Metal evolution VÍTKOVICE CYLINDERS

METAL EVOLUTION

VÍTKOVICE CYLINDERS is a major manufacturer of high-pressure seamless steel cylinders with a unique, more than century-long tradition. Unlike its many global competitors, it has emerged from the difficult years of the last recession stronger than before. Romana Moares reports.

VÍTKOVICE CYLINDERS is an important member of the VÍTKOVICE MACHINERY Group, which comprises more than 60 production and engineering units with annual aggregate sales of €1 billion and employs about 8500 people around the world. The group will soon celebrate its 200th anniversary and is currently one of the largest engineering groups in Europe as well as the most important Czech engineering group.

Wide range

The steel cylinders are produced in three holding companies in the Czech Republic, Poland and Argentina. All three companies work closely together and their production programmes complement each other. With this unique synergy, the VÍTKOVICE MACHINERY Group is able to produce 1.5 million high-pressure seamless steel cylinders each year. The Czech company, VÍTKOVICE CYLINDERS, has been operating under its current name since 2005 but its core business is not new, as steel cylinder production started here as early as 1906.

The Czech company, which today employs about 420 people, manufactures and markets not only steel cylinders but also pressure tanks, high-pressure accumulators and grinding balls. However, the most important aspect of its production profile are the seamless steel cylinders, which represent about 75 per cent of total output. The current product portfolio includes a wide range of high-pressure steel cylinders and pressure vessels produced by using backward extrusion from steel billets or the technology of production from seamless steel tubes. The possible applications for these products are very wide, from small-volume cylinders for breathing apparatus to large pressure vessels used in trailers and containers for virtual pipelines.

In December 2008 a unique production line was introduced to produce steel cylinders by means of the backward extrusion method. This production technology is intended for steel vessels of such enormous diameters that it hadn’t been used at all until that time.

Innovation – the key to success

“Product development is one of the factors which has contributed to our strong position in today’s market. Unlike several of our competitors, who had to close their European plants during the recession, we have grown,” says Ivo Brabec, the company’s sales director. “Each year we introduce dozens of new product innovations to match customers’ requirements but we also offer our own solutions. The focus today is on a new generation of the 300-bar cylinders in line with the current trend for small volume, large capacity cylinders with improved safety parameters. This is the direction in which we will develop our portfolio,” he explains.

Mr Brabec adds that other competitive advantages include the ability to offer the highest technical parameters at a reasonable price and the fact that the company currently offers the largest product portfolio in the world, ranging from tiny 0.8-litre cylinders to 6-metre, 550-litre products. “However, it was our innovative approach that saved us in the difficult year, as well as the ability to introduce nextgeneral cylinders,” he stresses.

The cylinders are sold to major players in the technical gas and CNG sectors in global markets, with only a fraction remaining in the Czech Republic. Key markets are the EU countries, but the company also reaps considerable success in the CIS countries and many faraway destinations, such as Australia.

Looking to the future

After the last two major investments in 2008 and 2011 when new, state-of-the-art production lines were commissioned, increasing total production capacity by 40 per cent, the group is now aiming at maximising efficiency in all three steel cylinder plants. “In the last two years, the volume of orders has grown considerably and hopefully this will remain so,” says the sales director. He goes on to say that the company is expecting to achieve a turnover of 2.5 billion CZK in 2015.

“In the near future we are planning to make another development leap. Basically, we expect significant further growth in three main areas: developing our new product – stainless steel cylinders – which represents a huge benefit for our customers; new developments in the area of hydrogen technologies, where demand for safe, high-pressure cylinders will increase; and development in the automotive sector with increased deliveries of CNG cylinders.”

“And last but not least, we must consider composite cylinders – these will become an important part of our product portfolio in the future,” he concludes. n