distribution of gases, as well as stocking facilities at clients’ premises. Our identity on the market is that of a solution provider, not only supplying the relevant gas, but also all that is necessary for its use in the client’s production process. For instance, we provide application technologies using our gases as well as equipments and services correlated, as an example welding devices, machines and welding training courses for the metal fabrication sector. Other examples of what we offer are oxyfuel processes and technologies for metal production sector, including oxygen regulation ramps and burners. Examples of technologies and products that we propose and manufacture for the food sector are food freezing processes and the relevant equipments used like freezing tunnels, while for the environment industry we supply machines to improve and optimise the treatment of water and air effluents. At the service level we are developing IT solutions, for instance for the traceability of gases within clients’ plants. For the last ten years we have offered total gas management, which includes gases, stocking facilities, relevant machinery and management services.”

SOL has 34 primary sites – where gas is produced – and 54 transformation plants (including two filling facilities situated in India as part of a joint-venture) – where gas is bottled, checked and distributed to clients. The geographical expansion process started with EU countries, then encompassed south-eastern Europe, in order to be present at local level, as well as Turkey and India. “Modernisation of our sites is an ongoing project. Other important investments made in recent years include a primary plant in Bulgaria for carbon dioxide production, with other local facilities to follow soon as well as the acquisition of a company in Romania two years ago. We are active in various R&D projects, in particular to do with sustainable mobility, specifically in terms of hydrogen and hydrogen/methane mixtures.

Of course, investments have also been channelled into the acquisition and maintenance of our gas distribution vehicles and stocking facilities, as well as a SAP system.”

Fond of diversity

Diversification is the distinguishing trait of the company, which has been stimulated by two factors, the first of which is that SOL’s products and services are employed in different markets. The second element is the will of the company to be a solution provider, meaning that SOL tries to solve customers’ issues, identifying and pursuing various new development lines in the course of this endeavours. The diversification process will continue in the future.

“We have been able to expand and invest thanks to our solid financial structure, which has protected us at times of market instability, as well as allowing us to have available