Niche market leader Valbruna Stainless Steel

NICHE MARKET LEADER

Valbruna Stainless Steel is a leader in the steel industry as both a supplier and producer of stainless steel and special metal alloys. The company’s goal is to satisfy even the most sophisticated requests from the market place. The company is known internationally for its exceptional quality products which include stainless steels, tool steels, high nickel and titanium alloys.

Valbruna Stainless Steel was founded in 1925 by Ernesto Gresele in Vicenza, Italy. The company originally specialised in forgings, but by 1939 it had moved into the stainless steel products sector.

From the beginning, Valbruna had a strategy of serving the niche markets and providing high quality products and services to its clients. It is a strategy that has served this successful industry leader well over the years. The company now supplies stainless steel to a variety of industries including energy, aerospace, pharmaceutical and petrochemical.

Today, Valbruna, which is still privately owned, produces over 170,000 tonnes of high quality special steel and is one of the largest stainless steel bar producers in Europe. Its main production sites are still located in Italy – in Vicenza and Bolzano; however, it has grown substantially over its 80-plus year history and now sells more than 65 per cent of its product to clients outside of Italy. The company has over 1500 employees, 19 branches throughout Europe and 15 affiliates worldwide.

Valbruna specialises in the production of the following items: hot and cold finished bars; hot rolled, annealed and pickled wire rod for redrawp; and cold drawn wire in coils. Special application products, such as solenoid quality steels, boat shaft quality round bars, welding wire rod and stainless steel reinforced bars, are also available.

In addition to Valbruna’s stainless steel production, the steel industry leader also has over 50 years of experience with laminated and forged bar production.

Drastic changes ahead

In view of the threat coming from the Far East, the company believes that in order to succeed in today’s economy it is essential to be able to serve the market very quickly and supply the quality requirement that the customer asks for. According to Massimo Amenduni, managing director of Italy-based steel specialists Valbruna, stainless has now become a commodity and has to be treated as such. Because of the increasing number of customers going to South East Asia, China in particular, production is gradually disappearing in Europe and it is very likely that “we will probably ultimately end up with an economy based on trading and nothing else.”

At the moment, Valbruna is not planning to open an operation in the Far East as the quality level is far too low. In addition, the cost of a joint venture is still very unclear to the group in terms of who would be doing what.

Investing in technology and the future

Since its beginning in 1925, Valbruna has always employed the philosophy that quality is the most important feature of its products,

even when competing against quantity. As such, the company has always invested in technology and advancements in its systems and processes to keep its production ahead of the competition. As an example, in 1976 Valbruna was the first company in Italy to commission a new four-strand continuous caster for use in the stainless steel sector. In addition, in 1997 it introduced ESR (Electro Slag Remelting) which complements the continuous casting and ingot pouring methods. At the time, the Valbruna facility was the first fully automated plant in the world operating in a protective atmosphere.

Furthermore, Valbruna has doubled its cold drawn wire heat treatment capacity by installing a new line, commissioned a new coils pickling line and started operations with a new four-line continuous casting system. The company has also invested in RMDS (Radioactive Material Detection Systems) and Portal Monitors to guarantee the safety of its workforce and customers against radioactive contamination.

A changing industry

Due to the increasingly fast changes taking place globally, the company firmly believes that there will always be a need for steel but the question is where. Also, price and logistics will be the most important factors, because, although service to the customers will still play a crucial role, price is becoming the single major factor. According to Mr Amenduni: “There will inevitably be more consolidation within the industry, which is the only way for the future.”

Safety and quality guaranteed

Valbruna guarantees that all its raw materials come from established supply routes, and the company is stringent in demanding SAE/EHS official environmental statements from its suppliers to confirm the safety of the raw materials used. In addition, all of Valbruna’s production facilities are audited and approved to the latest ISO 9000, AS9100, D.N.V, Cares, Ontario, D.I.B.T, Augusta Westland approvals and TUV standards, which allows it to guarantee that all of its final products will meet the client’s expectations and suit their unique needs. n