Reliable, innovative, eclectic SIMIC

RELIABLE, INNOVATIVE, ECLECTIC

Over the years SIMIC SpA has developed into a very diverse and innovative company, engaged in plant installation and maintenance as well as in the manufacturing of critical equipment for leading scientific research bodies. The Italian company is also a contributor to the ITER project. Barbara Rossi reports.

SIMIC SpA was established in 1975 by Ferruccio Boveri and Giuseppe Ginola, who are still managing the company today. It initially specialised in light carpentry and industrial plant installation and maintenance. A turning point came at the beginning of the new millennium, when it managed to secure its first cryostat and vacuum chamber orders for the research sector. Thanks to this, SIMIC started playing an important role for major international scientific research companies and organisations. The company’s development continued uninterrupted over the years and in 2011 a new cutting edge plant dedicated to large equipment manufacturing (weighing up to 3000 tonnes) was built in the harbour area of Marghera Venezia. Moreover, 2013 saw the installation of two latest generation machine tools, built according to the best technological standards. One of these was a floor type boring machine, which was installed at the Camerana plant, while the other was a gantry milling machine installed at the Marghera site. The latter is one of the largest gantry machines in Europe.

Alongside the development of the manufacturing division, SIMIC has also strengthened its plant division, to become the industry leader both in Italy and abroad. In 2012 it built two large turn-key plants for the food sector, in Turkey and Mexico.

SIMIC has two Italian production sites, respectively based in the Cuneo area of north-western Italy (Camerana) and in the Marghera harbour area (Venice). The Marghera facility is of particular strategic importance: in fact, this 6000m2 site with direct access to the sea and a production capacity of up to 3000 tonnes is at the cutting- edge, equipped with overhead cranes which are able to handle up to 400 tonnes at a 22m height. Both plants (Camerana and Marghera) can avail themselves of highly automated and highly technological machinery.

With its strong international experience and highly skilled staff, Simic is active in various sectors and offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services for industrial plant design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance.

The manufacturing division serves the oil & gas (onshore and offshore), energy, nuclear fusion and scientific research sectors, as well as the chemical, petrochemical and fertiliser industry. Its range of products includes reactors, pressure equipment, heat exchangers, columns, cryostats, vacuum chambers and large research machinery.

With regard to plant installation and maintenance, SIMIC serves the food, pharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical, energy and naval sectors, as well as conditioning and air treatment plants. It offers a comprehensive service, taking care of mechanics, tools and pneumatic parts. The company is able to supply partial plant installation, as well as its complete, turn-key version. Alongside these, it also specialises in plant dismantling and relocation, maintenance and global maintenance service solutions.

For both divisions, SIMIC is developing its presence on new markets, especially abroad, strengthening its specialisations and developing ever more complete solutions for its customers.

SIMIC and ITER

SIMIC has signed a five-year contract with Fusion for Energy (F4E) the European Union organisation managing Europe’s contribution to ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an international nuclear fusion project in which SIMIC has been involved for ten years. The Italian company will carry out the cold testing of the ten TF COILS winding packs (WP) and their subsequent insertion into the coil cases. For this contract SIMIC is working in partnership with the German company Babcock Noell

GmbH, which will act as a subcontractor for certain tooling and technologies involved in the production process, supplying its magnet expertise. Thanks to this contract, SIMIC has become one of the global leaders in magnet production.

Furthermore, together with the French company CNIM, SIMIC has been appointed as the supplier of 70 radial plates. This contract represents one of the most important European industrial contributions to the ITER project. Europe will have to supply 10 of the 18 TF for the ITER reactor. Radial plates are ‘D’ shaped, made of special materials, each measuring 13.8m x 8.7m x 110mm and weighing about five tonnes. The plates will be installed inside the reactor, in the heart of the TF, and will form the plasma containing structure. The properties of the materials used, the welding quality, the size of the components, the dimensional tolerances and the sustained pace of the manufacturing operations represent a real challenge from a technological and managerial point of view. So far the company has delivered 15 radial plates, at the rate of two plates a month, fulfilling its contractual terms.

Future plans

The main markets served by SIMIC are Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil and Italy, while in the near future the company is going to enter new markets, including the US, and strengthen its position in South America.

As in the past, the company’s future growth will be based on a carefully planned organic expansion process, therefore acquisitions will be unlikely. As part of its future strategy SIMIC will strengthen its skills and areas of specialisation, while at the same time trying to keep costs under control in order to remain competitive on the global market. Certainly not an easy challenge.

The company aims to continue expanding and investing in the most innovative and hi-tech sectors linked to scientific research. In this field, SIMIC is currently one of the major global players in terms of hi-tech prototype manufacturing, thanks to its high precision machinery and its qualified team. n